Lakehurst Naval Air Station was the landing grounds for dirigibles back in the 1950s. And, Lakehurst was just 15-20 miles north of Runnemede. Dad can still remember clearly seeing those dirigibles coming from a distance and as it flew in, it got lower in the sky, because it was approaching it's landing strip out at the station. Now you might be picturing the Goodyear blimp like we see flying over football stadiums and baseball games, but that's not what these were. These were mammoth flying ships - HUGE, amazing pieces of engineering. Dad said it was like they flew right over the house and would black out the sky with its enormity! Now this was during the Cold War, so in dad's young mind, it was like a huge Russian missile was approaching and it would oftentimes scare him. But, they became very commonplace and that fear didn't persist. He said he would see these things almost weekly, fly in from a distance, decend as it got closer. and fly overheard on its way to the naval station and was always an amazing sight. The picture above is of one of these flying ships as it ascended from the naval yard back in 1959.
I wonder if your dad was alive the day they had an air show the the planes flew so low over our house, I thought I could reach up and touch them. Of course that was an illusion, but I do remember the blimps and the planes being so close overhead. Philly's airport was even closer than Lakehurst, but the flight paths didn't come near Runnemede, at least not at that time. I don't know about these days.
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