The Saga of Pappy Gunn

Colonel Paul Irvin Gunn, known to everyone as Pappy, was a pilot and mechanic whose inventive skill kept aircraft flying in the Southwest Pacific during the Second World War. Young airmen arriving from their training bases found in him a steady mentor who could calm their nerves and rebuild their confidence. Whenever an engine, instrument or accessory refused to work, the usual remark among crews was that Pappy could fix it, and he generally did. General George Kenney, who commanded Allied air forces in that theatre, wrote this affectionate portrait of the man he had come to know well. Drawing on his own memories, Kenney follows Gunn's career from its early days to the battlefield, and explains why so many officers regarded him as one of aviation's true pioneers.