About This File
FS2004 1962 Fort Lauderdale Airport Scenery At the start of World War II, the airport was commissioned by the United States Navy and renamed Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. The base was initially used for refitting civil airliners for military service before they were ferried across the Atlantic to Europe and North Africa. NAS Fort Lauderdale was the home base for Flight 19, the five TBM Avengers that disappeared in December 1945, leading in part to the notoriety of the Bermuda Triangle. NAS Fort Lauderdale closed on October 1, 1946, and was transferred to county control, becoming Broward County International Airport. Commercial flights to Nassau began on June 2, 1953, and domestic flights began in 1958–1959: Northeast Airlines and National Airlines DC-6Bs flew nonstop to Idlewild, and Northeast flew nonstop to Washington National. In 1959 the airport opened its first permanent terminal building and assumed its current name By Frank Gonzalez