TBF / TBM training was difficult and dangerous . From 1942 through 1946 , 94 trainees lost their lives while serving at NAS Fort Lauderdale . Fourteen of those men made up a five-aircraft flight , now known as Flight 19 , that disappeared while on a routine training mission on December 5 , 1945 . The need to train Avenger crews having passed , the station was decommissioned after 1946 and the facility was conveyed to the government of Broward County , Florida for use as a civilian airport . Today the facility is known as Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
Flight 19
Flight 19
Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale