58 |FLIGHTPATH
In April 1942, as 75 Squadron RAAF continued its
scrambling defence of Port Moresby, 42 year old Paul
‘Pappy’ Gunn, exhausted and struggling to control his
emotions as he imagined his family left behind in the
Philippines,wasindesperateneed of something to do.
In editing this extract fromJohn R. Bruning’s
Indestructible, Contributing EditorAndy Wright
discovers what drove the father of the strafer.
S
incetheattackonPearlHarbor,the
manwhohadlefttheUSNin1937,af-
ter two decades of service, had seen
his fair share of adventure. Gunn and
his family had settled in the Philippines
whereheflewforPhilippineAirLines.The
company’s aircraft flew personnel and sup-
pliesaroundtheislandsfollowingtheUnit-
edStates’entryintothewar.Hefirstar-
rivedinAustraliawithaloadofevacueesin
late December 1941. Before he was able to
return,inthesecondhalfofFebruary,his
wifeandfourchildrenhadbeeninterned.
Hewouldnotseethemforyears.
During this first stint in Australia, Gunn
led the effort to assemble P-40 Warhawks
that had arrived in Brisbane in mid-January.The legend of ‘Pappy’ Gunn