Barnes F-15's hold scramble exercise

WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) -  

The roar of the F-15 jets filled the sky Wednesday afternoon are part of a training mission from Barnes Air National Guard Base.

The scenario involved a small plane flying off course and their mission was to escort it back safely.

Major Matthew Mutti of the 104th Fighter Wing told 22News, "We stage these exercises to keep these folks sharp to launch the jets, recover the jets and do all the steps that are needed for us to perform the mission."

The base has handled defense for the Northeast Corridor for about a year now and so far the response from the community has been mostly positive.

Linda Wing, who lives nearby in Southampton, told 22News, “It gives me peace to know that the planes are here they've never bothered us very much, we have horses on a horse and it doesn't even bother them."

Howard Wing was in the Air National Guard back in the early 60s and he gets a bit nostalgic during these training exercises.

"So every time a place goes over now I think about our past history and what we did, we have the F-86's which were very very noisy, probably just as loud as the F-15s, so I'm kind of used to it," said Wing.

Even those who are new to town, like Victor Rosario, say it's something they can get used to.

"I kind of like it I like to see the planes flying over and the air show it's nice to watch and I'm looking forward to that," said Rosario.

Their operations at the base are 24/7 so planes do fly day and night.

There have been some complaints from residents about the noise, especially at night.

Major Mutti says they do try to do their night training as early in the evening as possible.