Photo: author´s archive
HISTORY
Pappy in the cockpit of B-25C “Not in Stock” (41-12483). The inscription under the canopy states the roles of
Sgt. Evans, co-pilot, occasionally bombardier and gunner, chief mechanic… This aircraft was not assigned to
the combat duties. Pappy used it to deliver supplies to New Guinea. The bombing missions’ symbols were left
from the prior combat activity when the aircraft was named Mr.X first and then Longue Lizzard. This aircraft
took part in the April 11, 1942, raid.
Through impudence to promotion
On July 18, 1942, Pappy was, quite unexpectedly, promoted to Major. Generally,
it was anticipated that due to his antiques and blunt language he will be rather court marshalled than promoted but
it did happen. Pappy did not keep for himself the comments about “dummies from
Washington to Australia who sent A-20
without bombing sights and bomb racks”. The staff inspectors of course heard
this and reported his comments to the
higher ups. Another of his “sins” were the
unauthorized modifications of A-20s into
the attack aircraft by installing the machine guns (not exactly sourced according to the military procedures) in their
noses. He personally tested this new modification when he took off for a lone mission. The target was a Japanese airfield
on the northern coast of New Guinea. He
did a good job, upon his departure several Japanese aircraft were engulfed in
smoke and judging by the explosion it is
more than probable that he hit an ammunition dump. After this success, and with
“Big Jim’s” silent blessing, together with
his mechanics he started modifying other
A-20s from 90th BG. Besides the machine gun conversion, he also designed new
bomb racks since the original ones were
still on board of some ships somewhere
in the middle of the Ocean and Pappy did
not like them anyway. He designed the
new ones, better ones, in his own words.
And he was proven right in the future.
He did not ask anyone for permission,
he simply acted. The whole 3rd AG stood
behind him since all knew that whatever
Pappy designed or made would work.
14
INFO Eduard
Two men and a bomber
The famous Pappy’s meeting with General Kenney took place on August 5, 1942,
in Charters Towers, home of 3rd Attack
Group where Pappy served since the
aforementioned raid even though he was
not officially assigned to the unit. General was on his first inspection tour after
assuming command of the 5th Air Force. At that time the group was not in the
best shape because 8th BS had no airplanes at all, 13th BS had just couple of
Douglas A-24 dive bombers, 89th BS had
twelve B-25s in the inventory but only
five were airworthy and finally 90th BS
operated sixteen A-20s. Pappy was not
present among the officers General met
in the mess hall that day but his name
was mentioned soon enough so the 5th
AF commander learned about a guy
who knew completely everything about
the airplanes and their improvements
including machine guns installation.
Photo: author´s archive
on Cebu. At Del Monte they boarded
as many pilots and mechanics as possible subsequently and flew to Darwin.
At the same time, he was an outstanding
pilot and storyteller. However, some of
his stories were to be taken with a grain
of salt. This got General interested and on
the following day he went to the hangar
where Pappy, with several mechanics
and his faithful “right hand”, Sgt. Evans,
was tuning up an A-20. The General could
see a group of shirtless sweaty men commanded by a tall, slim, blue eyed man
in T-shirt wearing a mechanic’s cap with
pinned Major’s insignia.
“General, this is Major Gunn, our Engineering Officer who invents new ways
to make it hard for the Japs every day,”
introduced “Big Jim” Pappy to General
McKenney who wanted to know immediately what Pappy and his gang was up to.
“Pappy wiped the sweat off his forehead,
tilted his cap back, looked me over with
a pair of steely blue eyes, grinned, and
began to talk. He evidently had decided
that I was intelligent enough to listen to
him. I instinctively knew that I was being
paid a compliment that had nothing to do
with the two stars on the collar of my
shirt,” recalls General McKenney in his
book. He was stunned how well thought
out Pappy’s modifications were and his
tactics according to which it was more
efficient to destroy the Japanese aircraft
on the ground rather than in the air. It was
clear to the 5th AF commander that the
man in front of him was the one he needed. He had some ideas of his own and
sought someone like Pappy who would
materialize them. “I liked Pappy at first
sight, and somehow I knew that he liked
me and would break his neck carrying out
my instructions.”
When McKenney and Davies were returning to the headquarters General advised
Pappy (on the right) with the future Brigadier General F. H. Smith (in the center) and an unidentified member
of 3rd AG.
November 2022