Remembering the Legendary Pappy Gunn.....75 Years Later

Twenty years older than most of the other pilots in his squadron, the almost 43 year old aviator, a man that his fellow fliers knew simply as “Pappy,” was leading the way against two frantically fleeing Japanese destroyers. The location was in the open waters of the Bismarck Sea, near Cape Gloucester, New Britain, not too far from where the Battle of the Bismarck Sea had been fought some four months earlier. America had been locked in a bitter struggle with the empire of Japan in the Pacific for over a year and a half now. At this particular point in time, the fighting in the jungles of, in the waters surrounding, and in the air above the world’s second largest island, New Guinea, was intense. Defeating the Japanese here was essential, before moving on to the liberation of the Philippines, then to Okinawa, and finally to the Japanese home islands.

The establishment of American-Australian air superiority, so vital to ultimate success in the campaign for New Guinea, had not been a easy task. Vastly outgunned in the beginning, the Allies had eventually recovered and somehow managed to assert their dominance in the skies. Thanks to prolific production in the aircraft factories back in the States, bold, even audacious, new tactics by the aviators in the air, and incredible mechanical improvisations made to aircraft at, or near, the front lines, the pendulum of power had now clearly swung in favor of the Americans and Australians. The development of new bomber tactics in New Guinea, tactics tied to ingenious field modifications made to the aircraft themselves, would prove to be a vital component in America’s ultimate victory in the Pacific. No one had more to do with these bold new methods than the 43 year old pilot and aircraft genius, Pappy Gunn.

Back to the Bismarck Sea, and Pappy and his squadron mates, and the two fleeing Japanese destroyers. By now the enemy ships were racing for a nearby fog bank and safety. Pappy attacked first, actually testing a new 75-millimeter cannon which he had personally installed in the nose of his B-25. Skimming along the top of the water and pulling up just before his aircraft collided with its target, three of the four shells he fired found their target. Although Pappy’s experimental cannon did not actually sink its prey on this day, the other members of his squadron quickly followed him and finished the job. Using low level skip-bombing tactics and overwhelming machine gun fire from the nose of their aircraft, they had sent the two warships to a watery grave on the floor of the Bismarck Sea. Pappy Gunn was one of the foremost proponents of this daring, and deadly, new method of aerial warfare called skipbombing. He was also the man who devised the plans for and actually modified B-25s in the southwest Pacific with multiple .50 caliber machine guns, firing from the nose, fuselage, and wings of the aircraft. Close range, low level skip-bombing became a reality only because of Pappy’s modifications, giving the bombers overwhelming firepower as they approached their targets.

Paul Irvin Gunn, known to his family and others as “P.I.” and to his fellow airmen as Pappy, was born in Quitman, Arkansas on October 18, 1900, one of nine children in a blended family. Following his father’s mysterious death when P.I. was only seven, the family sank deeper and deeper into abject poverty. From childhood he was a tireless worker, laboring in the cotton fields and performing a host of other menial jobs. Two great goals consumed him at this