Paul Gunn

Colonel Paul Irvin "Pappy" Gunn (October 18, 1899 - October 11, 1957) was a former U.S. naval aviator known mainly for his actions in the Second World War as an officer in the United States Army Air Forces. He was known as "an expert in dare-devil low-level flying," and recognized for numerous feats of heroism and mechanical ingenuity, especially modifications to the Douglas A-20 Havoc light bomber and B-25 Mitchell medium bomber that turned them into attack aircraft.

Gunn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (US) with one Oak Leaf Cluster in 1942 for flying an unarmed, unarmored airplane into hostile airspace to bring medical supplies to the besieged troops on Bataan. In April 1942 he flew a B-25 on the Royce Mission to the Philippines, a mission that was originally intended to bring relief to US forces on Bataan. When General George C. Kenney, the new commander of the allied air forces in the Southwest Pacific Theater, arrived in Australia in the summer of 1942, he found Gunn in the process of converting the A-20s of the 3rd Bombardment Group into strafers by adding four .50-caliber machine guns in the nose. When Gen Kenney learned that Gunn was using weapons from wrecked fighters, he was impressed by the man's innovative abilities, and immediately made him a member of his personal staff and placed him in charge of special projects. When the A-20s proved highly successful in low-level strikes against Japanese shipping and ground targets, Gen Kenney gave Gunn the go-ahead to convert a squadron of B-25s into strafers. Gunn's converted A-20s and B-25s played the major role in the Allied victory in the 1943 Battle of the Bismarck Sea. North American Aviation, the B-25's manufacturer, eventually began to incorporate variations of Gunn's armament innovations into later models of the B-25. The B-25J, for example, was equipped with no less than 18 .50-caliber machine guns. These later model aircraft, which also included the heavily armed B-25G and B-25H, continued to wreak devastation on Japanese targets in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Okinawa until the end of the war.

In addition to the DFC, Gunn was also awarded the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Air Medal, 9 Purple Hearts, and WWII Victory Medal.

Gunn died when his plane crashed in a storm over the Philippines on October 11, 1957 killing all aboard.