I was out in NE PA for much of the past week, and went on a Tomcat hunt. I knew of two F-14s on display in the region, and tried to find them. The first was on display at a VFW post in Whitehall, a suburb of Allentown. I headed down there Tuesday evening, to check out Bethlehem for the holidays, and tried to find the VFW post (I worked in Allentown for about 18 months, and am familiar with the area). After about two hours of riding around checking out promising locations from the GPS, I gave up and headed back to the house. I was able to get online Wednesday (it's not easy in Mountaintop, PA!) and found the address, so Friday I went back down and took some photos, both in the afternoon and after sunset. It's at a very nice spot, on a hill overlooking Allentown and the Lehigh Valley. It's an F-14A, BuNo 158617, which was flown to Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) in October 2003. The "7293" on the nose isn't a standard Navy marking, it's the post number of the VFW post.
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There is another Tomcat on display at the Tobyhanna Army Depot, about 20 minutes from Scranton. TAD performs depot level maintenance repair and overhaul for electronics equipment and missile systems, and is the largest civilian employer in the region. TAD had done work on the F-14 electronic systems, and the Tomcat was put on display there in September 2008. I pulled up to the main gate and told the (civilian) guard that I was looking to take photos of the F-14 display. He seemed confused, until I pointed to the big airplane sitting in the field, about 100 feet away. He asked one of the other guards in the booth, who said in no uncertain terms "NO CAMERAS ON POST". He said unless I "get permission from someone" I couldn't take photos of the airplane, then directed me to make a U-turn and leave. I guess I need to track down their Public Affairs Office and try my luck there.
