Preparing for the arrival of new F-35s,  , the 104th Fighter Wing donated a traditional F-15C Eagle flight on Monday to the , New England Air Museum.
Col. Michael ,” Shot” Glass, operations team captain for the 104th based at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, flew the 48-year-old F-15C Eagle on its last journey, a fly from the bottom in Westfield to , Bradley International Airport , in , Windsor Locks, where the , New England Air Museum , is located, a range of only 15 air miles and across the state line.
According to a video released by the gallery, Glass said,” It’s great to be able to possess this flight enshrined here in the air museum.”
He was informed that the plane would be displayed near to its intended design, possible with his name still on the aircraft.
Stephanie Abrams, president and CEO of the , New England Air Museum, was on the road when Glass arrived at about , 11 a. m.
” It’s a remarkable piece of defense history”, Abrams said,” which we are extremely excited about”.
The Warm War-era aircraft will be displayed in the museum’s military aircraft, joining an A-10 Warthog, an F-100 and a Douglas A-26 Enemy from World War II. In a airport next to an display honoring the all-black Tuskegee Airmen and their accomplishments in the face of World War II’s segregated Army Air Forces, the museum has a B-29 in its own airport.
On the civil side, the exhibition also boasts the oldest surviving American-built aviation, the , Silas Brooks  , bubble basket , made in , Connecticut , in the 1870s by Brooks, a , Plymouth, Connecticut, local.
Crews from Bradley’s 103rd Airlift Wing, according to Abrams, did demilitarize the F-15 before it can join the more than 100 aircraft that were already on display, according to Abrams in an interview.
” They take out anything that is high security, that cannot be seen by anyone who does n’t have high clearance”, Abrams said.
Therefore, the plane has to remain outside to off-gas, she said, giving off harmful substances in the form of pollutants.
” Then we are going to move it inside”, she said. ” I ca n’t wait”.
It is a traditional plane, having deployed in Operation Desert Storm, and is credited with taking down a MiG-25 Foxbat gone by , Iraq.
Glass stated to Abrams on Monday that he had been speaking with the captain who was on the goal.
The F-15C Eagle was the top fourth-generation air supremacy warrior used by the , U. S. Air Force , since the pattern entered support in 1976. Its relationships to , Connecticut , include its two Pratt &, Whitney F100-PW-220 machines, enabling the Eagle to accelerate right away with a force to weight ratios of 1.17 to 1.
According to Abrams, modified variations of the airplane are still in use today.
She said that while located in , Connecticut, it is the , New England Air Museum, and Abrams wants to enjoy the achievement of the 104th.
The , Air Force , announced in 2023 that it plans to bottom as many as 21 of its$ 78 million, latest-generation , F-35 fighters , with the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes. The new planes may occur in 2026, and pilot training is anticipated to start the following year.
It’s an economical increase to Westfield, also. The total amount of basic officers would increase by about 80 folks, including 15 officers and 65 joined defense members, though officials say those numbers may differ.
Construction now has begun on a$ 63 million expansion , of a runway at Barnes.
At the exhibition, a new show on longtime , Connecticut , native —” Through The Vision of Igor Sikorsky” — opens in November, tracing his childhood, his immigration and the Sikorsky agency’s ongoing improvements in , Connecticut.
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