HISTORY

During his career Gunn flew variety of the aircraft

types including Boeing F4B fighter.

Peculiar from head to toe

Two years later, when Gunn was twenty-four-year-old, his six years’ contract with

Navy expired. The promise he will be finally given the pilot training made him to sign

for further six years and, in the spring of

1925, he finally obtained his wings. His boy’s dream was fulfilled, and Gunn became

a respected naval aviator. As a testimony

to that, he even served at Pensacola base

in the flight instructor role from August

to September 1928. Many Navy pilots, who

became famous during WWII, were his students and many recalled after many years

his unique teaching methods and colorful

language he used when they did not understand fast enough what he required. Gunn

was only interested in flying and aircraft

and was not too mindful of the subordination and career or promotion in the rank.

He was not disobedient just always found

his own way to do things without paying

to much attention to rules and regulations

or rank. He was a peculiar personality however popular among pilots and surprisingly some of his superiors as well.

In the beginning of 1929, he was transferred

from Pensacola to Anacostia base near

Washington, D. C., where his commanding

officer was Lieutenant Commander Joseph J. “Jocko” Clark, later a Rear Admiral,

new USS Hornet (CV-12) commander and

after that commander of the whole Task

Force 3. A Cherokee, he was the first native

American ever to graduate from the Naval

Academy. He very quickly became friend

with Paul. “In those days Anacostia had the

task of flying many important government

officials around the country and therefore

we wanted the best pilots we could get.

With the whole Navy to draw on, we picked P. I. Gunn. In those days we called him

‘P. I.’, he got the nickname of ‘Pappy’ later.

He was exceptionally able, always ready to

go anywhere any time – day or night. He had

a cheerfull and inspiring personality and

a high sense of duty,“ the Rear Admiral remembered him after years. In August 1930,

having completed his second six years’

28

INFO Eduard

by to Howland Island also the VF-2 pilots

searched for her, and Gunn could not miss

it.

As we mentioned earlier Paul Gunn always thought independently and had his own

At dusk a Zero attacked him and showered him with bullets but Gunn,

wildly maneuvering, managed to escape the Japanese at the treetop

altitude. However, when he was passing the Zablan Field base, he

received further “friendly” hits from the AA defense which confused

him with the Japanese aircraft. With the failing engine he turned

around and at 10 pm, in pitch black, he performed an emergency

landing with his Beechcraft at the local runway …

Pacific. In the fall of 1931, he was hospitalized with double hernia (according to his

account caused by the frequent catapult

launches off the cruisers’ deck) in Hawaii

and after the discharge he returned to his

family which at that time counted four children. He stayed at home in San Diego until

1933 and became the member of VF-2 “Top

Hat” squadron flying from USS Lexington.

Aboard he met Clark again which was

not a coincidence. Truth was that “Jocko”

personally requested Gunn for his unit.

He appreciated him as an outstanding fighter pilot excelling in both dogfighting and

air gunnery. And VF-2 was considered an

elite Navy squadron. Nevertheless, in 1933

Paul Gunn was transferred to Hawaii again

in the role of a Naval Aviation technical

officer and flew out of the land bases. From

time-to-time Lexington paid visit to Pearl

Harbor and Gunn could meet his former

colleagues from VF-2. Typically, he took

advantage of the situation to fly with them

off the aircraft carrier deck. When on July

2nd, 1937, Amelia Earhart disappeared over

the Pacific Ocean flying from Port Mores-

ways. One of the proofs of his peculiarity

is how he handled prolonged teeth aches.

They bothered him for years, so he decided

to solve the problem for good. He visited

a military dentist in Hawaii and asked him

to extract all his teeth and replace them

with prosthetics. Doctor refused and scheduled Gunn for a comprehensive diagnosis to determine next steps. Paul left and

headed directly to a civilian Japanese dentist in Honolulu, had the molds done and right after all the teeth were gone. When the

military dentist tried to get hold of Paul since he missed the appointment, he took out

the brand-new prosthetics from his mouth

stating he had no more any problems with

his teeth …

Back to civilian life …

On August 6, 1937, Paul Irvin Gunn completed his twenty years of service with the

Navy and retired to reserve with the rank

of Chief Petty Officer. He already had his

plans. During his service in Hawaii, he met

two men. One was Robert Tyce, civilian

air transport pilot, and Charles Knox who

(photo: National Archives)

(photo: National Archives)

contract with Navy Gunn signed for the third term. He decided to serve twenty years

to earn reserve status with half-pension

and at the age of mere 37 years. The duty

brought him to Atlantic, Caribbean and

One of Gunn’s superiors was Joseph J. “Jocko” Clark who later became a Rear Admiral and Task Force

3 commander.

October 2022