Link Trainer Building
Built 1942, listed in the National Register of Historic Places 1998
4050 S.W. 14th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale
Photo captions:
Aerial View of the Fort Lauderdale
Naval Air Station, 1947
Image Courtesy of the Broward County Historical Commission
Link Trainer Building, 2002
Image Courtesy of Bill Cunningham
Restored Link Trainer on Display, 2011
Image Courtesy of Broward County Libraries Division
Link Trainer Building, 2011
Image Courtesy of Broward County Libraries Division
At the beginning of the United States’ entry into World War II, there was a need for training facilities for Naval airmen. Broward County’s flat undeveloped land, adjacent deepwater port, and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean provided an ideal spot for training bases. The Navy purchased Merle Fogg Field and surrounding properties and constructed the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station, with satellite fields built throughout the county.
The Naval Air Station was Broward County’s largest World War II training facility, training pilots and crewmen of TBM and TBF Avenger torpedo bombers for service in the Pacific. Radar and artillery development units were also located in the county. Other Naval fields included Pompano Beach Municipal Field (Navy), Forman Field (now the site of Broward Community College), North Perry Field and West Prospect Field (now Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport). Former United States president George Herbert Walker Bush trained at the Naval Air Station.
The members of the “Lost Flight 19” were also among the trainees at this station. The “Lost Flight 19” was a group of five torpedo bomber airplanes carrying 14 men that went out for a training mission December 5, 1945, and mysteriously disappeared without a trace. Their disappearance spurred the legend of the Bermuda Triangle.
The Naval Air Station and other military training sites in the area brought thousands of soldiers and sailors to Broward County. Once here, many determined to relocate to the area after the war to enjoy the tropical climate.
The only remaining building of the original Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station, the 4,000-square-foot rectangular Link Trainer building housed eight miniature airplane simulators used to train World War II pilots in the techniques of blind or instrument flying. The trainer was essentially a big blue box with little yellow wings. The Link Trainer was patented in 1931 by Edwin A. Link. He had perfected his design in the basement of his father’s piano and organ factory in Binghamton, New York. Organ bellows and a motor provided the means for the trainer, mounted on a pedestal, to pitch, roll, dive and climb as the student “flew” it. Ironically, most of his first sales were to amusement parks. In 1934, after a series of tragic accidents while flying the air mail, the Army Air Corps bought six Link trainers to assist in training pilots to fly at night and in bad weather, relying on instruments. One Link Trainer has been restored and is housed in the Link Trainer Building which is now the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale museum. For more information call 954-359-4400 or visit www.nasflmuseum.com.