Editing Pittston Township, Pennsylvania (section)

===Airport===
[[Image:De Havilland Canada DHC-8-200 (Continental Connection) KAVP.jpg|thumb|The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in Pittston Township.]]
As the United States entered the age of mass air transportation, [[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]] and [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania|Wilkes-Barre]] (the largest cities in Northeast Pennsylvania) recognized the need for a large-scale airport. Despite the [[Great Depression]] and hard times affecting the local coal mining industry, a windfall multimillion-dollar opportunity to plan and build a regional airport was presented to the counties of Luzerne and Lackawanna through their [[Public Works Administration]]. It became apparent that a modern airport would be needed for the economic survival of the region. The site in and around Pittston Township was first surveyed in 1939 by the county commissioners of both counties.

In 1941, John B. McDade, president of the Heidelberg Coal Company and father of [[United States House of Representatives|Congressman]] [[Joseph M. McDade]], donated 122 acres on which part of the airport now sits. Most of the land was previously owned by various coal companies. By 1945, the two counties entered into a legal agreement to co-sponsor and operate the airport. Between 1945 and 1947, construction of the [[Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport]] took place in and around Pittston Township. Today, the airport is known as the “Gateway to Northeastern Pennsylvania and the [[Pocono Mountains]].” It is the fifth busiest airport in Pennsylvania.

On April 20, 1985, a [[CT-39 Sabreliner]] crashed while attempting to land at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport; this resulted in the deaths of all five people on board (including [[General (United States)|General]] [[Jerome F. O'Malley]], the commander of [[Tactical Air Command]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Casey|first=Aloysius G.|title=Velocity : speed with direction : the professional career of Gen Jerome F. O'Malley|url=https://archive.org/details/velocityspeedwit0000unse|url-access=registration|year=2007|publisher=Air University Press|location=Maxwell Air Force Base, AL|isbn=978-1585661695|pages=[https://archive.org/details/velocityspeedwit0000unse/page/247 247]–253|author2=Casey, Patrick A. }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19850420-2|title=ASN Aircraft accident North American CT-39A-1-NO Sabreliner 62-4496 Wilkes-Barre International Airport, PA (AVP)|first=Harro|last=Ranter|website=aviation-safety.net}}</ref>