HISTORY
tions took place launching the scheduled
service to Hong-Kong and Saigon. Pappy
did take part in these moderate festivities but then he returned to the hospital
in Fort McKinley where he was almost
a resident due to the permanent severe
pain and need for doctor’s care. In the
spring of 1947, he still carried the support
for his hand but every now and then he
removed it and squeezed the rubber ball
in order to stimulate the blood vessels in
his hand and invigorate it. He always tried
to occupy himself, he scouted for airplanes with sufficient range so as PAL could
start flying to the USA and in many ways
tried to utilize the benefits of purchasing
the cheap military surplus material in the
Philippines. In the spring of 1948 while he
was again in the USA with his family, he
suffered from such pain that he reached
the decision to have his hand amputated
unless the doctors found out how to control the pain. In the end the amputation
was not necessary since Doctor Livingston from Lahey clinic in Boston was able
to restore his hands’ blood vessels and
also repair some damages of the nervous
system.
Life was coming back to his hand and
Gunn used every opportunity to squeeze
his rubber ball to strengthen his hand. He
started to fly again, his energy came back
and PAL were successful. And then October 11, 1957, came. Over the Philippines
Pappy tried to avoid a severe storm and
crashed. There were no survivors …
His former superior, and friend as well,
General Kenney, arranged for his last flight home, to the USA, where he was buried. During the wartime Paul Irvin Gunn
was decorated with several awards: DFC,
Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Air Medal,
Purple Heart nine times and WWII Victory Medal. His skills and decisiveness
helped develop a new category of combat
aircraft and he also contributed to many
other areas of the war efforts. In 2008
the Arkansas Aviation Historical Society
included him into their Hall of Fame.
PAPPY AND A WHALE
For the whole week Lt. Col. Gunn waited in Port Moresby at Three Mile, one
of its airbases, in order to personally test the newest B-25 version with
built-in 75 mm cannon. Pappy fell in
love with this version and as soon as he
had an opportunity to inspect it with the
intention to test it on the first Japanese
vessel that appeared in its operational
range, General Kenney authorized his
temporary reassignment to his former
unit. “Men in 3rd Attack Group called
him engineer without borders but were
proud of his unorthodox approach to
his achievements. After all, they were
unorthodox themselves.
Gunn did not have to wait too long for
the opportunity. Shortly after midday a
scout airplane sent a message everybody was waiting for so in fifteen minutes 72 Twin Cyclone engines were roaring and 36 airplanes, one after another
got airborne led by Pappy. Bad weather
forced the formation to split into three
sections, twelve airplanes each, in order to cover the largest area possible
and not to let the pair of discovered
Japanese ships to escape. The aircraft
proceeded above the ocean waves, islets and coral reefs at an altitude of no
more than 30 meters. These crews never carried the oxygen masks as they
were useless and proudly claimed that
18
INFO Eduard
if a cow stood in their way, they would
have to fly around her … Shortly after
2:30 the formation led by Gunn emerged from behind a rain curtain and pilots spotted the pair of Japanese destroyers.
Both headed toward the fogged area
and there was no time to seek the optimal position. Pappy signaled the attack
and started firing from 1500 yards. He
had six rounds for his 75 mm cannon.
The first one hit one of the first destroyer’s superstructures, the second
bounced off the deck and destroyed the
AA gun post, the third missed and the
fourth got buried right in the center of
the hull. At that moment Pappy was so
close that he had to pitch up sharply
and literally jump over the destroyer and turn around for another attack.
Problem was that the last hit did not
slow the destroyer down. Both Pappy’s
wingmen evaluated the situation. There was time left only for a single attack
until the destroyer will disappear in the
fog so there was a radio message: “Pappy, will you please get the hell out of
the way and let us show you how a destroyer ought to be sunk.” Pappy’s response, properly censored and abbreviated was like this: “OK, you knuckle
heads, I wish this obscene crock carried a few more rounds of ammuniti-
Sources
The Saga of Pappy Gunn, George Churchill Kenney; Kismet Publishing, 2018
(first issue 1958)
Indestructible, John, N Bruning, Hachette Books, 2016
North American B-25 Mitchell, Key
Publishing
Flying Buccaneers, Steve Birdsall, Doubleday & Co. Inc., 1977
General Kenney Reports, George Churchill Kenney, Sloan & Pearce 1949
warfarehistorynetwork.com
www.3rdattackgroup.com
thejavagoldblog.wordpress.com
on. I’d show you.”
A pair then showered the vessel with
bullets from their 24 0.5 inch machine
guns and after that both Mitchells released their 500 lb bombs. After they
bounced off the water surface, they
“bit” into the hull and the Japanese destroyer broke into halves. The second
ship was destroyed by another formation and since there were no other
targets left Mitchells set on the return
journey. Both wingmen again made formation with Pappy’s aircraft and when
the dozen of them approached Cape
Gloucester with a small Japanese airfield Pappy spotted a transportation airplane which had just landed. That was
an opportunity to restore his tarnished
reputation! Mitchell, which appeared
right above the treetops, was a total
surprise to the Japanese. The first of
the two remaining 75 mm rounds hit the
starboard engine of the Japanese aircraft, the second one the cockpit. The
whole flight continued along the western coast of New Britain, flew over a
herd of whales in Solomon Sea, copied
the eastern coast of New Guinea and
landed at Three Mile home base. The
crews gathered with their reports in
the operations room, but no one dared
to say a word about Pappy’s misfortune
while attacking a Japanese ship. They
December 2022