BARNES AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard is scheduled to conduct night training flights, Monday, May 21 through, Thursday, May 24.
Area residents will see and hear F-15C aircraft. Training flights will be completed each evening before 10:00 p.m.
The missions will launch from Barnes-Westfield Regional Airport in Westfield, Mass. Night training maneuvers allow Citizen-Airmen pilots based at Barnes Air National Guard Base to stay current with mandatory Air Force requirements as a part of their overall readiness training.
“The 104th Fighter Wing’s primary mission is Air Superiority and with your continued support the night flights allow our pilots along with our maintenance personnel to remain proficient on generating F-15 Eagle flights 24 hours a day,” said Col. James Suhr, 104th Fighter Wing commander. “We thank our community for their continuous support in being able to provide Air Superiority to America."
The pilots will be training on both critical homeland defense and overseas wartime aviation skills.
“Our Homeland Defense mission is a 24-hour mission, and as such, we need to be trained and ready to respond both during the day as well as during the night at a moment’s notice,” said Maj. Brett Vanderpas of the 104th Fighter Wing Operations Group.
We would appreciate your help in sharing this news, to help alleviate the local residents from being alarmed. With our 24/7 alert posture, our Airmen could respond to an airborne threat at any time protecting one-quarter of the nation's population and over one-third of its Gross Domestic Product.
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The 104th Fighter Wing provides highly trained personnel ready to provide Air Superiority on demand anywhere in the world with assigned F-15C Eagle Aircraft. The 104th also sits 24/7 Aerospace Control Alert, providing armed F-15 fighters ready to scramble in a moment's notice to protect the northeast United States from any airborne threat protecting one-quarter of the nation's population and over one-third of the Gross Domestic Product. The Wing is always on call to provide emergency response to include security, logistics, communications, explosive ordnance disposal, firefighting, and medical support to the nation and Commonwealth of Massachusetts.