Fighter jets train over Bethel

Six 104th Fighter Wing F-15 Eagles take off during a four day readiness exercise Nov. 2, 2019, at Barnes Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Airman 1st Class Sara Kolinski) 104th Fighter Wing/Public Affair

BETHEL — Every once in awhile loud and fast planes fly over the Bethel area and people wonder where they are flying from and why.

While timing and specific military operation areas (MOA’s) are confidential, public affairs officers’ from three states, Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont, confirmed what types of planes fly over the Bethel area and where they are from.

“The mountains of Western Maine afford us an opportunity to execute tactics like those we would use in combat, where a pilot uses the features on the ground to evade enemy radar and visual tracking. We seldom get an opportunity to do this in Massachusetts based on available training areas. Maine has one area where we are allowed to practice,” said Public Affairs Officer Randy Burlingame who interviewed a few pilots and compiled their responses.

The planes are most often F-15 fighter jets flown by Air National Guard pilots from Westfield, Massachusetts. For a few weeks each year, F-35 jets fly over from South Burlington, Vermont on their way to the coast.

People see and hear the planes as far north as Andover and possibly further north, too. Many remember them from 30 or 40 years ago, “When I was a kid they would cause sonic booms (break the sound barrier) It would rattle cupboards and windows etc. Not allowed to do that any more,” said Diana Nadeau of Andover.

Maine

Major Carl Lamb, Public Affairs Officer at Maine National Guard Joint Force Headquarters – Camp Chamberlain, Augusta said, “It’s not uncommon to see military jets of various types above the Bethel area. There are designated airspaces in that vicinity that are often used for training.

Maj. Nate “Sniper” Oswalt and Staff Sgt. Joe Adamowicz from the 104th Fighter Wing, Massachusetts Air National Guard taxi in an F-15D Eagle. 104th Fighter Wing/Public Affair

“All military pilots have a certain number of mandatory flight hours and mission types they have to stay current on to be fully qualified for duty. While Maine does not have fighter aircraft assigned to it (the 101st Air Refueling Wing flies the KC-135 exclusively), it is common for Vermont National Guard F-35s or Massachusetts National Guard F-15s to train in the airspaces in that area, so it’s possible those are some of the missions locals have observed. It’s also possible they could have seen aircraft from another out of state active duty or reserve Air Force unit who reserved the airspace for training.”

Vermont

Public Affairs Officer Marcus Tracy of Vermont Air National Guard in South Burlington, said he believes they have a training area that goes to the ocean from Vermont. He said, “Our F-35’s they land and take off here. But they don’t really train here. We have a very small area. We usually train over upstate New York … I do believe we have an MOA that covers part of Maine. It could absolutely be us.” Then later, “I can confirm there is airspace over [the Bethel] area.”

With regard to calls from curious residents, Tracy said, “Massachusetts has a couple different air bases. They have an Air National Guard unit and I believe they have an active duty air office base, too, and they fly over southern Vermont with their F-15’s all the time and we get those calls, too.”

He said they get Connecticut cargo planes that travel side by side through their mountainous areas. If you see cargo planes, he said, they are coming from Connecticut, whereas refueling planes are from New Hampshire and Maine.

In a follow up email, Tracy said, “I got an answer back and it is actually less than I suggested. We generally only fly over Maine a couple times a year (not even two weeks total).”

Massachusetts

The 104th Fighter Wing is a Premier Fighter Wing that serves both the state of Massachusetts and the nation at Barnes Air National Guard Base, Westfield, Massachusetts. Their vision is: “Forging Leaders in Defense of our Nation.” They fly F-15’s. Burlingame said, “you’re probably seeing both of our units [meaning Vermont and Massachusetts].” He said for security reasons they don’t share their exact routes.

Barnes Air base in Massachusetts also has an intelligence wing and a reserve unit that flies cargo aircraft. Burlingame confirmed that Otis Airforce base on Cape Cod has no fighters and hasn’t for years. The F-15’s that Western Mainers are seeing are most likely from Westfield, Massachusetts.

Under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle takes off from Barnes Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts, during air-defense Operation NOBLE DEFENDER, June 26, 2023. (U.S. Air National Guard Photos by Randall Burlingame)

Burlingame compiled responses from pilots to a few questions:

1. Why are you often flying in formation? What speeds do you reach? How low to the ground do you fly? (Bethel, ME. built a 108 ft. tall snow woman would she have posed a risk? 🙂

• Our formation flying is based on a concept of mutual support. Outside of the tactical implications, we fly in groups of multiple airplanes to be a team and assistance based. The speeds we fly are driven by the tactical effect we need to execute.

The aircraft is capable of speeds above Mach 2 (1600 mph +), but we rarely do that. Most of our overland speeds that an onlooker would see are between 300 and 350 Knots. We fly no lower to the ground than 500 feet unless on approach to landing, and most of the airspace we train in have restrictions that we cannot fly that low. A 108’ snowman would not impact our operations.

2. What does it take to be a fighter jet pilot?

• No different than that of any other type of United States Air Force pilot. At a very basic level…a bachelor’s degree (technical degree desired, not required). You will have to score highly on the AFOQT (Air Force Officer Qualification Test) [similar to the SAT]. That score and the TBAS [aviation simulator], your GPA, and the flying experience (private pilot flying hours) all get collected into an overall PCSM score (Pilot Candidate Selection Method) score.

If your overall score is high enough, and you pass all of the medical qualifications, then you’re granted a pilot training assignment. You will compete among your peers at pilot training, and the best in the class that want fighters get fighters and the rest get whatever the Air Force needs. Air National Guard units do it a little different.

You still need all the technical requirements, but they hire ‘off of the street’ for civilians with no prior military experience that want to be pilots and they interview the applicants and select the best fit for the unit, not necessarily the highest scoring applicant like the active duty does. The Air National Guard hires from the active duty as well

3. Do you ever land in Maine or do these few airports have restrictions that do not qualify fighter jets to land here?

• We need an 8,000-foot minimum runway to land. The only airport we can legally land at in Maine is Bangor, but we never do. It is valuable training to practice landing approaches at foreign airfield we’re not used to, so you may see us come down low looking like we’re landing, but we are just practicing.

4. Do you need a certain number of flight hours per week? And, do you have a civilian job, too? If so, what is it?

• We need a certain amount of flights (not hours) per month. It depends upon your experience level how many flights you need per month to be considered ‘current’ or ‘proficient’ for the month. On average we get about 6-9 flights per month.

If we’re not flying, we are studying tactics and answering e-mails for our many additional duties around the squadron. Active-duty fighter pilots cannot have a civilian job. Air National Guard pilots can. Most pilots in the squadron are also airline pilots on the side.