Back in the day—like, World War II day—this place was huge. It wasn’t some tiny outpost. It was a full-blown, super-serious military installation.
Think about it: Florida in the 1940s was prime real estate for training. Perfect weather. Lots of open space. And Orlando was basically a sleepy little citrus town.
So the Army Air Corps (the Air Force’s cool grandpa) swooped in. They built a base that trained thousands of pilots and crew members.
The Name Game
It didn’t start as “Orlando Air Force Base,” by the way. It went through a few name changes. Classic government stuff.
First, it was the Orlando Army Air Base. Then it became the Orlando Air Force Base in 1948, when the Air Force became its own squad. Catchy, right?
But my favorite name came later. In the 1960s, they renamed it McCoy Air Force Base. Why? After Colonel Michael N. W. McCoy, a local hero. And honestly, “McCoy” sounds way cooler. It sounds like a guy who drinks black coffee and fixes his own jet engine.
