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NAVIGATOR TRAINING SCHOOL IN HAWAIIAN TERRIRORY


ram957
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I'm conducting research into a WWII USAAF Navigator. I found a newspaper photo of him, and nine other classmates, dated April 1943. The photo states that they graduated from a Navigator School at an Airbase in the Hawaiian Zone...I've had no luck locating the school...Any and all help is appreciated...Thanks

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The only airfields I know of were Hickam and Wheeler and I don't believe either of them had Navigator schools. The photo of his class has only ten students , so I'm thinking that it may have been a Pan Am Contract School, but I thought they were all in Florisa...The search continues....

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Pan-Am had a school in Coral Gables, FL and that is the only one I know of. Other Navigator schools I know of were Ellington in Houston, Hondo (Texas), Kelly (Texas), Mather in Sacramento, San Marcos (Texas) and Selman (Louisiana). By the end of the war it was cut down to Ellington, Hondo, San Marcos and Selman.

 

I know there were a few bombardier "classes" taught at outlying bases early in the war but have not heard of any such navigator classes. Learning to navigate over the open ocean sounds like a really bad idea to me, but they could have done it.

 

If this class was numbered like the other navigator classes, it would probably have been called 43-4. The only book I have that might have members of a navigator class 43-4 is from Mather. If you give me his name I can check the book just to see if he is in it.

 

Marty

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Reading the photo caption, I don't think the school was necessarily at an airfield in the Hawaiian Zone, I think the photo may have just been taken at such an airfield.

 

In reviewing my references, it looks like Ellington, Hondo, Mather and Selman had classes numbered 43-4. Of these I think Selman's class 43-4 might have been only the fourth class to graduate from this school. The other schools look to have had more prior graduating classes. I forgot to include the Pan-Am school in Coral Gables which also had a class 43-4.

 

Somewhere I have a book from Turner Publishing for Selman Field that lists most of the graduates from this school. Hopefully I will be able to find it this weekend so I can check for his name in it.

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I finally found my Selman book. Unfortunately he is not listed as a graduate from a class at this school. I also found that Selman class 43-4 was the 4th class in 1943 but was the 9th class overall from this school.

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