gunn, paul irvin

Paul Gunn served as a U.S. Naval Aviator during World War I. After twenty-one years of service, Gunn retired and started a privately-owned airline in the Philippines. But when World War II erupted, Gunn's wife and four children were imprisoned by the Japanese, and Gunn would stop at nothing to get them back.

"This little-known WWII story introduces a renegade pilot whose personal mission to rescue his family from a POW camp changed modern air warfare forever. December 1941: Manila is invaded, and US citizen and Philippine Airlines manager, Pappy Gunn, is ordered to fly key military command out of the country, leaving his family at home. So Gunn was miles away when the Japanese captured his wife and children, placing them in an internment camp where they faced disease, abuse, and starvation. Gunn spent three years trying to rescue them. His exploits became legend as he revolutionized the art of air warfare, devising his own weaponry, missions, and combat strategies. By the end of the war, Pappy's ingenuity and flair for innovation helped transform MacArthur's air force into the scourge of the Pacific"--.