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Westover ARB had its’ last air show back in 2008 so it was nice to see the air show return to Chicopee Ma, home of the 439 AW. Even without a main demo team like the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds people were looking forward to this show.

They had a decent mixture of Military acts and Civilian acts. For civilian they had fan favorite Michael Goulian & NH’s own Rob Holland. They Skytypers and the Iron Eagle twin Biplane team. Many War birds flew into and did fly bys for this show. For Military demo’s they had a flyby from neighboring 104th FW’s flying their F-15 Eagles, the MV-22 Osprey Demo which was a new demo for me to see. The parachute jump team was the British team, Black Daggers. The home unit flew their C-5 for a short demonstration and to close the show out the VFA-106 Gladiators from NAS Oceana flew their F-18F Super Hornet.

The only problem was the weather didn’t really help out, it was extreme hot and humid Fri-Sun. Sat fog and clouds kept things grounded till 11 am and the heat index was already 95 degrees. Once the sun came out the haze still hung around and it was very difficult to shoot. Even the crowds had a hard time dealing with the heat and by 1pm the ramp was very thin with visitors. Sunday didn’t fare any better as the ramp had to be cleared in the afternoon because of severe Thunderstorms that had moved into the area and the Super Hornet team never even got to fly. It stinks when there’s that much of a gap between shows, 4 years, and weather plays such a factor in putting a damper on it.

I would like to thank the 439th PAO for allowing me access on Fri all day and to return Sat to capture this even. I really hope the weather cooperates the next time Westover has their air show.