Download the Album with translations:

BOCA RATON PILOTS' ASSOCIATION: A CELEBRATION OF VETERANS

Thank you to Pilot and Executive Director of the Boca Raton Pilots' Association Mr. Jim Costa and his wife Sandy, for their support of the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum! 

Mr. Costa put together his love of aviation and respect for war heroes and the military for "A Celebration of Veterans."  This event premiered this year, at the Signature Flight Support, Boca Raton Airport. It was a free event, that will benefit the community. Refreshments, music, exhibits from local military groups and art collectors such as Las Olas Antiques, attended the event. Cadets from the Civil Air Patrol Boca Raton Composite Squadron participated to provide a color guard and other duties. The patrol, is an Air Force auxiliary. Thank you Sandy and Jim, for inviting the Museum to participate! It was a great success, and can't wait for the next one!

AT this event, we got to meet Mr. Irwin Stovroff of Boca Raton, a veteran of World War II, who has made it his new mission to provide assistance and service for combat stress relief to disabled veterans, with his military therapy dogs. We got to meet his golden retriever, Cash, and his Corgi Jenny. Mr. Stovroff founded the Vets Helping Heroes nonprofit organization. Stovroff was a POW in Europe, and received a Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and the French Legion of Honor. To see the full list of participants: read the Sun-Sentinel article.

Photos by Minerva Bloom

1989 News 7- TBM Discovery
Videos submitted and created from archives
by Historians Jon Myhre and Andrew Marocco

Thank you to the Navy League of the United States, Broward County, Florida Council, Inc. for showcasing the NASFL Museum in their November 2013 Newsletter !

Download The Helmsman Newsletter:

Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum member, CAPT. Franklyn E. Dailey, Jr., USNR (Ret) DBA, is the author of many books. He has donated the following books to the NASFL Museum's Library:

Joining the War at Sea 1939-1945: A Destroyer's Role in World War II Naval Convoys and Invasion Landings

Franklyn E. Dailey, Jr., takes the reader back to two challenging U.S. Navy missions in World War II. First, he offers a participant's view of the defense of convoys against German U-boats. Then, as his destroyer's primary mission changed, he brings the reader to a live-action view of five amphibious landing force operations - Casablanca, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and Southern France. Churchill and Roosevelt had made defeat of Germany a priority ahead of the defeat of Japan. For Normandy to be successful, the Allies had to assure a supply line to the British Isles and then wrest back control of the Mediterranean from Germany. Army Divisions, Rangers, warships, attack transports and combatant aircraft, many with prominent unit names, are found in this book. Dailey also outlines the wartime geopolitical background, which will give the reader a good grasp of the larger picture of the action experienced by sea warriors in W.W.II.

Available at Amazon

The Triumph of Instrument Flight: A Retrospective in the Century of U.S. Aviation

by Franklyn E. Dailey, Jr.
The years 1921-31 saw U.S. aviation marking its first quarter century with record after record demonstrating the speed and reliability of aircraft and the developed skill of pilots who flew them. By 1929, the technology was greatly advanced beyond the fragile craft and the sputtering engine of the Wright Brothers. The ultimate tribute to them was the fact their aircraft, its engine and its controls proved to be the foundation for aviation. In 1932-35, technology and pilot skill breached weather's wall with the ability to fly instruments. A breakthrough flight control system, first demonstrated in 1929, had to be deconstructed to put the pilot into the knowledge loop. The result was a trio of pilot flight instruments that serve aviation to this day.

Available at Amazon
Visit Franklyn E. Dailey, Jr., Official Website

Linda Lee Granger, in memory of Mr. Leonard Zanky and Anita Zanky, donated the following artifacts:

• WWII Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Pillow Sham
• Complete WWII wool Navy uniform set.
• Silk tie and white sailor's hat.
• NASFL Historical Association member hat.
• Commemorative plaque of NAS New York Reunion, 1995.
• Memorial flag of Leonard Zanky Aviation Machinist Mate First Class MM1C USNR.

Jess Karcher, a Police Service Aide, with the City of Fort Lauderdale, is an avid collector of WWII artifacts.
He donated the following items:

• 8 military books with WWII themes.  
  
• 3 WWII gas masks, each with kit & bag.
  
• 2 WWII wool US Navy uniforms, and one white sailor's hat.
  
• 1 US wool Navy peacoat.
  
• 1 USMC combat shirt.
  
• 4 WWII ammunition belts.
  
• 4 WWII helmets.
  
• 1 Marine training hat.
  
• 1 Camo poncho.
  

Maureen Campbell Clark & Kenneth Campbell, relatives of Walter R. Parpart, Jr., donated the following artifacts relating to Flight 19:

• Original Aviators Flight Log Book, with all pages, belonging to Flight 19 crewman Walter Reed Parpart, Jr., Seaman First Class, United States Navy Reserve.
• Seven black and white photographs of Walter and friends, taken at Fort Lauderdale's New River, and friends at the NAS Fort Lauderdale naval base, circa 1945.
• Four original pages from correspondence to Mrs. Parpart, typewritten. Two of them hand-signed by Katherine Taylor (Charles Taylor's mother). Dated November 25, 1946 and December 18, 1950.
• One original page from Katherine Taylor to J.W. Prince, a treasure hunter from Florida. Dated November 7, 1950.
  
• One original page from J.W. Prince answering Mrs. Taylor. Undated.
• Four original pages from Mr. Neal Gorman (engaged in scientific authorship and research during the 1940's), in answer to Mr. Walter Parpart, Sr., dated December 26, 1947.
• A Presidential Citation "In Grateful Memory" of Walter R. Parpart, Jr., hand-signed by President Harry Truman.
  
  

IN THE NEWS

The 756th Project

Presently in pre-production is a documentary by Producer Ron Lowther, about the 756th Tank Battalion, and their journey from North Africa to Berlin. The main focus of the film is about the men who crewed the M4 Sherman Tanks. From inside a sweat box to an ice box, these men endured grueling, if not horrific, experiences throughout World War II in a tank. With Lowther's experience he is expecting this project to be another award winning film on his resume`. He wants audiences to smell, taste and feel what it was like to be at the controls of a Sherman Tank.

To become a sponsor for the film please go to: 

The 756th Info Page


See Weston Lifestyle article about the 756th project:

On this Veterans Day, November 11, 2013, we would like to honor the memory of Walter Reed Parpart, Jr., who on December 5, 1945 disappeared while on a flight training exercise in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. Walter was part of Flight 19 (also known as The Lost Patrol), a Squadron of 5 TBM/TBF Avengers that vanished without a trace. The squadron's flight plan was scheduled to take them due east from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale for 141 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 140-mile leg to complete the exercise. The flight never returned to base. The disappearance was attributed by Navy investigators to navigational error leading to the aircraft running out of fuel, however the "Mystery of flight 19" still remains one of the great aviation mysteries, as nobody really knows what happened.

Walter Reed Parpart, Jr., was the radioman in FT-28, piloted by Flight Leader, Lt. Charles Taylor. There was no known photograph of Walter, and there are no original artifacts known to the public that relate directly to Flight 19. Until now, when one of Walter's relatives contacted the Museum to tell us her story:

Oct 24, 2013
From: Maureen Campbell Clark, Manchester, N. J.
To: Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

"As per our telephone conversation, my mother Dorothy Campbell was married to Walter Reed Parpart, Sr. (1959-1963). Young Walter was an only child. He so wanted to join the navy he pleaded with his dad to sign him in at age 17. His mother was American of Irish heritage (McMahon) and his father's family was from Newburgh, NY. of Basque heritage. After the tragedy as years passed his mother drifted into a deep depression and blamed his dad for her loss until her passing... His father seemed to accept the black hole, weather anomaly theory.  I believe his brief marriage to my mother prior to his passing was brief but joyful. The seven photos processed very well and have two with Walter Parpart, Jr in dress whites. There is no mistaking him as he is the image of his dad. Perhaps you can identify his buddies. There are letters from Mrs. Katherine Taylor and a Mr. Gorman, explaining his weather anomaly, black hole theory. I noticed the House Resolution 500 (Congressional Record) failed to include Walter's last name. Has that been corrected?  I hope so. I will be forwarding all to you as soon as my nephew Kenneth Campbell who alerted me to this web site, comes this week."

Exhibit prepared and curated by Minerva Bloom
for the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

New Artifacts Shed Light on Lauderdale's Lost Patrol
By Ken Kaye, Sun Sentinel 4:49 a.m. EST, November 11, 2013

Sixty-eight years after five Navy torpedo bombers took off from Fort Lauderdale and vanished without a trace, artifacts have surfaced that bring one of aviation's greatest mysteries into sharper focus. Among them are an aviator's flight logbook, a citation personally signed by President Harry Truman and never-before seen photos of crew members. All had been sitting unnoticed in an envelope for about 50 years in the home of a crew member's family. Now, the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum — which is dedicated to keeping the memory of the ill-fated Flight 19 squadron alive — plans to eventually display the items.

Also known as the Lost Patrol, the five TBM Avengers took off on Dec. 5, 1945, on a routine training exercise. But 90 minutes after takeoff, the planes got lost, ran out of fuel and apparently ditched in the Atlantic. Despite a massive search, the 14 crew members of Flight 19 perished.

"I'm sure the families of the crew members have other logbooks, but this one is the only artifact, known to the public, directly relating to Flight 19," said Minerva Bloom, a volunteer docent at the museum. She was referring to the aviator logbook of Walter Parpart Jr., the radioman in the lead plane, which documents his training in the months prior to squadron's disappearance and has some interesting side notes.

"Japan accepted peace terms. I still don't trust them," Parpart scribbled in the log on Aug. 12, 1945, three days after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.

How did the items surface? A family member recently noticed Parpart's photo wasn't included on the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum website. Ken Campbell, a Milwaukee businessman, knew the museum planned to hold its annual ceremony on Dec. 5, honoring the squadron. So he contacted his aunt, Maureen Campbell Clark, Parpart's stepsister, and told her about the photo omission. That's when she remembered the envelope, dug into it and not only found two photos of a happy-go-lucky Parpart, posing with his crew member buddies, but also the logbook and the Truman citation. She also discovered letters from the flight leader's mother, questioning whether the Navy could have prevented the flight from getting lost. Campbell Clark, 73, of Manchester, N.J., immediately contacted the museum last month and offered to donate them.

"What are the chances that I even held on to this stuff after all these years?" she said. "But I'm so glad we were able to make the contribution."

Until now, the Naval Air Station museum, on the west side of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, had been unable to find any photos of Parpart, said Bloom. "He was a beautiful young man, excited to do something for his country," she said.

The museum must make some internal improvements before it can open to the public and display the items. Mainly, it needs to install a handicapped restroom, which officials hope to do soon. Housed in one of the original Naval Air Station buildings, the museum is loaded with books, plane models, photos, uniforms, a flight simulator and other memorabilia from Fort Lauderdale during World War II.

Parpart, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., signed up with the Navy shortly after graduating high school at age 17. He had the blessing of his father, but not his mother. "He thought the war was coming to an end, and he so wanted to join Navy," said Campbell Clark, whose mother married Parpart's father after both had been widowed. Campbell Clark never knew her stepbrother; she was only four years old when he took off with Flight 19. His logbook survived because he kept it in his locker rather than on the ill-fated journey, she said. The log shows he started flying torpedo bombers as a radioman, sitting behind the pilot, in April 1945. He was also trained to fire one of the plane's machine guns. On Aug. 24, 1945, he wrote in the book, "Graduate tomorrow. Get wings on Saturday." In all, the book recorded about 77 hours of training, with the last entry being a 4.6 hour torpedo training flight on Nov. 28. About a week later, he was the radioman on FT-28, piloted by Lt. Charles Taylor, the leader of Flight 19. The flight was supposed to make a practice bomb run in the Bahamas and conduct a navigational exercise.

But after departing the Bahamas, Taylor reported his compasses were malfunctioning and apparently got disoriented in night and bad weather. Most experts think the planes went down somewhere east of Daytona Beach. During the ensuring search, 13 more servicemen were killed when their large twin-engine seaplane crashed. In the aftermath, numerous theories arose, including that the planes were simply swallowed by the Bermuda Triangle, the mythical area between Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda, where hundreds of ships and planes have purportedly vanished.

Jon Myhre, of Sebastian, a former air traffic controller who has been searching for Flight 19 for more than three decades, said the new artifacts provide insight into that era. "The interest in the flight has waned over the years," he said. "But I think people still like it, because it's still a mystery."

kkaye@tribune.com or 954-572-2085.
Copyright © 2013, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

W A T C H    T H E    V I D E O
Never before seen photos of Flight 19 radioman Walter Reed Parpart, Jr. have recently surfaced.
Story by videographer and editor Taimy Alvarez, Sun Sentinel.

Volunteers Keep Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Alive
by Ron Pollworth, Broward County’s Public Communications Division

The Naval Air Station Museum Fort Lauderdale is on the National Register of Historic Places. Once a sprawling military base with more than 200 buildings near what today is the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, one building housing the Naval Air Station Museum Fort Lauderdale is all that is left. The completely volunteer run facility now proudly displays hundreds of historic artifacts the Museum volunteers collect, maintain and display.

Commissioned October 1, 1942, the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale (NASFL), owned by Broward County, was a land-based facility used to train pilots and crewmen for torpedo-bomber airplanes. When World War II ended in 1945, the base that had served more than 2 million men and women was closed. However, through the course of the years, the barracks at the base housed junior high school students and later served as the first campus of what is now Broward College. Today, this is the only military museum in Broward County.

In 1979 local volunteers, namely Allan McElhiney, a former World War II sailor; Ben Langley MCB7; Army Col. Robert Rawls; Chief Stephen Sedillo, United States Coast Guard; and a handful of history enthusiasts and supporters established the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Historical Association. Their first mission was to convince the County to save at least one of the buildings from demolition. From the large naval base, one building was preserved – Link Trainer Building No. 8 – which is now on the U.S National Register of Historic Places.

Thousands of World War II service men were trained using this Link Trainer for training as a combat pilot. Today, Link Trainer Building No. 8 is the Naval Air Station Museum and named for the Link Trainer, or flight simulator, produced in the early 1930s. The Link Trainer, one of which is on display, became famous during World War II when they were used by almost every nation to train pilots. More than 500,000 U.S. pilots received training on Link simulators, many of them at Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale.

Dr. John Bloom, museum volunteer, explains the mission of the Museum is to develop and maintain an internationally recognized Naval Aviation Museum that educates the young and old alike and to preserve the memory of the men and women who received training here during World War II. “We have had visitors from around the world, and I recall British veterans explaining how this building was set up when they were here,” Bloom said.

A significant display at the museum pays tribute to historic Flight 19, one of the greatest aviation mysteries of the world. Flight 19 flew out of NASFL on December 5, 1945, to vanish into what is known today as the Bermuda Triangle. The Museum also displays a replicated barrack room where 19-year-old future U.S. President George H.W. Bush lived while receiving training as a torpedo bomber pilot.

The reconstructed barracks room that housed George H.W. Bush in 1943 is made of oak wood that was salvaged from the original Junior Office Bachelor’s Quarters barracks.. “These volunteers are totally dedicated, passionate and knowledgeable about the Museum and the significance this base played in Broward County and for the U.S. government,” said Greg Meyer, public information officer for the Airport. “This is a significant piece of history right here.”

Volunteers are usually at the Museum on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 954-359-4400 or 754-300-9259 to tour the Museum, located at 4000 W. Perimeter Road, Fort Lauderdale.