www.aerothentic.com
Roy Lee
Grover
Stories of the use of airpower in the Pacific Area during
World War II would not be complete without remembering one man who made a
major contribution in the use of the B-25. This is what 38th Bombardment Group
pilot Roy Lee Grover remembers about "Pappy" and the B-25:
The B‑25 made a major contribution to the
successful prosecution of the "War in the Pacific" during World War
II. One of the men who contributed greatly or maybe was responsible for
enabling the B‑25 to be successful was Paul I. "Pappy" Gunn. I
am unable to sift fiction from fact regarding "Pappy" but to us who
were in the Pacific and close to the action in the early days of the war, the
stories of "Pappy Gunn are true.
"Pappy" Gunn owned and operated an airline
in the Philippines before and during the first ;few days after the outbreak of
war with Japan. He is reported to have carried out his own war with the
Japanese by kicking bombs out of his transports until the Army recalled him as
a Major and made his actions legal. (He was an Army flyer before he was an
owner and operator of his own airline).
It was "Pappy Gunn who led the B‑25 raid
on Manila in the Philippines from a base in Australia in April 1942. The
Japanese had occupied many islands including the Philippines at that time.
"Pappy" led his flight of B‑25 airplanes to his old commercial
landing strips and used the fuel that he had cached there to accomplish this
heroic and remarkable feat.
In the summer and fall of 1942, the short range B‑25
medium bomber appeared to have a limited future. It was assumed that when the
nearby Japanese bases were taken, the airplane would be of no use because of
it's limited range and we, the crews could go home. Certainty wishful thinking
of short sighted men living in miserable conditions. At that time, we in New
Guinea, were not winning the war. Our aircraft were outnumbered, our raids were
small and of limited effectiveness because of fierce opposition and the limited
range of our aircraft. The chances of taking the nearby bases held by the
Japanese did not look promising. In fact we were in danger of losing our own
bases in New Guinea. Each night "Tokyo Rose" (at least that is what
we called the girl radio commentator) would identify one of our units by name
and by location and sometimes by the name of the unit commander and assure us
that our stay in New Guinea would be of limited duration. If we didn't leave,
we would soon be dead. There were some people who made plans for evacuation in
case they were left to their own means because our position was anything but
secure and every one could not get on the available airplanes. It was in this
time of less than great enthusiasm for striking the enemy and winning the war
that brought "Pappy" Gunn's ingenuity to its sharpest edge. His major
concern and objective in life appeared to be "killing the enemy".
This was understandable because his wife and children were prisoners in the
Philippines.
My first meeting with Lt. Col. Gunn was at first
pleasant but that feeling quickly changed. It was shortly after the 38th Bomb
Group had moved to New Guinea in the latter part of 1942. Previously we
conducted our raids from Australia with refueling at Port Moresby. I ferried a
B-25 to Brisbane to have gun mounts installed in the rear side windows of the
airplane and to enjoy the hardships of civilization. This was just as the
popular 38th Group song would say, "We went down to old Brisbane to hear
the P.D. (per diem) boys complain, Hardships Hardships, you don't know what
hardships are!" We landed at the Eagle Farms airport, turned our airplane
in and were told to come back in 2 days. We quickly took advantage of a hot
shower, put on clean cloths and looked for a way to town ‑ town being
Brisbane. We were told to get out on the road and "hitch" a ride as
there was lots of traffic on the road but no base operated transportation to
Brisbane. We followed the advice and in a very short time a staff car left the
base and stopped for us. A Lt. Col.. was in the front seat with a driver. The
Colonel's only comment was, "Get in". When we had traveled less than
a mile, the Colonel asked, "What outfit are you from?" Our answer was
one of pride in our unit when we said, "The 38th Bomb Group". The
then unknown Colonel said, "Stop the car ‑ get out", then drove
off towards Brisbane without 3 shocked 2nd Lieutenants.
Our next encounter with "Pappy" Gunn was
two days later when we three 2nd Lieutenants returned to the air base for our
airplane and found out that the Lt. Col. in the staff car was "Pappy
Gunn" and he was not on good terms with our commander Lt. Col. Brian
"Shanty" O'Neal. Col. Gunn walked into Operations as I was filing a
clearance for our return trip to New Guinea. He asked for the crew of the 38th
Bomb Group B‑25 parked nearest to Operations and due to leave today. He
was speaking of our airplane and we identified ourselves. (I use the term
"we" because the 38th Bomb Group pilots were mostly of the flying
class of 42E with a sprinkling of "old hands" three classes ahead of
us and a couple of old men that were of flying classes one or two years before
ours. The pilots some times traded places, that is, I was the copilot coming
down to Brisbane and was the Pilot for the return trip.) Col. Gunn told us in
no uncertain terms that he wanted and expected that airplane, about 2500 pounds
of iron gun mounts, 12 mechanics from the 38th Group, their baggage, their tool
kits and us off his base by noon. A most unreasonable demand. The airplane
could not hold all that was to be moved. Col. Gunn would not listed to anything
we had to say. We were assured by base personnel in Operations that what Col.
Gunn wanted, Col. Gunn got and we had better "git". With frantic
effort, transportation was found for 10 mechanics and their baggage on a C‑47
but no other help was available. That left 2 men, their baggage, 12 tool kits
and 2500 pounds of gun mounts in addition of our crew to fit in one B‑25.
It was a tight fit, but the aircraft was loaded except that when the last tool
boxes were loaded in the back of the airplane the tail started to come down as
the nose wheel lifted from the parking ramp. The crew and certainly I knew that
the airplane could not hold all that we were trying to load in to it and we
certainly could not get off the ground with such a load. To further complicate
the problem, repairs were in progress on a hole in the runway so that the last
1000 feet was not available. We were assured that all this "stuff"
had to go and that "Pappy" Gunn often flew with a tail heavy airplane.
The way he did it was to load the items in the back while the engines were
running. It worked, the tail did not go down while the engines were running,
but that did not make it right. We were also informed that every one used the
reduced length runway with heave loads and we had a good wind to help us. So if
"Pappy" can do it, I can do it. I had had enough of "Pappy Gunn
and his great capabilities. As I taxied out for take off, the airplane seemed
heavy, the runway extremely short, and my position in life most perilous.
However, on the bright side, it was a chance to play Jimmy Doolittle. With full
throttle, flaps up and cowl flaps cracked open a little, I released the brakes
for a Tokyo Raid type take off. However, we did not fly off the runway as
expected, we just rolled along. I called for flaps as we approached the break
in the runway and pulled the aircraft into the air. We cleared the hole in the
runway but the airplane settled back down and I used the last 1000 feet to get
airborne again. I had pulled a "Hot Pilot Stunt", not of my own
volition but at "Pappy" Gunn's insistence and we lived through it.
One more story of "Pappy" Gunn the man, and
then on to his contributions to the war effort with the B‑25. Col. Gunn
liked to work on airplanes and was often the "Boss Mechanic" on
a repair or modification job. The story is that he broke the little finger
of his right hand and had the finger set at the hospital. The finger was held
in place with a splint not a cast. However the splint got in the way as Pappy"
worked on an engine and he removed it. As a result, his finger healed crooked
and got in the way when Col. Gum was handling the throttles of an airplane
or tried to put his hand in his pocket. "Pappy" had the finger broken
again and reset, again with a splint. Once again the splint got in the way
and was removed. Once again the finger healed crooked. He went to the hospital
and asked to have the finger removed. The request was refused. The hospital
staff would fix his finger but not remove it. So "Pappy Gunn reportedly
cut off the finger with his pocket knife and the hospital tidy up the job.
It is a fact that the little finger of his right hand was removed.
Now for "Pappy" Gunn's exceptional
contributions to the war effort with the B‑25. It was Pappy who put the 4
forward firing 50 caliber machine guns in the bombardier's compartment of B‑25
and 4 fifty caliber machine guns on the sides in two gun packages one each side
of the navigators compartment. He first tried using 30 water cooled 30 caliber
machine guns in the bomb bay pointing straight downs to strafe troops in their
trenches. The vibration peeled the skin or at least loosened the skin around
the bomb bay so that project was abandoned. The first packaged gun on the side
of the navigators compartment which were belt fed from racks inside, had the
ends of the barrels of the guns behind the propellers. Test firings of the guns
peeled the skin from the fuselage around the guns, the under wing and the inner
portion of the engine nacelles. This problem was solve by using blast tubes to
extend the gun blasts ahead of the propellers and no further trouble was
encountered. This configuration was first used in low level attacks in the
Bismarck Sea Battle with spectacular success. Half of the B‑25's used as
low level bombers (called mast‑head bombing and later skip bombing) were
already modified with the 8 forward firing guns, needless to say the 38th Group
was modified until after the battle. The 38th Group B‑25's had one
forward firing flexible gun in the hands of the navigator and one forward
firing gun fired by the pilot. The 38th Group had to follow the Beaufighters to
have the protection of a strafing pass on their skip bombing runs.
The strafing configuration of the B‑25 made it
a formidable weapon with a new least on life, although it was still a
relatively short ranged airplane. But "Pappy" Gum fixed that. The
lower turret had been remover shortly after we went into combat. It was
useless. In the space where the lower turret had been, Pappy put a 150 gallon
steel square fuel tank that was hung on a bomb shackle attached to the ceiling.
The procedure was to fill the main tanks from this auxiliary tank before
reaching the target area and then releasing the auxiliary tank and let it fall
away. The procedure worked. The raids on Wewak which weakened the Japanese
airpower in New Guinea was the result. It was messy with all the fumes that
resulted as the tank tore away from the hose fittings and breezy with a hole in
the bottom of the airplane but it was successful and gave the B‑25 the
necessary range. The Japanese had not expected the B25's to reach Wewak.
"Pappy" also installed a camera in the tail of the B‑25
connected to an intervalometer to take 4 photos after the bomb bay was closed.
This installation produced some of the best strike photos of the war.
One more incident. The strafing configuration with
300 rounds per gun in the nose and in the navigator's compartment put the
center of gravity beyond the weight and balance limits of the airplane.
"Pappy" Gunn was rumored to have received a wire from Wright Field to
the effect that the modification was dangerous with the center of gravity too
far forward and that the aircraft should be grounded. "Pappy" was
said to have wired back, "Put the center of gravity in storage for the
duration, we are fighting a war". Some precautions were necessary. The
take off speed was higher. 120 mph in place of 80 or 90 and the speed in turns
was increased to 170 in place of 120mph and all was well.
It was "Pappy gun who put the 75 millimeter gun
in the nose of a B‑25. He took the newly modified cannon ship on a raid
against shipping with his old group, the 3rd Bomb Group and had a successful
day. He hit the fire control unit on a destroyer with a shot from the 75 mm so
that the destroyer's guns worked individually and ineffectively. Then he sank
the destroyer with a 1,000 pound bomb. He insisted in all official
proclamations that he had sunk a destroyer with a 75mm. In a way, he had. That
incident sold the "G" model for the B‑25.
The "G" was a special purpose weapon. It
was good for use against small boats, barge traffic, buildings and such. One
could consistently put 3 or 4 rounds in an six foot circle during a 4000 yard
run using an inexperienced navigator as loader. The gun was manually loaded and
in a rocking airplane that was some task
"Pappy" put a 75mm in a P‑38 and all
his test pilots disappeared. Fortunately, he test fired the gun on the ground
and found that the P‑38 could not take the recoil. A B‑25 lost
about 5 miles per hour momentarily when the gun is fired and if you opened the
side window and put your arm on the ledge, the flash would singe the hair on
your arm. I tried it several times to show other pilots the effect of the
flash.
A B‑25G had a more limited use than a strafer
because you had to fire at a greater distance from the target. In a strafing
run, you were to present a three dimensional target to the enemy until you
pointed your nose at the target and start firing. At that point, you had to be
able to out shoot the target. In a strafer you could because no target had a
cluster of 8 fifty caliber machine guns but the B‑25. With a 75mm, when
you started to fire you were at the proper range for the guns of a destroyer.
The ship had more guns for a straight in no deflection shot than your one gun
airplane. The G model was a special purpose weapon that had to be used against
target it could handle.
The B‑25
strafers destroyed sea traffic, stopped barge supply traffic, and destroyed a
large segment of the Japanese airplanes on the ground during the time I was
acquainted with the airplane. It was a loser in the pacific that turned into a
great success through the ingenuity of "Pappy" Gunn and diligence of
many others.
Roy Lee Grover has published a book with his memoirs which you can order from www.authorhouse.com/bookstore
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