(File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base is scheduled to conduct evening training flights over the next two weeks from July 22 – August 1. The evening missions will launch from Barnes-Westfield Regional Airpor between 4-5 p.m., with expected landings between 8:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
According to the base, “We do not want to alarm the residence around the local area of Westfield who may be startled by the increase in aircraft activity during the evening and night time hours. These missions are a critical part of our required reoccurring training. The night-training is required to ensure our pilots are ready to respond to any airborne threat in the Northeastern United States, at any time, in any condition. 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 one third of the its Gross Domestic Product. We often do not have the luxury of advance notice, however, when we can prepare for training missions such as these, we will try to share as much information as we can. Thank you for your continued support.”
