The association has learned of the death of Philip Frank Gunn on 13 December 2012.
He lived in Hampshire and had been a WWII pilot.
From records
Joined 1943
Trained USA under ‘Towers Scheme’
Served with the Pacific Fleet in HMS Formidable flying Corsairs with 1842 Squadron
From ref books
Chance-Vought Corsair IV, KD672
1842 Sqn, Formidable
Badly shot up, ditched near carrier
17.7.45 Sub Lt PF Gunn OK
From his son Richard Gunn
Philip Gunn, who has died aged 87, was a Fleet Air Arm Corsair pilot on HMS Formidable during the attacks on Japan in the closing stages of the Second World War.
When war broke out, Philip was attending Northampton Grammar School. After passing his School Certificate, Philip joined the Northamptonshire County Council Education Department, and then became a motor-cycle messenger for the Civil Defence Control Centre.
In 1941he was one of the first to join the newly-created Air Training Corps, soon becoming an NCO. In February 1943, he and his friends heard that the Fleet Air Arm was still accepting recruits, they attended the local recruiting office, were tested in Cambridge and accepted but they then had to wait for their 18th birthdays. Philip joined the 53rd Pilots’ Course at HMS St. Vincent in Gosport on 14th June 1943, passing out second of his course. Shortly after this, Philip was sent to the USA for flying training, crossing to New York on the liner Queen Elizabeth, arriving on 4th November 1943. Flying training was at Grosse Ile in the middle of the Detroit River followed by Pensacola in Florida until August 1944. Philip then moved on to Jacksonville to learn to fly the Corsair and then Lewiston to learn deck landings. At Lewiston, Philip became old enough to be promoted from Midshipman to Sub-Lieutenant.
Philip was then returned home by the ex-French troopship ‘Pasteur’ and then sent to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on a DC3 Dakota, landing at Marseilles, Tripoli, Tobruk and Cairo, then on an Ensign landing at Lydda, Bagdad, Basra, Bahrain, Sharjah, Jiwani and Karachi. Finally, a Liberator took him to Colombo, quite a Cook’s tour with 37½ hours travelling over 6 days! In Ceylon, Philip learned dive-bombing and aerial combat, then practised carrier landings on HMS Implacable.
From Ceylon Philip travelled to Brisbane on the escort carrier HMS Activity, spending V.E. day there before travelling on to Sydney finally, on 5th June 1945, joining 1842 Squadron on HMS Formidable. There he briefly met his family doctor from Northampton, who was just finishing a tour on the ship as one of the medical officers!
On 17th July, Philip took part in a bombing raid on airfields on the Japanese mainland, at the first target airfield he shot-up a 4 barrelled ‘Flak’ gun and a aircraft on the ground before being hit in one wing by anti-aircraft fire; he then dropped his two 500lb bombs on the runway and was ordered to return to the carrier with two other damaged aircraft. His Corsair flew well at speed but, due to the wing damage, became difficult to control when attempting to land. After three unsuccessful attempts to land, he was ordered to ditch near one of the escort Destroyers. He had to ditch at around 120kts, in order to avoid the plane rolling, which resulted in a lot of water entering rather rapidly via the air vent. He was picked up by HMS Troubridge, suffering a badly gashed knee but nothing worse. The knee injury turned to sinovitis and Philip was not cleared to fly again until 9th August, after this he took part in several other bombing raids before the Japanese surrender.
After the war, Philip returned to work for Northamptonshire County Council in the school meals department then becoming an Education Welfare Officer in 1954. In 1961, Philip became Chief Education Welfare Officer for Bedfordshire (excluding Bedford and Luton) then, after Local Government reorganisation, Principal Education Welfare Officer for Bedfordshire which now included Bedford and Luton. In 1980, the county was to be split into four areas and Philip decided to take technical redundancy (although they wanted him to stay) and early retirement. After a few months, he was offered a job as Estate Manager for a local Housing Association, which he did for two years before becoming an Usher in Bedford Magistrates Court.
In 1987, Philip finally retired and moved, with his wife Margaret, to New Milton in Hampshire. During his retirement he wrote his memoirs and tried, unsuccessfully, to get them published (they have proved very useful in writing this obituary). He enjoyed retirement until 2007 when he suffered a brain haemorrhage; after this he was unable to drive and in 2008 he and Margaret moved to Havant in Hampshire to be nearer their eldest son. He died peacefully on 13th November, in hospital, after a short illness.
Philip is survived by his wife of 63 years Margaret, three sons, four grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.
Philip Gunn, born 22nd May 1925, died 13th November 2012