<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3 text-lg-center">History Orlando Executive Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para">Opened in 1928 as the Orlando Municipal Airport, the airport was the first commercial airport in central Florida. The United States Postal Service started airmail service to Orlando the following year.</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Military use: </strong>The United States Army Air Corps took control of the airport in 1940 for use as a training facility and renamed it the Orlando Army Air Base. For the next six years, the airport remained under military control. In June 1941, the Army Air</p>
<p class="blog-para">Corps became the United States Army Air Forces, and beginning in late 1941 through mid-1943, Orlando Army Air Base was used by I Bomber Command and later by units of the Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command (AAFAC) to fly antisubmarine patrols along both the east coast as well as over the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Straits, augmenting U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard aircraft in that capacity.</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Airline use:</strong> In 1946, passenger flights on National Airlines and Eastern Air Lines began at the now-civil Orlando Municipal Airport. Five years later, the airport built its main terminal, a two-story structure with a built-in control tower; this terminal building stood until late 1999. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 20 weekday departures: 14 Eastern and 6 National. Eastern Air Lines had a nonstop flight to Atlanta; no other nonstops left the state. The nonstops to Washington that began in 1959 were probably the longest ORL ever had.</p>
<p class="blog-para">In 1961, the airport was renamed Herndon Airport after former Orlando city engineer "Pat" Herndon, the change being in preparation for commencing airline flights to the new Orlando Jetport at McCoy at McCoy AFB, known today as Orlando International Airport. In 1965, three airlines served Herndon Airport: Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, and National Airlines. Delta flew Douglas DC-6 and Douglas DC-7 propliners on nonstop flights to Atlanta with direct service to Chicago. Eastern and National Airlines operated Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprops, with National flying direct service to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., Norfolk, Charleston, SC, Savannah, Jacksonville, FL, and Miami, and Eastern operating nonstop and direct flights to Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, FL, and Tallahassee. Eastern Convair 440 prop aircraft also stopped at ORL, with local service being flown to several destinations in Florida. By 1966, all three airlines had switched to operating their flights from the Orlando Jetport at McCoy, no longer serving Herndon.</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Later developments: </strong>In 1976, the City of Orlando ceded control of the airport and transferred the property,</p>
<p class="blog-para">its former City of Orlando Aviation Department, and all operational responsibilities to the newly established Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA), chartered by the Florida State Legislature to operate and manage all publicly owned airports in Orange County, Florida. GOAA renamed the airport Orlando Executive Airport in 1982 and again in 1998 to its present name, Executive Airport.</p>
<p class="blog-para">In 1992, in cooperation with the City of Orlando, GOAA constructed Colonel Joe Kittinger Park in the southwest corner of the airport. The aviation-themed park, named in honor of noted local aviator Colonel Joe Kittinger Jr., USAF (Ret) by the City of Orlando, overlooks the approach end of ORL's Runway 7. The park was temporarily closed in 2008 and partially demolished for an expansion project of the State Road 408 East-West Expressway, sacrificing part of the park's previous facilities and acreage for a storm water retention area. The park, albeit reduced in size, reopened in March 2011. In 2014, GOAA and City of Orlando officials approved the inclusion in the park of a demilitarized F-4D Phantom II jet fighter on loan from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (NMUSAF). This aircraft arrived at ORL from Texas on July 22, 2014 and is on pylon-mounted static display at the park. The jet received from NMUSAF, AF Ser. No. 65-0747, was actually flown by Colonel Kittinger multiple times, including while based in Thailand during the Vietnam War and after the war while based in England.</p>
<p><img class="img-fluid p-lg-0 rounded w-100" title="Orlando Executive  Airport" src="../../main/img/airport/oe/1.webp" alt="Orlando Executive  Airport" width="950px" height="500px"></p>