Sometimes the sound above the beach isn’t a gull.
Look up along Northwest Florida’s coast and you might catch a military aircraft crossing the sky. Beyond the water and the beach towns sits Eglin Air Force Base, a place woven into the area’s history and everyday life.
In our Fall 2025 issue, Lauren Sage Reinlie looked at the giant next door, from its aviation story to the forests inside its boundaries.
A different view of the coast
Eglin’s work includes testing aircraft and equipment, along with training missions that bring together people from across the armed services. The surrounding landscape is part of that work: open airspace, wooded training areas, and the waters beyond the shore.
But a base is also a community. The people who work there live nearby, raise families, and spend their own days off along the same stretch of coast. Behind an aircraft overhead are crews, technicians, instructors, and plenty of people whose work you never see from a beach chair.
History hiding in the pines
Eglin’s roots reach back to the 1930s. During World War II, it became an important center for testing and training. In March 1942, Jimmy Doolittle’s B-25 crews practiced here before the raid on Tokyo, preparing for the short takeoffs their mission would demand.
Experimentation continued after the war. Long before small drones became familiar, Eglin crews worked with remotely controlled aircraft on a very different scale. That thread of testing new ideas runs through the base’s history.
The magazine also explored the McKinley Climatic Laboratory, where aircraft and equipment can be put through extreme weather conditions. On a warm Florida day, there can be a very different forecast inside.
The quieter side
Not every part of Eglin’s story makes a noise overhead.
Its longleaf-pine landscapes provide habitat for wildlife, including red-cockaded woodpeckers, gopher tortoises, and reticulated flatwoods salamanders. Conservation work on the reservation helps protect and restore these places alongside the military mission.
That is a different picture of Northwest Florida from the familiar strip of white sand, and an important part of what surrounds it.
Eglin is an active military installation, not an open-access attraction. For current public information, history, and access guidance, start with Eglin’s official website. Its history overview is worth a read.
Adapted from reporting by Lauren Sage Reinlie in Beach Happy Magazine, Fall 2025, Issue 22. Hero photograph: Tech. Sgt. John McRell, courtesy of Eglin Air Force Base. Additional photographs credited below. This is an archive feature, not a base-access guide. Read the original issue.
