Fighter exercises to continue this week

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The thunder you heard overhead on Monday was made by the jets of the 104th Fighter Wing, flying out of Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Mass.

They will be flying routine training missions over Southern Vermont for the rest of this week, according to Tech. Sgt. Lindsey Sarah Watson-Kirwin.  The 104th flies F-15 Eagles and has, as one of its missions, protecting the Northeast from airborne threats.

The 104th conducts fighter training in the Chugs Military Operations Area, which stretches from Marlboro in the south to Ludlow in the north and from Peru in the west to Springfield in the east. The area is named after 104th fighter pilot Glenn “Chugs” Milliken who died of cancer in 2016.