Gunner (born c. August 1941) was a male

kelpie A kelpie, or water kelpie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Each-Uisge''), is a shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. It is usually described as a black horse-like creature, able to adopt human form. Some accounts state that the kelpie ...

dog who became notable for his reliability to accurately alert

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

air force personnel that

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

military aircraft A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat: * Combat aircraft are designed to destroy enemy equipm ...

were approaching Darwin during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Biography

The origins of the black and white male kelpie have never been ascertained. He appears to have been a six-month-old stray when was found on 19 February 1942, under the ruins of a mess hut at RAAF Darwin, following the first Japanese air raid on Darwin. He was found by personnel from No. 2 Squadron,

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) who heard the dog whimpering, as result of a broken front leg.Darwin Air Raids
Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 2019-01-26. The dog was taken to a

field hospital A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...

, where a medical officer reportedly insisted that he could not treat a patient without knowing their name and

number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...

.Kerrigan, Vicki (19 February 2009)
''"Gunner" the air raid siren dog''
. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio Darwin. Retrieved 2011-04-22 After being informed that the patient's name was "Gunner" and his number was "0000", the doctor set and plastered Gunner's leg.Hill, Anthony (2005, pp. 99–107)
''Animal heroes''
Published by Penguin, Camberwell, Vic. . At that point, Gunner officially entered the records of the RAAF. Leading Aircraftman Percy Westcott, one of those who had found Gunner, assumed ownership of him and became his master and handler. The young dog was badly shaken by his experiences, but quickly responded to the attention of Westcott and other personnel from 2 Squadron. About a week later, Gunner first demonstrated his remarkable hearing skills. As the RAAF personnel went about their daily routine at the airfield, Gunner became agitated and started to whine and jump. Not long afterwards, the sound of approaching aircraft engines was heard by the airmen. A few minutes later, a formation of Japanese raiders appeared above Darwin and began bombing and

strafing Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such ...

the town. Two days later, Gunner again began whimpering and jumping, and not long afterwards came another air attack. This pattern was repeated over the weeks that followed. Long before the sirens sounded, Gunner would become agitated and head for shelter. Gunner's hearing was so acute he was able to warn RAAF personnel of approaching Japanese aircraft, up to 20 minutes before they arrived and before they were detected by the rudimentary

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

systems available at the time. Gunner did not behave the same way when he heard Allied planes approaching; he could differentiate between the sounds of the engines used by Allied and Japanese aircraft. Gunner was so reliable that the commanding officer of 2 Squadron, Wing Commander

Tich McFarlane Group Captain Archibald Bertram "Tich" McFarlane CBE DFC (4 June 1916 – 19 August 2001) was an Australian public servant and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) officer. He commanded No. 2 Squadron RAAF during part of World War II. He later serv ...

, gave approval for Westcott to sound a portable

air raid siren A civil defense siren, also known as an air-raid siren or tornado siren, is a siren used to provide an emergency population warning to the general population of approaching danger. It is sometimes sounded again to indicate the danger has pa ...

whenever Gunner's whining or jumping alerted him. Later, when a number of stray dogs were roaming the base and becoming a nuisance, McFarlane ordered that all dogs other than Gunner were to be shot.Cranston, Frank (15 August 1981).
A man's very best friend in a nasty situation
'. The Canberra Times, p. 2. Gunner became such a part of the air force that he slept under Westcott's bunk, showered with the men in the shower block, sat with the men at the outdoor movie pictures, and went up with the pilots during practice take-off and landings. When Westcott was posted to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

18 months later, Gunner stayed in Darwin, looked after by the RAAF

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...

. Gunner's fate is undocumented.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunner (Dog) 1941 animal births Individual dogs Military animals Military attacks against Australia Military animals of World War II

Biography

See also

References