Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics Airfields - Alachua Army Airfield, Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics, Brooksville Army Airfield, Bush (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 30. Chapters: Alachua Army Airfield, Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics, Brooksville Army Airfield, Bushnell Army Airfield, Cross City Air Force Station, Dunnellon Army Airfield, Hurlburt Field, Keystone Army Airfield, Kissimmee Army Airfield, McCoy Air Force Base, Montbrook Army Airfield, Orlando Air Force Base, Orlando Executive Airport, Zephyrhills Army Airfield. Excerpt: McCoy AFB (1940-1947, 1951-1975) is a former United States Air Force base located 10 miles (16 km) south of Orlando, Florida. It was a training base during World War II. After the war it became a Front-Line Strategic Air Command (SAC) base during the Vietnam War and the Cold War. With McCoy's closure as an active air force installation in 1975, the site was redeveloped and is known today as Orlando International Airport, which continues to carry the base's original FAA LID airport code of MCO (i.e., McCoy) and ICAO airport code of KMCO. McCoy Air Force Base was named for Colonel Michael Norman Wright McCoy (1905-1957) on 7 May 1958. Col McCoy was killed on 9 October 1957 in the crash of a DB-47B-35-BW Stratojet, AF Ser. No. 51-2177A, of the 447th Bomb Squadron, 321st Bomb Wing, while taking part in a practice demonstration which suffered wing failure during the annual Strategic Air Command Bombing Navigation and Reconnaissance Competition. McCoy was the aircraft commander during the flight and the mishap aircraft was one of two at Pinecastle that had been modified to carry the GAM-63 RASCAL air-to-surface missile. At the time of his death, McCoy was serving as the commander of the 321st Bombardment Wing, the host wing of the base. A hugely popular figure in Central Florida, Colonel McCoy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in a funeral that included a flyover of multiple B-47s. 1947 aerial photo of Pinecastle Army AirfieldThe facility...