FLIGHTPATH|61Group instead grew to detest Davies and his
men, because they pestered them relent-
lessly.Whenthe3rdcouldn’tshakeany-
thingloosefromthewarehouses,theytook
tomidnightrequisitionsandstolewhatthey
needed. In retaliation, the depots blocked
shipments, stole equipment bound for the
unit,andrefusedtoturnoverthingsex-
presslysenttothebombercrews.
‘Pappy’ found another way. Since they first
arrivedinAustralia,scoresoffactory-fresh
Americanaircraftendedupwrecked.Ground
crews dragged those beyond economical re-
pair into boneyards for spare parts. The yards
werenotascarefullyguardedasthedepots.
‘Pappy’ and Hall raided several and stripped
thegunsoffwreckedP-40Warhawks.Like
graverobbers,theyreturnedinthedeadof
nighttohackoutchunksofmetaltheyneeded
for their scratch-built gun mounts. They stole,
built,andboughtwithGunn’sdeeppockets,
whatever they needed, even after headquar-
ters lost its mind over the fact that they were
tearingapartabrandnewA-20withoutany
official approval. When they couldn’t steal or
fabricate what they needed, ‘Pappy’ found
some Australian firm that could do the job.
The experiment nearly ended when General
Roycediscoveredwhattheyweredoing.‘Pap-
py’ was not only not running his air transport
squadron,hewashackingapartoneofthegen-
eral’s brand new aircraft and making unauthor-
ised changes to it with materiel illicitly ac-
quired.RoycekickedGunnoutofBrisbane,
takinghissquadronawayintheprocess.
Gunn flew straight to Charters Towers,
where he wanted to be in the first place.
Davies, glad to have him, got him assigned to
the3rdAttackagainandputhiminchargeof
the engineering section. Despite General
Royce’s wrath, ‘Pappy’ and Hall continued
their work without missing a beat.
Theworkprovedagodsendto‘Pappy’.It
took his mind off the guilt of leaving his
familybehind.Heworkedtothepointofcol-
lapse more than once. He kept going, con-
vinced that his path back to Manila lay in
the devastation airpower could inflict with
therightequipment.
After much trial and error, the first modifi-
cation was completed. They managed to
mount four .50in calibre machine guns in a
tight box pattern in the lower half of the nose.
Theammunitionandbracingtohandlethe
recoil added substantial additional weight.
Hall insisted on test-flying the plane first,
whichdidn’tsitwellwith‘Pappy’.Hewasmore
experienced and didn’t want anyone else to
risk their lives in something he had conceived.
He gave in begrudgingly and Hall took off in
theA-20,findingrightawaytheirmodifica-
tionstransformedathoroughbredintoa
plough horse. Sluggish, slow, and nose heavy,
they had crippled the Havoc’s performance.
Back to the drawing board they went, and
then they realised the latest Japanese bases,
even after staging through Port Moresby,
wereoutofrange.‘Pappy’wentrightto
workfabricatinga450-gallon(1703litres)
fuel tank, which he and his confederates in-
stalledintheforwardbombbay.Thatnot
only helped with range, it also counterbal-
anced the heavy nose guns.
After further test flights, Pappy installed
weightsinthetailtomovethecentreof
gravity further back. Then they extended
the range further by replacing the wing
tankswithonespinchedfromwreckedMa-
rauders and Mitchells. The range of the test
A-20 was almost doubled.
It was time to test the guns and the re-sults were devastating. Anything in their
path simply disintegrated. Run after run,
they watched whatever they shot at explode
into countless pieces.
Davies gave the word to convert more air-
craftand‘Pappy’andHallorchestratedthe
modifications, bringing in more personnel
to get the job done, even as they encoun-
teredmoreresistancefromthebrass.The
modifications continued through the spring
andsummer,bothatBrisbaneandatChar-
tersTowers.TheThird’sisolatedbase
turned into an advantage, far away from
pryingeyes.Whatworkedwentintoproduc-
tion at Brisbane, overseen by other mem-
bersofthegroup,sinceGunnwasbanned
from the city. Through trial and error, they
improvedtheHavocsevenfurther.
It would be several more months before
themodifiedHavocswerereadyforcombat.
In the meantime, they needed to do some-
thing, or the group’s other squadrons, now
in action, would be bled to destruction. Eve-
ryaircraftlostmeanttheJapanesecamea
little closer to scoring their final coup in
New Guinea. ‘Pappy’ knew he was racing the
clock. He worked with an eye to a larger pic-
turefewsaw,withaskillsetandrangeof
experience nobody else possessed.
Finally, a frantic Davies sent a personal
message to General Brett. “Japs now attack-
ing B-25s from front killing pilots STOP
They got five B-25s out of eight yesterday
STOP until protection afforded can expect
same ratio of losses.”
Brett offered no solution. Headquarters
wasnohelp.Anychangewouldhaveto
comefromthebottomup.
‘Pappy’Gunnandtherestofhisengineer-
ing section rolled up their sleeves. They had
some Mitchells to modify.TOP LEFT:This is A-20A 40-0162 ‘Kentucky Red’ with
what is believed to be the unit’s pilots and gunners who
took part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Note the
filled-in glazed section of the nose. This aircraft flew
more than sixty missions with the 89th before it was
transferredto22SquadronRAAFinNovember1943
as A28-35. It was so worn out that it only flew one op
with its new owners.TOP RIGHT:‘Pappy’ in the cockpit of an early B-25
Mitchell, possibly one that had been originally
bound for Dutch service. He met his crew chief,
Jack Evans, during the Dutch East Indies campaign
and the two served together until Evans returned
home for pilot training. He was killed in a training
accident in early 1945.BOTTOM RIGHT:‘Pappy’ chats with Tom Gerrity in front
of a Havoc. Gerrity commanded the 90th BS until late
October 1942.BOTTOM MIDDLE:As indicated by its apparently
unfinished appearance, this was the first B-25C
Mitchell (serial 41-12437) Gunn began to modify. It was
namedasapokeintheeyetohismanynaysayers.The
‘Pappy’ character, pistols in hand, is swearing and
saying ‘And that’s plain English!’BOTTOM RIGHT:Don Hall was Gunn’s right hand man
when the first Havocs were converted. Here he
receives the Distinguished Service Cross from General
George Kenney in February 1943 shortly before taking
command of the 3rd BG.This feature is an
edited extract
from John R.
Bruning’s
biography of
‘Pappy’ Gunn,
‘Indestructible’,
published by
Hachette Books.