Prior to October 1999, NAS Cecil Field was the largest military base in terms of acreage in the Jacksonville, Florida area.

Shortly before the United States' entry into World War II, a 2,600-acre (11 km2) tract of land was purchased in western Duval County and construction began on the "U.S.

The base got its start in June 1941 as an outlying field of NAS Jacksonville, and operations were accelerated just 11 days after the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor.

The station was rejuvenated as an operating base for fleet aircraft squadrons and air groups, ushering in the "jet age" for Naval Aviation in the Jacksonville area.

Naval Air Station Cecil Field occupied 19,664 acres (79.58 km2), and was projected to be Navy's largest Master Jet Base.

It was RF-8 Crusaders from Light Photographic Squadron SIX TWO (VFP-62) out of NAS Cecil Field (along with Marine Aviators from Marine Photographic Squadron TWO (VMAQ-2|VMCJ-2), based at MCAS Cherry Point, NC and flying the same aircraft) which, in coordination with U.S. Air Force U-2 and RF-101 aircraft, detected the presence of nuclear-armed intermediate range ballistic missiles in Cuba and monitored the associated Soviet buildup during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.

Squadrons from NAS Cecil Field were aboard every Atlantic Fleet aircraft carrier deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

The first Atlantic Fleet Squadrons to fly the A-7 Corsair II, the F/A-18 Hornet, the S-3A and S-3B Viking, and the ES-3A Shadow were all based at NAS Cecil Field.