The airport code MCO stands for the airport's former name,
McCoy Air Force Base, a
Strategic Air Command (SAC) installation named for Colonel Michael Norman Wright McCoy, USAF, commander of the
321st Bombardment Wing at the then-
Pinecastle Air Force Base. Col McCoy died in the crash of a
B-47 Stratojet during the annual
Strategic Air Command (SAC) Bombing and Navigation Competition that was held at the base in 1957.
Pinecastle AFB was later renamed
McCoy AFB in his honor the following year.
McCoy AFB later became home to the
306th Bombardment Wing operating the
B-52 Stratofortress and the
KC-135 Stratotanker. In the early 1960s, with the advent of commercial jet airline service to the Orlando area, the installation became a joint civil-military facility. Following the
Vietnam War, McCoy AFB was identified for closure and all permanent party Air Force flight operations ceased in early 1975. The facility was briefly known as Orlando-McCoy Jetport until being renamed as Orlando International Airport.