ORD is the IATA code for Chicago O’Hare International Airport, which is derived from the airport’s former name, Orchard Douglas airport.
The airport originated as an airfield attached to the Douglas Aircraft Co manufacturing facility during World War II, in an area northeast of Chicago called Orchard Place, at which time it was known as Douglas Field. After Douglas vacated the site at the end of the war, it was variously known as Douglas Airport, Orchard Field, Orchard Depot, and, particularly by the military who used the base, Orchard Place Airport.
Having taken ownership of the airfield, in 1949 the City of Chicago renamed the facility O’Hare Field, Chicago International Airport, to honor Edward “Butch” O’Hare, the US Navy’s first Medal of Honor recipient in World War II, who was killed in action in 1943, and lived in Chicago before entering service.
