It's a shame I am just now seeing your Video... My Dad Donald Brant which is now 97 years old help lay that base out and worked there with the Army corps of Engineers during that time and the War and went on to be Orlando's first full time surveyor and then the Chief Engineer for 38 years. He still lives there in that area and would have been tickled to have talked to you about this. I also took my Solo flight there when it was and still is to me Herndon Airport....Your video is very well put together and thanks for the share... If you ever need any info or help in the future don't hesitate to reach out to me.....Wind at your 6

@FlynBrian

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the great comment and thanks for watching!

@carmenburgos1616

Жыл бұрын

@@FlynBrian thank you sir , I’m also sad to see this so late , lived in Florida about 12 years and miss the living crap out of it ,as long as I’m far away from the Orlando region , but still love it , I’m a Hispanic male of 50 and I knew there was a reason why i loved that place … drove around trade port many times .

I grew up in Orlando in the 60's and the 70's. I remember the flag pole with the WWII style airplane topper next to the wooden military buildings. They were on the northwest corner of Robinson and Bumby. I also remember 2 thick concrete columns on Robinson at the end of the airport property where you show the entrance. I think many of us old timers will remember the barracks and the concrete entrance columns.

@charliemeder9867

Ай бұрын

Absolutely !!! Exactly what you describe. I too, grew up 60's & 70's, left Orlando '79 for Air Force. I remember the wooden barracks on Bumby, then replaced by the "A" train Restaurant after they were raised. As a young child, Army OD Green Trucks parked on the fence. I have recently learned Radiation, Inc had a manufacturing building there and south of McCoy AFB. The McCoy location was later used by NuBar Cabinet Company. The Radiation symbol was still in the entry floor at that location. ( later all moved to Melborne, Fl )

I lived there in the old Barracks buildings with my Dad ,Mom and siblings in the early 60's. It is where I received my FIRST permeant scar, " right between the eyes" !.

Great investigative work there Brian

@FlynBrian

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching Louise!

Or you could have just asked some of us old timers who remember the entrance. Great job on both videos.

@FlynBrian

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Great research! When I moved there in 1972 I think I vaguely remember a couple old barracks still standing north of Robinson but had no idea until the last couple years the history of the airport or that it was once an Army Air Base. I left Orlando in 1982.

@FlynBrian

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the nice comment and thanks for watching!

Awesome history! I'm from that area and knew of the NTC but not much about Orlando Executive and the Military past... I loved seeing this, thank you for creating and sharing!

So good.

@FlynBrian

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for commenting and watching!

My mother is an Orlando native, born and bred. My sister was born on base at the base clinic in 1959. My dad was a B-47 pilot stationed at McCoy AFB, originally Pinecastle AFB when we moved there in 1956. No Interstate, no Disney, no Universal, just cows and oranges. Thanks for the memories.

@FlynBrian

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for the great comment and thanks for watching!!

Nice job sir, came across your work while researching a memory I have with my Dad, flying into Orlando on Eastern Airlines circa 1971. Part of memory recalls the old passenger terminal at Orlando Executive. I have since visited Orlando Executive many times in my Mooney M20J, tie down at Showalter FBO.

@FlynBrian

3 жыл бұрын

Very glad you enjoyed it. I put out another one that documents the history of KORL if you are interested. kzread.info/dash/bejne/hYiLwcaHf9CXZ7w.html Thanks for watching and commenting! PS: I got lots of hours in M20s from when I was in the FAR-135 business there at ORL back in the 80 & 90s.

Thank you for the memories B.. A good friend lived a little ways from where the housing area was.. It was also a WW2 setup for the military.. He lived at 503 Malloy St.. He was living there until we graduated in 1970.. It is long gone now as well.. Thx again for the memories.. God Bless and take care...

@FlynBrian

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the great comment and for watching!

@garyjones2582

3 жыл бұрын

@@FlynBrian You're welcome B.. I really miss the way it used to be.. Was a great place to grow up.. I wonder sometimes how much different it would have been if Disney hadn't moved in... Do you remember Concord Elementary school? It sat where the Pontiac dealership is now.. I believe it is McNamara.. Well I used to go to Concord in 4th grade (1960).. Thx again B for the memories...

As the historian for NTC (RTC) Orlando (US Naval Base)... the land that our base was built on was on the old Orlando Air Force Base. The base you think is OAFB could be Pinecastle. It is documented that Naval Training Center/Recruit Training Command was the former Orlando Air Force Base. Our base was on the BRAC list and was officially closed in 1999. Last Recruits passed in review in 1994 and disestablished in 1995. NTC side was disestablished in 1998. I record the history of our base which was opened from 1968-1994 for recruit training and up to 1998 for school training on the NTC side. Lake Baldwin use to be named Lake Corrine, which was on OAFB/OAB. The streets that surrounded the base was Bennett Rd, Corrine Dr, General Reese Ave, Glenridge Way, E Colonial Dr...Lake Susannah was on the NTC side... Stop by BlueJacket Park (Winter Garden)... you will see where NTC/RTC was located and the sign that says it was the former OAB as well. McCoy is where we recruits flew into... McCoy was also the former Pinecastle Air Base. (based on a newspaper article from 13 August 1968: McCoy Air Force Base was named in memory of the late Col Michael N W McCoy who was killed in a B-57 crash over Orlando in 1957. Prior to that time, the base was Pinecastle Air Force Base.) (EDIT: Oops, incorrect on my part. OAB is North of the airport, not the selection of the NE area on your map as I thought. The old Orlando Air Base later became NTC/RTC and now Bluejacket Part and housing AKA: Baldwin Park. Where Bluejacket park is... during OAB time... it was mainly wooded area, then it was where the RTC area was for Recruit Training. NTC was to the right of that. When I arrived there in '74, there were still some old buildings from the Air Base days behind our barracks. OAB was called over the years "Orlando Army Air Base" "Orlando Army Air Force Base" "Orlando Air Base")

Another entrance to Orlando AFB was at the intersection of Corrine and Bennet. I drove through it in 1966 to live at Orlando Air Force Base. Most of the base after the city took back the airport was north of Colonial where this entrance was located.

@FlynBrian

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for commenting and watching!

Brian, Great job...I stumbled on your video while researching Zephyrhills Army Airfield, which was a sub-base to this Orlando airport. There are virtually no photos of Zephyrhills Army Airfield anywhere, and I wished that I could see a similar thing done with this airfield...Once again, very informative.

@FlynBrian

3 жыл бұрын

I used to fly over Zephyrhills all the time flying from ORL to TPA and back. Florida has dozens of airports that can trace their origins to the US buildup of the USAAF before, and during, WWII. Thanks for watching and commenting and best of luck in your research.

@carmenburgos1616

Жыл бұрын

@@FlynBrian hi sir I’m 50 year old Hispanic male , Lived in Orlando for a few years and sadly made the mistake to leave .. I’m paying the price , I’m seeking again to move soon back there … anyways Saw your video , and since I remember landing 1995 , I felt the whole vibe of the region as a military feel to it , couldn’t understand why at the time ..But when I learned a little about the MCCoy Air Force hace and B52 bomber , little by little i put the pieces together , not many people know about these stories that you telling , thanks

@USNWaveRet

Жыл бұрын

Try to Orange County Regional Historical Museum in Orlando or NARA (National Archives) in Georgia. (actually, check all the sites for NARA for any information on Zephyrhills. I found information of my former base, NTC/RTC Orlando both at NARA in Georgia and at NARA in College Park, MD. NTC/RTC Orlando was the location of the former base of Orlando Air Force Base or Orlando Army Base or Orlando Air Base (depends on who you talk too! LOL). Bluejacket Park/Baldwin Park is the location of OAB then NTC/RTC Orlando. Prior to OAB ... it was nothing but farmer fields and orange groves. McCoy was formerly Pinecastle. McCoy was named after a Colonel killed in a plane crash in 1957 over Orlando. Orlando Execute Airport was Orlando Airport, Herndon Airport (the one I flew in when I went to recruit training at RTC Orlando.) WOW... just did a newspaper search, you are NOT kidding about not finding anything out.... I can't find ONE newspaper article about this base. I thought researching OAB was limited! Best of luck!

Just as a follow up to my earlier comment, I''ll give you a little history. During the second world war, the Orlando Airport was transferred to the Army Air Force which included the air fields that are now the Orlando Executive Airport. Much of the base, not all, was located north of Colonial Drive, After the war, the city took back the airport but the land north of Colonial Drive stayed in the hands of the military and became the Orlando Air Force Base. I was stationed there for almost two years in 1966 & 1967, before going to Vietnam. After 1968, the Navy took over the property until they closed that base, The property was then given to the City of Orlando and was then was turned over to developers. The parcel in now called Baldwin Park. The northern edge of Baldwin Park is located the V.A. Clinic. Behind the newer buildings of the clinic, you can now see some of the original one story structures that populated the property. This area was the base hospital. I appreciated your investment in time. During my time at the Orlando Air Force Base, one of the main missions was the AAVS, the Aerospace Audio Visual Service, which made training films for the Air Force. When I lived here, they referred to the base as the "Country Club of the Air Force' because it was in Florida, we had two lakes and a golf course. Nice place to be, even in the military.

@FlynBrian

3 жыл бұрын

Great history info!!

Like Derrick Hand, my dad flew '47s out of McCoy in the late 50s, early 60s, and my youngest brother was born in the Orlando AFB hospital in '59. We moved onto McCoy at Christmas of '59, when they opened the new Capehart housing (and lived there through the dark days of the Cuban Crisis, with U-2s and F-105s on display up and down the McCoy runway). But before Capehart opened, we lived on Palmer St., just across Lake Underhill from Orlando "Executive" airport, with Electra prop-jets overhead droning madness into our brains as they came in to land. During the time on Palmer St., Orlando AFB was the center of much of our activities like hospital visits, shopping and going to the movies - and most especially using the Officer's facilities at the lake that substituted for an Officer's pool. All those activities gave me a very distinct memory of positioning that isn't in agreement with your (very thorough) research, but I'll offer it here for you to think about/work with. First, I distinctly remember the "base" being separated from the airport facilities by Colonial Blvd. This was very strange to me, completely unlike any other base we'd been associated with during my lifetime (I was born in '47). I think my father offered an explanation at some point, but I've forgotten it. Second, I remember the main gate (as shown on the post card) very clearly, but remember it as facing west, with the installation situated to the east. The lake seems to me to have been to the ENE of the gate, several hundred yards, I'm guessing, and may have been either Lake Susannah or Lake Baldwin, but was - like the rest of the installation - north of Colonial. I would take all these recollections with a grain of salt if it weren't for the fact that I have always had an uncanny sense of direction (which I attribute to the constant cross-country drives we made in my childhood as we moved from posting to posting), and the separation of the base from the airport proper is engraved in my memory as a strange aberration from what I'd known of other bases. (I also had a marvelous morning in '62 when a friend at McCoy was given the keys to two B-17s which were parked at the northwest corner of the airport and we spent hours climbing around them; doing that didn't require us to go through the front gate.) But I'd second Dick Camnitz' suggestion that you try to get recollections from folks who lived in the area. The North Side/South Side location question shouldn't be that hard to find witnesses to. And bravo your work: I've spent more than a few hours trying to track down things like the quarters we stayed at on Ft. Benning in '51, and it takes determination and perseverance. Well done . . .

@danshanahan595

3 жыл бұрын

Here's another link that suggests the base became Baldwin Park after it was closed down. That would make me think that the lake used by the officer's was Lake Baldwin . . .

@FlynBrian

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this absolutely fantastic comment!! I believe your recollections of the Orlando Air Force Base to be 100% correct. However, please keep in mind that this video covers the US Army Air Corp base that occupied the airport (and surrounding area) during the war years. And the entrance shown in this video is not the entrance you are recalling. Allow me to explain. The photo/postcard I show in the lead-in to the video was taken around 1942. When taken, the core of the US Army’s operation and flight line were on the west side of the airfield. By the time the war ended, they Army had acquired additional tracks of land north of the airfield, all of which were part of the base. (I have a 1945 engineering drawing that shows the areas north of Colonial Drive which I did not include in the video.) In 1946, the US Army returned the airport to the City of Orlando, but retained ownership to the “off-airport” property west and north of the airfield. As you know, in 1947, the Army Air Corp was separated from the US Army, and became the US Air Force. The property north and west of the airport the US Army held onto after the war, became US Air Force property. The Air Force maintained operations in both the areas west and north of the Orlando Municipal Airport. Over time Air Force operations on the west side of the airport dwindled, while the operations in the area north of the airfield expanded. Who knows why, but somewhere along the line the Air Force transferred their properties around the Orlando Municipal Airport to the US Navy. Who then turned it into the NTC-Orlando. Your memories of the Orlando Air Force Base after WWII line up perfectly with my recollections of its successor, the NTC-Orlando! The main entrance was at the intersection of Corrine Dr and Bennett Road. That entrance faced west. (There were several base entrances, but this was considered the “Main Entrance.”) Lake Baldwin is about 700-yds ENE of that entrance. Below is a link to a video I did about the history of the Orlando Executive Airport. It included a short segment that talks about how these properties were used after the war. It also briefly shows part of that 1945 era engineering drawing I mentioned, showing the northern area of the base. kzread.info/dash/bejne/hYiLwcaHf9CXZ7w.html

I do not think this gate is on the airport property at all but at the entrance to the facilities around Lake Corrine (since renamed Lake Baldwin) This gate was where Corrine Drive entered the base property at Bennett Road. I remember this gate well in the 50's as my grandparent's farm was what is now Lake Baldwin Park (once Fleet Peeples Park) We had to drive through this gate and through the base property to get to their house. Now, possibly there were two identical gates but this photo of a gate is exactly what I remember

My Grandfather, M.Sgt CW2 Ivert Shinske was a career man in the USAAC, USAAF, then USAF. He served in WW2 & Korea, and was stationed in Orlando for the rest of his 35 year long career. Unfortunately he died of cancer when I was only 1yo so I never learned much about his military career. I'm wondering if any visitors here knew him? My grandfather had something to do with missile testing while stationed at Orlando AFB, which later became a Naval base. He was active from 1927-1957, and received a bronze star. I would love to know the story on that one!

@charliemeder9867

Ай бұрын

My father arrived in 1956 to work at Radiation, Inc on the Army Base (Herndon) location. Missile tracking was the area he worked on there.

I lived here when it was Orlando Air Force Base. I remember there were 2 gates, the main one you show and there was a small back entrance gate. I'm guessing the years, maybe 1965 to 1967, during the Viet Nam War. I thought one of those entrances might be off of Lakemont Drive. Thanks for a great video! I've been in search of pictures of the Base during those years. Except for the ones my family has, it seems photographs are hard to come by.

@FlynBrian

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the great comment and thank you so much for watching!!

@USNWaveRet

Жыл бұрын

The location he is pointing out is NOT OAB. The location of OAB is where BLUEJACKET PARK / BALDWIN PARK is in Winter Garden today. In 1968, it became Naval Training Center until the gates were locked for good in 1999 (a skelton of a base by then).

@USNWaveRet

Жыл бұрын

One place you may look and or ask for photos of OAB is the Orange County Regional Historic Museum. I have also looked for old photos of OAB to add to our history of NTC/RTC Orlando. I have collected some stuff and information about OAB, but the history is limited on what can be found. There is an Army Museum as well that holds some information on OAB and for the life of me, the location escapes me.

Is this the old McCoy Air Force Base? Our family lived there from 1972-74 as my dad was stationed there.

@FlynBrian

3 жыл бұрын

No, McCoy AFB is now the Orlando International Airport. This video is about what is currently known as Orlando Executive Airport, and covers my little explore of the WWII Era of the airport. McCoy AFB is (was?) 5-mi south. It started out during WWII when the Army Air Force constructed Pinecastle AAF Base where the present day Orlando Intn'l Airport is located. Pinecastle was eventually renamed to "Orlando Air Force Base," renamed again to "McCoy AFB," and renamed yet again to "Orlando International Airport" when the USAF finally vacated the base and turned it over to the City of Orlando. During the early 1970s, the Air Force was still very much present and in control of the base. The city of Orlando operated on the NE corner of the airport. The USAF was spread out all along the west side of the airport. Thanks for watching and commenting!!

@DennisJohnsonDrummer

3 жыл бұрын

@@FlynBrian Thanks for letting me know.

@USNWaveRet

Жыл бұрын

@@DennisJohnsonDrummer Orlando Air Base is in the location of where today stands BLUEJACKET PARK / BALDWIN PARK (WINTER GARDEN). It was never Pinecastle. That is a separate base. OAB in 1968 became Naval Training Center/Recruit Training Command. The gates were locked for good in 1999. Pinecastle was renamed to McCoy after a Colonel died in a plane crash over Orlando in 1957.

Hi! I'm working on a related project and wanted to find out where you got the base maps at 1:48 and 2:04. Do you have full versions by any chance, or know where I can find them? Thanks!

@FlynBrian

2 жыл бұрын

The images you refer to were plans that I obtained from the National Archives. Let me see if I have the original file in my archives.

@USNWaveRet

Жыл бұрын

Yes, NARA is your best bet, but check them all. Each one holds different things. I found information on my former base, NTC/RTC Orlando at NARA in College Park, MD and at NARA in Georgia. Also, check with the Orange County Regional Historical Musuem in Orlando. They may have information you are seeking. There is an Army Museum which holds lots of information. I just at the moment draw a blank on where it's located. I'd have to look in my files as I have a form I have to fill out to donate some Army Training books that I collected while collecting our company books from my base. I've also donated some stuff to the Orange County Regional Historical Museum of items I collected about OAB. Good Luck!