Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Julie Avey | Col. Ronald Halley of the 104th Fighter Wing mission plans for him and his wingmen to...... read more read more
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Bar-b-ques, fireworks, and flyovers are all part of America’s Birthday celebration. The 104th Fighter Wing F-15s will take to the skies over the North East to celebrate as a symbol of patriotism and as a reminder of the sacrifice our military members make every day to protect the values and freedoms our nation celebrates on July 4th. F -15 Eagles will be part in the celebration on the banks of the Connecticut River, over the Star Spangled Springfield event, over Salem, and across the skies of Boston for the Esplanade Celebration.
"We are honored to fly-over the community to share in the pride of our country's birthday. What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than to display America's air power for the people of our great communities and nation," said Col. James Keefe, commander of the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base. "We want to give back to the people of Massachusetts who support their local Air Guardsmen in accomplishing the mission both locally and oversees, said Keefe. “We couldn't deploy or support domestic operations in support of our state and country without the backing of our community."
The flyovers performed by the 104th Fighter Wing's F-15 Eagles during special events display the Air National Guard's presence; serve as a training opportunity for the pilots and ground crews and for recruiting future members.
The 104th crews prepare for the flyovers
“From a flight operations perspective, I was preparing the flight lead role and mission planning,” said Col. Ronald Halley of the 104th Fighter Wing. “A couple hours on the computer to figure out the coordinates and the flight plan, along with timing in coordinating with three fly-overs for the Fourth of July. We have to figure out time, distance, fuel calculations, and plot in the computer. Do our checks and balances with that program. Develop a knee flight board to fly with for myself and the other wingman. Approximately 3 hours mission planning. That’s on the flight ops side. The actual day of the event we’ll have maintenance folks here two to three hours prior. Our fly over will be 7: 15 to 8:15 local time.”
“Once the jets land they will be put to bed by the maintenance folks, inspected and they will be here about two hours ready to go for the next flying day,” said Halley.
F-15 Pilot Shares His Pride and What America’s Birthday Means to Him
“Walking around in a flight suit, being identified as a pilot, I get hit up in public all the time, young people pull me aside and ask me about being a pilot and how incredible that opportunity is and it just makes me feel awesome to be in the position to give back to the public in that respect as far as inspiring people maybe do things they might not be able to do,” said Halley.
Halley described his pride in America “I think the two amazing fighter jets are absolutely representative of what’s great about America. For my example for someone who can come up through the school system, parent’s didn’t have any money and I joined the military at eighteen years and I got the opportunity to go to pilot’s training. Here I am fought in a couple of conflicts and now I get to fly a fighter jet over thousands of people and that just represents what is great about America.”
Fired Up for Fly-Overs
“Memorial day is whole different reason based on knowing what I went through in my military experience, getting shot at and doing some shooting and what people had gone through in previous conflicts is absolutely a different feeling of paying back and tributing those people but the Fourth of July is the biggest bang for the buck as far as where I came from and where I’m at and providing that image of America’s greatest opportunity in the world,” said Halley. “It is awesome to be there at that time and celebrating America’s birthday. That’s what gets me fired up for fly-overs.”
| Date Taken: | 07.04.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.04.2016 15:12 |
| Story ID: | 203069 |
| Location: | MA, US |
| Web Views: | 664 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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