During 1942 the Merle Fogg Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida was selected by the United States Navy to be improved into a naval aviation facility for training naval aviators during World War II. The facility would also train supporting aircrew and ground maintenance personnel on the Grumman designed TBF-TBM Avenger single engine torpedo bomber-carrier based plane.

Training was very strenuous and difficult. Many instructors were assigned right from aviator training in Pensacola, Florida. Having just been awarded their pilot wings, they had little practical experience in the beginning.

In 1943, Ensign George H. W. Bush, USNR, came to NAS Fort Lauderdale to train as a pilot.

During World War II, 1942 through 1946, ninety-four service members lost their lives while serving at the Naval Air Station. This number includes the fourteen lost on 5 December, 1945 when 5 TBM Avenger aircraft disappeared as US Navy Flight 19 while on a navigation training mission over the Atlantic Ocean from NAS Fort Lauderdale.

Late in 1946 the Navy closed NAS Fort Lauderdale at which time Broward County, Florida assumed control of the property and started development of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, now one of the finest commercial airline terminals in the country.

Two buildings remained. The #15 Junior Officers BOQ. Rich in history, this building housed George Bush. The Lost Patrol left from this very place. Bob Jenny's mural "The Final Approach", signed by President Bush, hangs here. The other facility is the Link Trainer Building.

In 1996 The U.S. Navy sold the JOBOQ building to Broward County Florida for the land. Airport expansion, you understand. Sadly, the current plan is to demolish it. Bulldoze it into the ground.
The Link Trainer will remain. That's why your help is so important. We need your assistance to establish a new museum in this building to showcase all the history and memorabilia of the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale.