History Presentation and Flight Demonstration Paul “Pappy” Gunn An Unlikely Hero of the Pacific Air War
May 17
Doors Open at 8am Presentation Begins at 9am
According to General George Kenney, McArthur’s air commander in the Southwest Pacific, “Pappy” Gunn played a key role in the success of the 5th Air Force during WWII. Kenney said of Gunn, “He was a gadgeteer par excellence”.
Paul “Pappy” Gunn joined the U.S. Navy in 1918 serving as an aircraft mechanic while learning to fly on his own time. In 1923, he was selected to be an enlisted naval aviator. He served in a fighter squadron and as a flight instructor before retiring from the Navy as a Chief Petty Officer in 1939. After his retirement, Gunn started Philippine Air Lines in 1941 flying Beech 18s between Manila and other cities in the Philippines.
With the start of WWII, Gunn was mobilized and commissioned as a Captain in the Army Air Corps. Gunn shuttled supplies to forces fighting on Luzon using Philippine Airlines aircraft. When the Philippines fell, Gunn escaped to Australia, but his family was interned in Manila.
As the war expanded in the Pacific, General Kenney learned that Gunn was using 0.50 caliber machine guns from wrecked fighters to add punch to the A-20 Havoc attack aircraft assigned to the 5th Air Force. He was impressed by Gunn’s innovative abilities and placed him in charge of special projects.
Based on his work on the A-20, Kenney had Gunn convert a squadron of B-25 Mitchell bombers into similar deadly strafers. It was hugely successful and many more were converted. Gunn’s modified A-20s and B-25s played the key role in the Allied victory in the 1943 Battle of the Bismarck Sea. North American Aviation eventually began to incorporate variations of Gunn’s armament innovations into later models of the B-25. Gunn flew many, many combat missions throughout the war, reaching the grade of Colonel and earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Air Medal, 9 Purple Hearts, and the WWII Victory Medal. After Japan’s surrender in World War II, Gunn turned to rebuilding his Philippine Air Lines. The company expanded to provide flights across the south Pacific and is still operating today. Gunn died when his chartered Beech 18 crashed in a storm over the Philippines on October 11, 1957.
On Saturday, May 17th, at 9:00 am, Lead Docent and retired Army Colonel Nick Cressy will present the story of Pappy Gunn and his great contributions to the air campaign in the Southwest Pacific. Weather permitting Nick’s presentation will be followed by a flight demonstration of the museum’s B-25 Mitchell, an aircraft Gunn helped make famous.