The New Hampshire Air National Guard Celebrates The Last of Their Dozen KC-46A Deliveries

The New Hampshire Air National Guard’s 157th Air Refueling Wing reached a milestone recently as their final Boeing KC-46A Pegasus was delivered to their base at the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease, on the Seacoast. The Wing will fulfill dual responsibilities as an air tanker unit as well as the primary Air National Guard training organization for the KC-46A Pegasus. The 157th ARW used their “Thunder over New Hampshire – Live Free and Fly” air show to celebrate the twelfth delivery.

During a short ceremony on Sunday morning, September 12, 2021, Wing Commander Colonel John Pogorek, and the Assistant Adjutant General for Air, New Hampshire National Guard (and the Air National Guard Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs) Brigadier General Laurie Farris, spoke about the new capability of their unit and thanked the community for supporting the state’s Air National Guard members.

Colonel Pogorek announced that the 157th ARW will stand up as the second Wing in support of the Northeast Tanker Task Force once again, as of October 1st of this year. Those duties are shared with the Bangor, Maine-based 101st ARW. The New Hampshire unit stood down from these duties while training on the new KC-46A recently. 

The twelve airframes will carry the names of the ten counties of New Hampshire (Coos, Grafton, Carroll, Sullivan, Belknap, Strafford, Rockingham, Hillsborough, Cheshire and Merrimack), as well as the two cities the Air National Guard Base partly occupies (Portsmouth and Newington). They also carry the state’s name across the vertical tail too. 

During the two-day event, the USAF Thunderbirds headlined a spirited flying display which included KC-46A Pegasus demonstrations. During the Sunday show, one of the hometown Wing’s jets carried out an overflight mission of Gillette Stadium in nearby Massachusetts, along with a pair of Vermont ANG F-35 Lightning IIs. The flight appeared at the NFL’s Patriots football game during the National Anthem presentation at the team’s home opener.

We also got introduced to the new Wing Dog, named “Pack” after the NHANG’s radio call sign!

Watch here for a review of the entire air show soon.