August 21-22, 2010 were the dates for a “Celebration of Freedom” airshow produced by the 104th FW of the Massachusetts ANG which turned out to be a historical event of sorts for the 104th FW.  Throughout the existence of the 104th  FW, numerous aircraft have been flown by this unit.  No less than five different aircraft that the 104th  FW used were not only on hand for the airshow, but all five of these beautiful machines took to the skies.  They included the P-51 Mustang, the P-47 Thunderbolt, the F-100 Super Sabre, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, and the F-15 Eagle.  The 104th FW demonstrated their ready alert with a scramble demo that was really fun to watch.  It was hard not to get excited as the ready alert siren sounded, and then 2 F-15 Eagles screamed down the runway blasting into the skies with a zoom climb over Barnes ANGB. 

   The USAF Thunderbirds and Army Golden Knights headlined this packed line up.  The Indy Boys, Inc. were on hand with their jet powered outhouse and jet powered school bus.  Both of these vehicles are very popular with the crowd.  The civilian performers that entertained the very large crowd were world class.  Rob Holland, 2008 World Advanced Aerobatic Champion, wowed the crowd in his Window World sponsored MX2. Along with Rob, Greg Poe in his Fagen Inc. sponsored MX2, John Klatt in his ANG sponsored Staudacher S-300D, and Michael Goulian in his ASB.TV sponsored Extra 330 made your head spin like they would spin their airplanes.  All are such skilled pilots.  As with almost every USAF/ANG airshow, teamwork was demonstrated by both the military and civilian performances.  The Geico Skytypers and the PPG Aerospace sponsored Red Eagle Air Sports teams both demonstrated their team work with formations and aerobatics.  Dale “Snort” Snodgrass saved the airport money by cutting the grass with his low passes in the   P-51 “Glamorous Gal”.

   The military was well represented putting on a display with the C-17 Globemaster III, the Navy F/A-18 Hornet East Coast Demo Team, and the F-16 Viper West Demo Team. 

   This show with its lineup brought in such a large crowd, that on Saturday they reported at 1430 hours that the parking lots were to capacity, and they had to turn people away.  Congratulations to the staff involved on putting on this marvelous world class event.