Originally Posted by
Steven Holzinger
I almost did back in July or August of 2005. I was taking pictures (!) in a shopping center lot and they were using Runway 36 and someone did call somebody on me. Thankfully I left before someone stopped by to check me out. Like I said, the residents there have never seen plane spotters anywhere around the base and they will consider you suspicious. It's also a HUGE OPSEC issue there. There are flights that routine go in and out of the base that are on a need-to-know basis and these almost always involve airplanes that are not supposed to be photographed. That info came right out of a pilot I met that flies those aircraft.
Phil is dead-on with his statement. There is so much security around the entire JB-MDL complex that makes the base almost like Whiteman AFB. It also has to do with the foiled terror attack (which actually happened within weeks of the 2008 airshow). Trust me - DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR McGUIRE.
As far as spotting at military bases in the United States, it varies between bases. For instance, you see that you will most likely be arrested at and around McGuire. Dover would be a little less strict, mainly because of the AMC Museum (which I recommend - I believe the KC-135 is now on display). Langley AFB is almost as strict as McGuire but so long as you don't take pictures of the base, you should be fine. NAS Oceana is not as strict - in fact, they almost welcome spotters - especially at the Oceana Blvd spot. Be careful and be smart and when we say don't go spotting at certain places, DON'T.
(BTW, for the record, I live 25 miles away from McGuire)
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