· In 1928 the Orlando Municipal Airport was opened to attract aviation to the city and is known as the Orlando Executive Airport today.
· In September of 1940 Orlando Municipal Airport (aka Herndon Field) was taken over by the Army Air Corps and turned into a Army training base known as the Orlando Army Airfield.
· Between 1941 and 1945 the US acquired an undeveloped rural area of aprox 2365 acres from various owners by condemnation. This site was developed and named Pinecastle Army Air Field. The Army Air Corps originally used the Pinecastle Army Air Field as a training base for B-17 bomber crews and was also known as Orlando Army Air Field Number Two.
· After World War II Pinecastle Army Air Field was renamed Pinecastle Air Force Base.
· In early 1946 the base was deactivated but was still use to conduct some of the first test flights of the X-1 rocket plane in which Chuck Yeager later broke the sound barrier. Glide-testing was successfully done at Pinecastle Air Force Base with the X-1 being dropped from the bomb bay of it's "mother ship," a B-29.
· The entire site was disposed of in 1947 by transfer to the city of Orlando.
· In 1952 the site was reactivated under the Air Training Command for training.
· In January 1954 the site was transferred to the Strategic Air Command and became home to the first generation jet fighters and bombers with full alert B-52 and KC-135 crews based here.
· On 7 May 1958 the base was renamed McCoy Air Force Base in honor of the base commander, Colonel Michael N. W. McCoy, who lost his life at the base in a jet crash during a military competition in November 1957.
· In February of 1974 the The United States Air Force withdrew its interest in McCoy AFB and turned the airport over to the city of Orlando, leaving behind millions of dollars in improvements.
· In 1976 the airport received international airport status and the original Pinecastle Army Airfield became named and is presently known as "Orlando International Airport".
· In 1978 the airport was named the fastest growing airport in the U.S.
· In 1982 the new terminal was completed and is becoming one of the busiest airports in the country.