The Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale was still under construction when the first 16 student pilots and 17 TBM Avengers arrived at the base, in 1942. During this time, the Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ) had not been built yet. The Junior Officers were boarded in local hotels, mostly small family-run establishments in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Communications Officer William J. Hopwood remembers: "At the time I arrived in October of 1942, the BOQ were not ready and they put us up in a small Hotel on Andrews Avenue, which was owned by a man and wife who were Free French refugees. We used to sit around the lobby at night, listening to the Free French short-wave broadcasts from Radio Brazzavile in French Equatorial Africa."
When the base was completed, it included an Administration Building, a Senior BOQ, Junior BOQ, a Ship's Service Building, Theater, Kitchens, Cafeteria, Service Store, Writing Room, and Recreation Hall, Barber Shop, the Sick Bay or medical Building, Radio Transmitter Building, Control Tower, Brig, Link Trainer Building, Hangar Buildings, Sewage Disposal Plant and Barracks for enlisted personnel. A vast complex of more than 200 buildings of which the majority were built of wood. Local Causeway Lumber Co. supplied most or all of the lumber. Wood floors were cut from the Florida Easter White Pine/Dade County Pine (which is extinct now in South Florida).
Upon graduation, many would stay at this base or move onto other military sites. From 1942 to 1944 the base would have trained 1,686 American and British pilots and thousands more of air-crewmen. At peak utilization in April 1945, less than six months before the war was over, there were over 200 aircraft stationed. At the end of war, the base was decommissioned October 1, 1946, exactly four years after its commissioning. The NASFL Museum is the only building remaining from that complex.
Communications Officer William J. Hopwood remembers: "At the time I arrived in October of 1942, the BOQ were not ready and they put us up in a small Hotel on Andrews Avenue, which was owned by a man and wife who were Free French refugees. We used to sit around the lobby at night, listening to the Free French short-wave broadcasts from Radio Brazzavile in French Equatorial Africa."
When the base was completed, it included an Administration Building, a Senior BOQ, Junior BOQ, a Ship's Service Building, Theater, Kitchens, Cafeteria, Service Store, Writing Room, and Recreation Hall, Barber Shop, the Sick Bay or medical Building, Radio Transmitter Building, Control Tower, Brig, Link Trainer Building, Hangar Buildings, Sewage Disposal Plant and Barracks for enlisted personnel. A vast complex of more than 200 buildings of which the majority were built of wood. Local Causeway Lumber Co. supplied most or all of the lumber. Wood floors were cut from the Florida Easter White Pine/Dade County Pine (which is extinct now in South Florida).
Upon graduation, many would stay at this base or move onto other military sites. From 1942 to 1944 the base would have trained 1,686 American and British pilots and thousands more of air-crewmen. At peak utilization in April 1945, less than six months before the war was over, there were over 200 aircraft stationed. At the end of war, the base was decommissioned October 1, 1946, exactly four years after its commissioning. The NASFL Museum is the only building remaining from that complex.
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