page_title: McCoy Air Force Base
section_title: 321st Bombardment Wing and 19th Bombardment Wing
hierarchical_section_title: McCoy Air Force Base / History / Cold War / 321st Bombardment Wing and 19th Bombardment Wing
caption_attribution_description: English: Postcard from McCoy AFB, Florida
context_page_description: McCoy AFB is a former U.S. Air Force installation located 10 miles southeast of Orlando, Florida. It was a training base during World War II. From 1951 to 1975, it was a front line Strategic Air Command base during the Cold War and Vietnam War. It was Orlando's biggest employer and economic backbone prior to the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971.
  With McCoy's closure as an active USAF facility 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 and ICAO airport code of KMCO.
  Over the course of its existence the installation had several names, including Orlando Army Air Field #2, Pinecastle Army Airfield, and Pinecastle Air Force Base.
context_section_description: On 15 December 1953, the 321st Bombardment Wing (Medium) was activated at Pinecastle AFB, absorbing all B-47 bombers and KC-97 tankers at the base.  The B-47 combat crew training mission was also transferred from ATC to SAC. Colonel Michael N.W. McCoy, previously commander of the 306th Bombardment Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, was appointed commander of the 321st Bombardment Wing on 24 May 1954, having earned the unofficial distinction of being the "dean" of the Strategic Air Command's B-47 "Stratojet" aircraft commanders.
  In July 1954, the 19th Bombardment Wing joined the 321st at Pinecastle AFB and the two units came under the control of the 813th Strategic Aerospace Division. The 813th was subsequently inactivated in the summer of 1956 when the 19th Bomb Wing moved to Homestead Air Force Base, Florida.
  In November 1957, the base was host to the medium and heavy bombers participating in the annual Strategic Air Command Bombing Navigation and Reconnaissance Competition. During the competition, a B-47 aircraft mishap north of downtown Orlando took the lives of Colonel McCoy, Group Captain John Woodroffe of the Royal Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Joyce, and Major Vernon Stuff during preparations for the event. Despite this tragedy, the 321st Bomb Wing, under the direction of its new commander, Colonel Robert W. Strong, Jr., won the top honors of the meet, including the coveted Fairchild and McCoy trophies, distinguishing the 321st as the top B-47 Wing in SAC.
caption: Postcard from Pinecastle AFB in the mid-1950s, showing the Pinecastle AFB control tower and a Boeing 
  B-47E-90-BW Stratojet, AF Ser. No. 52-0477, of the 321st Bomb Wing on the ramp.  This B-47 was sent to AMARC in November 1964.  
  The control tower would continue to be used by McCoy AFB and as the first control tower for Orlando International Airport.
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