Same Place – Portsmouth New Hampshire – Very Different Air Show
One constant of the past four decades of air shows at Pease AFB/airport is the KC-135 Stratotanker.
Photos and story by Ken Kula
I was looking back through some old photos last week and came across something akin to a time capsule. Four decades ago, Pease Air Force Base, located in southeastern New Hampshire held an air show. Hey – there’s an air show at Pease again this year – on September 9th and 10th 2023. My, how times have changed in the air show industry and in southeastern New Hampshire as well! How has it changed? Let me show you a little…
Old photo – a SAC FB-111A at Pease Air Force Base in the early 1980s.
First of all, what is known today as the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease was called the Pease Air Force Base in the 1980s. In fact, the Air Force base was officially closed in 1991. Its mission was a nuclear one during the 1980s (when these older photos were taken) with FB-111A bombers and KC-135A Stratotanker aerial tankers attached to the Strategic Air Command’s (SAC) 509th Bomb Wing. (SAC was disbanded in 1992). The base was a thriving community unto itself. The base would present an air show, frequently every year, bringing a wide array of active, reserve and national guard aircraft from around the world. Occasionally, warbird aircraft would be invited to attend, but the aircraft in the air and on the ground were primarily military owned.
New Hampshire Air National Guard KC-46As in 2021.
Today, after BRAC turned over most of the area, it is an industrial center and a nature refuge. The airport has claimed most of the ramps, taxiways and the main runway for mixed use… The former Air Force control tower is still active, and much of the ramp space is used by the New Hampshire Air National Guard’s 157th Air Refueling Wing and its dozen KC-46A Pegasus air tankers.
Allegiant Air serves the Pease Airport
Scheduled airline service uses the former small air terminal, but a recent announcement calls for doubling the number of gates and increasing the arrival/departure lobby area.
The Vermont Air National Guard flew F-16s in the 2010s, today they operate F-35s.
Air shows have been infrequent, one or two were operated through civilian oversight in the 1990s and notably during 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014. In 2021 a larger air show was sponsored by the Air National Guard. In the 2010s the New Hampshire Air National Guard operated the KC-135R version.
The 2023 Thunder Over New Hampshire air show will feature New Hampshire’s Rob Holland in his MXS-RH aerobatic plane.
New Hampshire Air National Guard’s KC-46A Pegasus aerial refueling tankers will be on display in 2023.
This year, on September 9th and 10th, 2023, the Thunder Over New Hampshire 2023 – Live Free And Fly will be alive in the skies over the Granite State. Air National Guard and Reserve aircraft are expected to be in the air, along with several civilian flying acts,
In a salute from the past, the KC-135 Demo Team from Fairchild AFB will perform in the air, another tanker is expected on the ground as a static display too . Numerous aircraft will be on ground aka: “static” display too.
For more information on the 2023 air show, log on to: https://thunderovernewhampshire.com/.
Here are the “old photos” I was looking through, from the 1982-1983 timeframe:
