104th Fighter Wing F-15C/D Eagle Legacy (2007 – 2025)
Part 1 – 2007 to 2012
By Ken Middleton
The 104th Fighter Wing, part of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, is based at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Massachusetts. They recently retired their fleet of F-15C/D Eagles in October 2025, as they prepare to bed down the F-35A Lightning II in mid-2026.
The first Eagle to arrive at the 104th FW was F-15C 78-0476, on 8 September 2007, being sent from the 102nd FW at Otis ANGB on Cape Cod. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act ordered the F-15 Eagles and mission to move from Otis to Barnes, with the 104th FW officially in conversion status since November 2005. This change left the 102nd FW without a flying mission, after its last Eagles left in early 2008, and became the 102nd Intelligence Wing.
The 104th FW had operated the A-10A Warthog since 1979, and this was a major change to the mission, noise levels and infrastructure at the Barnes’ base. $45 million of enhancements, to include alert hangars that had to be constructed to house 24/7 alert aircraft, as well as other modernization projects, were implemented. Afterburner aircraft were once again based there, the first time since the F-100 Super Sabre days in the 1970s.
On 1 February 2010, the 104th FW reached its Initial Operating Capability (IOC) with the F-15 Eagle, and on 10 April 2010, it took over the Aerospace Control Alert (ACA) mission, which the 158th FW at Burlington Vermont had been doing with their F-16C Vipers.
I took my first 104th FW F-15 Eagle photos on 1 May 2008, and the photos included in this article range from 1 May 2008 to 3 November 2012. During this time frame, the Eagles arrived from various units, including the initial batch from the 102nd FW, the Eagle units at Kadena AB on Okinawa, the 390th Fighter Squadron at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, the 493rd FS at RAF Lakenheath, UK, and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.
Operations and Exercises:
2009:
Weapons Eval, NAS Key West, FL (first TDY)
Red Flag, Nellis AFB, NV
2010:
Red Flag, Nellis AFB, NV
2011:
Large Force Exercise, Elmendorf AFB, AK
2012:
Red Flag, Nellis AFB, NV
Air Expeditionary Force, United Arab Emirates
Part 2 of this series will include the years 2013 to 2018.
