By mid-1942 , the United States Navy had converted Merle Fogg Field into Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale , and had constructed two satellite landing fields , one at West Prospect Field , and the other in Pompano Beach ( which later became Pompano Beach Airpark , home of one of the Goodyear Blimps ) . By the end of the war , the station had trained thousands of Navy pilots , including future congressman , UN Ambassador , Director of Central Intelligence , and President of the United States George H. W. Bush . Additional facilities in the city included radar and range finding schools and a base at Port Everglades . On 5 December 1945 , the five planes of Flight 19 departed on a routine training mission from NAS Fort Lauderdale and were never seen again . It is presumed that the flight leader became disoriented and led the other planes out of range of land , causing the planes to run out of fuel and crash , but no wreckage has been found . The strange disappearance of the flight and the coincidental explosion which destroyed Training 49 , a plane involved in a search for the missing squadron , contributed to the Bermuda Triangle myth
Flight 19
Flight 19
History of Fort Lauderdale, Florida