Joe visited the NASFL Museum on June and Allan walked him around on a tour. You can read about his interview with Allan and see the photographs he took, on his travel blog: Travel for Aircraft
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Several years ago, after getting a photographic kit together for the quality of photos he likes to obtain, Joe decided to visit aviation displays systematically and as frequently as he could manage. He made good use of Google Earth, Wikipedia, airliners.net and Google’s search engine. Joe researches using these tools and also uses Google Earth to record whatever he found in a KMZ file. He is passionate for his subject as he enjoys seeing remarkable aircraft and pondering their history. He travels for aircraft viewing, photographing and sheer pleasure. As he says: "Travel allows me to experience how things are done by other peoples; try coffees, teas, beers, wines and food; see historic aircraft; visit museums; wonder at geology and geography; as well as to just get lost for a while."
Joe visited the NASFL Museum on June and Allan walked him around on a tour. You can read about his interview with Allan and see the photographs he took, on his travel blog: Travel for Aircraft
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Thank you to Mr. David Epstein member of NASFL Museum for providing us with this information:
How To Fly the United States Flag Ten Guidelines
We received several e-mails and a great visit to the Museum, from NASFL Communications Officer William J. Hopwood. It was an honor and a pleasure to see him again and to learn more about life at NASFL during WWII. The following are passages of his e-mails to Allan McElhiney, President of the NASFL Museum:
Monday, June 27: "I am a long time member of the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Historical Association and was Communications Officer at NAS Fort Lauderdale when it opened in 1942, and until 1944. I was at one of the NASFLHA lunches on Jan 5, 1996 when I delivered a short speech about what the NAS was like in those wartime years and brought some official Navy photographs I had acquired, at least one of which I remember was on display at the luncheon. It was a photo of Captain Pratt holding an early AM inspection of NAS officers and this photo was of a small group of us from the administrative staff and I was one of them in the photo. I don't remember all the names but think I may have written some of them on the back of the photo. As one of those who was at NASFL during the war, I know I speak for all of us who were there then to say how much we appreciate what Al McElhiney and all of you great volunteers have done to preserve the history of NAS Fort Lauderdale. It played a very active part in our national heritage and thanks to you folks it will not be forgotten. Many thanks, William J. (Bill) Hopwood, CDR USNR (Ret.)" Tuesday, June 28: Commander Hopwood remembers:
"Hi Allan: Thanks so much for your nice message. I want to thank you and your team for welcoming me and my friends last Saturday. We had a wonderful time. Seeing the museum really made my day, my month, my year. You folks have done such a great job. I really marvel at how you and your team of volunteers have managed to do everything you have to keep the history of NAS alive. I guess you and I can both say that WWII was the high point of our lives, and to visit the Museum and see all that you folks have accomplished made me feel young again. I hope many more who served at NAS during the war will have the same opportunity to visit as I did. I'm sure they will feel the same. I want to particularly thank Dr. Bloom for showing me around as thoroughly as he did. And thanks also to the Commander who was there (Karl Bork, naval aviator who served in Vietnam), for their time and for encouraging the young man who was with me to pursue his dream of being a Naval Aviator. In doing so he was also helping the lady who drove me up from Miami (the young man's mother) to feel more at ease about the possibility of her son having a military flying career. Allan, it was wonderful to see you again after 15 years, and also to meet your daughter. And I want to express especial appreciation to you for giving me the copy of that fine book Dr. and Mrs. Bloom wrote about how you started the historical association and over the years have created what has become such a tribute to everybody who had anything to do with NAS Fort Lauderdale in WWII. Without your efforts I believe NAS would probably have long-ago been relegated to the dust-bin of history. But the accomplishments of you and your team has not let that happen. Now the museum will be a major part of the history of South Florida for the foreseeable future. That's really good news. Thanks again for a wonderful visit." Bill Hopwood We want to share these photographs that show some of the servicemen at the NAS Fort Lauderdale base during WWII. They were sent to us by Jennifer, grand-daughter of Seymour Baumgartner, who was stationed at this naval base working as an aircraft mechanic. He was at NASFL for two years from 1944 to 1945. Thanks for sharing your memories Jennifer and Seymour and also thanks to Mary (Seymour's daughter), for helping us with the image captions! We are proud to honor your service, as it is important for our generation and the ones following-- that we do not forget. We hope you can visit someday! We are sure your grandfather will enjoy himself reminiscing about that period in his life, as we have lots of WWII memorabilia for display at the Museum. - Click on thumbnails to enlarge -
- Click on book cover to buy at Amazon - Rebecca Jones shares with us her new book: My Father's Fight of Honor - From the diary of William G. Griffin, who served in the U.S. Army during WWII in the years 1943 to 1946. "My father, William (Bill) Glenn Griffin, served in the United States Army in World War II. Growing up he kept photographs, medals, pins, and other memorabilia in a cedar chest in my parents' bedroom. I asked him several times about it, but he would never say much about the war. He would mention England, Germany, Belgium, Philippines or Scotland - the land and the peoples, but not anything about the actual war. Imagine my surprise when I was cleaning out the house after both of my parents' death when I found tucked away in a white pillowcase a diary. I sat on the floor and began to read of a scared young man going into the Army in 1943 and continued walking with him through the days, weeks, months and years to 1946 when the war ended and the soldiers all came home. The diary is 68 years old and is falling apart. I first started typing the diary to preserve my family’s history since the diary is disintegrating and we will no longer have such a treasure. Once I began, I knew I had to put this in a book to share with others. This book contains the actual diary of my father who enlisted into World War II in 1943 and continued to 1946 when he returned home. It is a day to day 'journey' from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Europe, to the Pacific and back again. He mentions lots of names of other soldiers. My hope is that this book will offer some insight and history to other families who were not as fortunate as we of having a living history book." You can purchase this book from Amazon Book Details:
Visit Rebecca Jones' Book Publishing and Writing blog at: www.rgjbooks.blogspot.com Naval Air Station Sanford had seen much action in it's 25 years of existence. It played a major role in WWII, the Korean War, the Cuban Crisis, and the Vietnam conflict. In May of 1942 the Navy felt the need for additional naval air training facilities. It selected a site in Sanford, Florida as a base for the Naval Air Operational Training Command. A municipal field was already in existence west of the town. Sanford deeded 865 acres to the Navy, who then purchased an additional 615 acres to complete the project. The base was commissioned on November 3, 1942 while still under construction. The base was to be used to train two bomber squadrons. Only one squardon was actually established. OTU VB2 #1 was the first unit to report to the base. It had been formed a short time earlier in Jacksonville. The unit was responsible for pilot checkout in the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura. The unit operated 34 PV-1s, 4 Lockheed PBO Hudsons, one PV-3 and 21 SNBs. In late 1943 VB2 #1 transferred to NAS Beaufort, S.C. OTU VF #6 replaced them and began training pilots in the General Motors FM-1 Wildcat. By April 1944 221 Widcats were stationed at Sanford. They were soon replaced by the new improved version of the Wildcat, the FM-2.By the end of the war training of pilots for the Grumman F6F Hellcat had begun. NAS Sanford trained approximately 50% of all the Navy's carrier based bomber and fighter pilots. After the war, in 1946 the base was decommissioned. The City of Sanford acquired the base and renamed the facilty Sanford Airport. As the Sanford Airport it accommodated several tenants at the field. Between 1946 and 1950 these tenants included the New York Giants American Baseball Training Camp, a retirement home, a hospital and a clothing company. After the Korean War began in 1951 the Navy once again acquired the airport as an auxilliary air station to provide a training facility for the Navy's carrier based pilots. In June 0f 1955 the base became home to Reconnaissance Attack Wing One. January 1957 saw the arrival of the first A3D Skywarriors, the Navy's largest carrier based bombers. They were followed in 1960 by the North American A-3J know as the Vigilante. The first RA-5C Vigilante arrived in Sanford in December of 1963. This aircraft was designed as a nuclear bomber but was later converted to a reconnaissance aircraft and played a major role in the Vietnam conflict. NAS Sanford eventually became home to ten Vigilante squadrons and their families. In 1968 congress once again closed the base and relocated the squadrons to NAS Albany, Georgia. The base was returned to the City of Sanford and now operates as the Orlando-Sanford International Airport. Visit their Website Naval Air Station Sanford Memorial We found more wartime cartoons and illustrations for Manuals from NASFL illustrator Phillip Denhardt Bower. We finished curating more of his works and will be showcasing them. Check our Member Spotlight page to read more about Phillip Denhardt Bower. - Click on thumbnails to enlarge -
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Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale MuseumNational Register of Historic Places. A Florida Heritage Site. Only remaining structure from WWII left on the naval base property. Home of Flight 19 one of the great aviation mysteries. A 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. The Only Military Museum in Broward County. Support the Museum at Amazon
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Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum
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