"Pappy" Gunn was a former U.S. Navy flight instructor and airline official who was one of the last Americans to escape from the Philippines. His wife and children were interned by the Japanese for the duration of the war. Gunn was commissioned a captain, joined 5 Air Force in Australia, and quickly established a reputation as a master tinkerer and innovator. Most aircraft models deployed to the Southwest Pacific were field modified by Gunn and his assistants. A Gunn makeover typically involved dropping superfluous equipment and crewmen and replacing them with more guns and fuel tanks.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index