Driving around the country, you may have seen something rising from a field that resembles a large bowling pin. Or, more likely, you have driven past these without a second glance. This was my experience with the East Texas VOR/DME. As part of my job as a cultural resource specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), I determine if properties around projects are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. I have driven the State Route 78 corridor through the Lehigh Valley an uncountable number of times but never noticed this particular building. The property is adjacent to the highway where we were proposing work, so I decided to find out more about it.
What is a VOR/DME?
VOR/DME stands for “very high frequency omnidirectional radio range/distance measuring equipment.” The VOR half of this acronym is used by pilots to determine their plane’s bearing to or from the VOR’s location. The DME half refers to equipment using radio signals to measure a plane’s distance to a fixed location (FAA 1986). With both these technologies in the same location, as is the case with the East Texas VOR/DME, pilots can more accurately chart their position with one set of measurements.
Looking northeast at the East Texas VOR/DME station, showing the south and east elevations and showing the antenna at right. (February 19, 2025, Gabrielle Vicari, NTM Engineering)
A Standard Design
The East Texas VOR/DME represents a standardized design used throughout the United States. The base of the building is a low, one-story rectangle topped by an overhanging, flat, circular roof. A bowling pin-shaped transmitter extends vertically from the center of the circle. An array of transmitters rings the roof’s circumference. An antenna topped by a blinking beacon is west of the building. Based on comparisons with older photographs, few modifications have been made since its construction in c. 1956. The design closely resembles several other VOR/DMEs documented online and these articles, “How DME Works”, “GBN – Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Range (VOR),” and “VOR Chasing: My Unusual Hobby”).
This undated photo, taken before 1986 and looking northwest, shows the East Texas VOR/DME. (Source: VintageAerial.com, Photo 121-PLE-1.)
An undated photo of an unidentified VOR/DME station that is nearly identical to the East Texas VOR/DME installation.
The Development of this Aid to Navigation
The following is an excerpt from the Historic Resource Survey Form written by Gabrielle Vicari, a senior historian from NTM Engineering:
VOR was first developed as a short-range navigation technology by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s predecessor, the United States Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), which was formed in 1938 in anticipation of World War II (FAA 2021). During World War II, a number of advancements in aeronautical technology were perfected, including the VOR; however, the war effort’s demand for materials delayed the rollout of these stations across the country until the war had ended. By the early 1950s, there had been over 271 VOR installations, and upwards of 45,000 miles of airways relied on the VOR for navigation. Around the same time, the CAA worked to make the VOR/DME equipment the “international standard navaid for enroute navigation,” and planned to install 450 DME stations alongside the VOR transmitters (ICASC 2025).
During the early 1950s, the CAA continued to pursue the widespread use of VOR/DME facilities and other navigational technology at airports and aeronautical facilities across the United States. This effort was somewhat derailed, however, by the rapid expansion and evolution of recreational flight and air travel, as well as a number of high-profile aviation accidents. The federal government began an overhaul of existing air travel facilities in 1956 to account for this growth and to avoid future incidents (ICASC 2025). It was around this time that the East Texas VOR/DME was constructed. While there is a village called “East Texas” approximately 7 miles away in Lehigh County, the relationship of the village to this particular site is unclear.
A 1986 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) handbook on siting VOR/DMEs provides diagrams of the standard design.
Their Future
Over the past seventy years, new and increasingly accurate technologies have been introduced to the world of aviation. VOR/DME stations have continued to operate alongside these improvements, including GPS (global positioning system) programs, which has become the standard for navigation both in the air and on land. Since 2016, the FAA has been decommissioning many VOR/DME stations because of modern GPS technology’s accuracy. A number of these mid-century VOR/DME installations will remain active, however, as a backup navigations system if GPS programs fail (Brooks 2022).
In 2022, the East Texas VOR/DME was included on the list of navigational aids the FAA proposes to retain as part of maintaining this backup Minimal Operational Network, along with nine others in Pennsylvania. The PennDOT project as currently designed will not directly affect the resource.
On your next day trip through the Commonwealth (or beyond), see if you can locate these pre-GPS aids that continue to assist pilots in the 21st century.
VFR aeronautical chart, showing the East Texas VOR/DME location denoted by a hexagon inside a square (source: VFRmap.com) Inset: Identification Box Legend (source: FAA Aeronautical Chart Users’ Guide)
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This week’s guest author is Kristina Lammi Thompson. Kris is a Cultural Resources Specialist for PennDOT’s District 5 and an Above-Ground Cultural Resources Supervisor with PennDOT’s Bureau of Project Delivery.
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