We got an e-mail from Jose Hurtado, Ph.D:
"I think NAS Fort Lauderdale Museum is a very important an interesting place in Fort Lauderdale and I want to congratulate its founder, Mr. Alan McEhiney and the Historic Association people for such excelent work!

However I'd also like to add a comment in order to complement this historical achievement:
It is correct to say that the Naval facilities were abandoned in 1946, after World War II, but 10 years later Col.(R)Robert "Bob" Young and his wife with some retired army officers founded a military High school named "Florida Military Academy", which occupied the naval facilities for more than 10 years (...or more), probably from 1950 to 1963...
I know about this situation because I was a student at that school between 1956 and 1959, and remember to have lived and attended classes in those old barracks for almost three years, whose pictures Mr. Mchiney shows some of them in his excellent book.."
Picture
After the war the buildings at the naval air base were converted into a Military Academy High School. They were later to be all torn down, except for one: building #8, what is now known as the historic "Link Trainer Building" that houses the current NASFL Museum. The Museum building was later moved to its current location on Perimeter Rd.
 


Comments

08/07/2012 4:39pm

Many young people are attracted to studying in military schools because these are known for their high academic standards as well as a strict and disciplined daily routine in the boarding schools. Learning self-discipline and gaining a personal standard of excellence is something that young people can benefit from through the years, even after they graduate from high school and college.

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08/09/2012 1:53pm

This article gives the light in which we can observe the reality. this is very nice one and gives in depth information. thanks for this nice article.

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Hillar Brandt
01/14/2013 11:13am

It is indeed exciting to see something like this after so many years. I attended Florida Military Academy as of summer of 1959 until 1962 when they moved to Plantation. I still remember airplanes taking off after warming up their engines at 5am. Of course at the time we could still climb and look around inside the abandoned Catalina's and naval fighter planes there. I spend most of the time in Miami and will make a point to visit in Feb/March when I get back to the US. If I am not mistaken, the barracks were those at the lower left side of the shown picture, Thanks for the pleasant memories.

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