Throughout the Second World War, Napier Field in Dothan, Alabama was home to several advanced
single-engine flying training squadrons (formerly known as school squadrons) equipped with the
AT-6 Texan, as well as one which flew the P-40 Warhawk... the 433rd SEFTS.

Early in 1944, under a general reorganization, the numbered SEFTS outfits gave way to the lettered
squadrons of the 2116th Army Air Forces Base Unit. Despite this change, the mission remained the same...

Take the Army's latest pilot graduates and turn them into pursuit pilots.

(Note: I've come to believe that these first three photos may not have been taken at Napier,
and that the ships shown may not have been assigned to Napier when the photos were taken.
I hope to sort this out before too long, and the photos will remain on this page until I do.)

This early P-40 was photographed at Napier Field in early 1943.


Project 914 Archives - Larger Image

'Black Angel', also snapped at Napier in early 1943. (Her tail is visible in the above photo.)
This ship was built as an initial production P-40, serial number 39-288, but was later re-designated
as a P-40G after being fitted with the four-gun wing of a Tomahawk IIA... one of 44 such conversions.


Project 914 Archives - Larger Image

Another view of 'Black Angel'...


Project 914 Archives - Larger Image

Sometime in 1943 the 'Parrot' artwork started showing up on Napier's P-40Ns.
Inspired by Napier Field's mascot 'Gruffie' (who was supposed to be a griffin but
looks much more like a parrot as rendered on the aircraft), these brightly-colored ships
are perhaps the most widely-known and readily recognized of all stateside P-40s.


From: 'Shark's Teeth Nose Art' by Jeffrey Ethell - Larger Image


Project 914 Archives - Larger Image


Project 914 Archives - Larger Image


Project 914 Archives - Larger Image

The following three photos were taken during pilot class 43-K's time at Napier in late 1943, early 1944.


From: 'P-40 Warhawk in WWII Color' by Jeffrey Ethell (James G. Weir photo) - Larger Image


From: 'P-40 Warhawk in WWII Color' by Jeffrey Ethell (James G. Weir photo) - Larger Image

Lieutenant Jim Weir, ready to mount up...


From: 'P-40 Warhawk in WWII Color' by Jeffrey Ethell (James G. Weir photo) - Larger Image

The WASP and the Parrothawk

WASP Elizabeth Stavrum in the cockpit of a 'Parrothawk', 1944. She was one of the
first two WASP to be assigned to Napier Field, arriving on January 2nd, 1944 with
Donna Spellick. And of the total of eleven WASP assigned to Napier, Elizabeth
was one of just three selected to go through the P-40 transition course.


Project 914 Archives (S. Donacik collection) - Larger Image

WASP Elizabeth Stavrum, Class 43-W-8


WASP Final Flight Blog

This photo shows the eleven WASP assigned to Napier.

Back row L-R: Ann Baron, Elizabeth Stavrum, Elizabeth Pettit, Eleanor M. McLernon, Margaret Shaffer,
Mary Ann Walker. Front row L-R: Muriel Rath, Leona Golbinec, Donna Spellick, Mary Ahlstrom, Kate Lee Harris.

Donna Spellick and Kate Lee Harris were the other two WASP to go through Napier's P-40 course.


National WASP WWII Museum (Eleanor Brown Collection) - Larger Image
via The Portal to Texas History

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