Thunder Over NH Air Show at Pease draws thousands: Here's what it's like to be there

PORTSMOUTH — A heart-shaped contrail could be seen for miles above Pease Air National Guard Base after two Warbird Thunder planes opened the Thunder Over New Hampshire Air Show on Saturday.

Thousands of spectators shielded their eyes from the sun and turned to the sky to view high-flying military and civilian performers, such as aerobatic performer Rob Holland. Jets and smaller aircrafts sped off the runway, flew straight up-and-down, descended at full speed and did a series of dips and dives to dazzle the crowd.

Saturday's show start time was moved to 11 a.m., one hour earlier than originally scheduled, due to possible thunderstorms in the forecast for later in the day. The same 11 a.m. start time was announced for the Sunday's second and final show, too.

The weekend’s headlining act was billed as the U.S. Air Force’s F-16 Viper Demo Team, a two-jet team which arrived at Pease on Wednesday from Toronto, where they performed in an air show on Monday, Sept. 4.

The team, led by commander Capt. Aimee “Rebel” Fiedler, flies Lockheed-Martin F-16C Fighting Falcon Block 50 aircrafts. The planes are 16 feet tall, over 49 feet long and can hit a speed of upwards of 1,500 miles per hour.

Fiedler is a pilot stationed at Shaw Air force Base in Sumter, South Carolina. The F-16 Viper squadron commander closed out Saturday's show with a solo finale, looping around the base and booming over crowds hundreds of feet below with her charcoal and yellow aircraft.

Fiedler performed a four-point turn and a falcon turn, soaring up into the sky and getting lost in the clouds before dropping down and zipping over the runway. Pockets of intense sound blasted across the base after Fiedler flew parallel above the runway and turned away from the crowd.

The second Viper plane at Pease for the weekend, flown by safety observer Capt. Christopher Danieli onto the base earlier in the week, didn’t appear in the closing act.

The eight-member F-16 Viper Demo Team annually performs at 20-plus air shows. The team has appeared at shows in Texas, California, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Montana, Illinois, Nebraska and Toronto so far in 2023.

The Thunder Over New Hampshire Air Show is featuring the New Hampshire Air National Guard’s KC-46A tankers, the Vermont Air National Guard F-15 Eagle, the KC-135 Demo Team from Fairchild Air Force Base, the U.S. Special Operations Command Pura Commandos, aerobatic pilot Rob Holland, the N.H. Army Guard UH-60 Blackhawk, aerobatic pilot Kent Pietsch, the P-51C “Mad Max” with pilot Lou Horschel and the Smoke-N-Thunder Jet Truck.

Holland performs in Pease air show and over Hampton Beach Seafood Festival

Holland’s plane, an MXS-RH, was designed with a cockpit fit for his exact specifications.

His 13-minute act featured a prolonged mid-air suspension, a dive resembling a free fall, endless spinning and a runway race with Smoke-N-Thunder Jet Truck driver Hayden Proffitt. The 4,300-pound truck, a 1957 Chevy pickup with a drag racing parachute, was installed with a twin jet engine and can reach 350 mph.

Saturday proved to be a busy day for Holland, who helped open the Pease show before flying to perform at the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival and coming back to Pease for his individual routine. The 49-year-old Nashua resident plans to do the same on Sunday.

80,000 people expected over two-day event at Pease

Seated far back from the bulk of the crowd was Adela Booth, who drove with her husband from Ridgefield, Connecticut, for the show. Daughter to a World War II veteran, Booth said her first visit to Pease allowed her to fulfill a dream of stepping onto a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker, reinforcing her respect for the military.

The Booths, who have seen air shows at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts and in the Seattle area, were in the region to attend a Boston Red Sox game on Sunday. The pair’s son-in-law works for the Federal Aviation Administration and was able to secure parking passes for the show, which has free admission.

“I have great reverence for what those guys went through,” she said of veterans like her father. “We have never known war. Our generations have always known safety. We’ve always known security.”

The U.S. 157th Air Refueling Wing, stationed at the base, anticipated 80,000 people in total will attend the air shows Saturday and Sunday, similar to attendance at the last air shows in 2021.

As visitors walked among the base campus, stopping at busy food vendors and perusing through the day’s interactive science, technology, engineering and mathematics booths, the show went on in the background. A persistent buzz around the base lingered throughout the day as performers flew high above the crowd, with a group of five Para Commandos jumping out of aircrafts and descending down to the ground to heavy applause.

Lots to see at Pease Air National Guard Base

Dozens of aircraft are on display for the weekend air shows, including the Pease Air National Guard Base's 12 KC-46A Pegasus refueling tankers, which are flown by the157th Air Refueling Wing.

Also featured are the F-15 Eagle, the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II, LC-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemaster, C-5 Galaxy, KC-10 Extender, KC-135 Stratotanker, UH-60, AH-64 Apache, CH-47 Chinook and the B-52 Stratofortress.

Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Steve Gorski, stationed in Fort Drum in New York, talked to visitors in front of the AH-64 Apache, the Army’s only attack helicopter currently in service. The model on display at Pease was built in 2009 and has been used in combat in the past.

Curious children approached Gorski and his colleagues to learn the ins and outs of the helicopter.

“We’ve been doing a lot of civilian interaction this year,” he said.

Seacoast aviation fans thrilled

South Berwick couple Sue and Charlie Lynch positioned themselves next to a loudspeaker as the day’s emcee rattled off facts about each aircraft as they sped off the runway.

The two, like many, have been to multiple air shows at Pease in the past. The action-packed day reminded Sue Lynch of her father’s time fighting in the Vietnam War. Her anticipation began earlier in the week.

“They go right over our house. We can hear them loud and clear,” she said of the planes, which arrived mid-week.

The Pegasus fleet, which recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of military refueling in the United States, are individually named after each New Hampshire county, as well as Newington and Portsmouth. The 52-foot tail of the “Spirit of Portsmouth” tanker is painted in red, white and blue stars and stripes with a 16-foot-tall minuteman. The tanker is the only KC-46A in the United States with a painted tail and is the refueling wing’s heritage jet.

'Historic flight': On board 157th Air Refueling Wing's special centennial mission

According to the 157th Air Refueling Wing, a KC-46A tanker and an F-35 from Vermont will be flying over Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Sunday afternoon to help kick off the New England Patriots' home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.

As one of the Pegasus tankers took flight for the Pease crowd Saturday alongside a KC-135 Stratotanker, the remaining KC-46A jets stood spread out across the base on display.

Lee mother Katie Carlton, her two sons, Ray and Leo Carlton, and her brother and sister-in law, Brian and Julie Cassidy of Nottingham, beat the heat by finding shade beneath the nose of the “Spirit of Strafford County” jet.

The group of five watched the 2021 air show from a Target parking lot, but decided this year to make the jump to the base and watch the show among a crowd of thousands.

“I think it’s exciting. The planes are great when you see the formations you fly in,” Brian Cassidy said. “Not everybody gets to see things like this.”

Emotional day at Pease air show for grandfather

Air show attendees took advantage of the display of aircrafts around the base, with thousands of spectators roaming the premises before the flying started. They spoke with active military members about the capabilities of each aircraft.

The day was emotional for Rick Odess, a Middleton resident attending his second Thunder Over New Hampshire Air Show. He watched on as his grandson, attending his first air show in Portsmouth, climbed through one of the ground displays.

Last month, Odess’ brother died. He was an Air Force veteran who was stationed at the former Pease base and the brothers had hoped to attend the show together.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” Odess said. “I wanted him to come and he wasn’t able to make it.”

The day was bringing out feelings of patriotism in Odess, who explained that his brother specialized in reconnaissance cameras.

Though somber with his brother on his mind, Odess was eager to share the day with his grandson.

“I’m always awestruck by the capabilities of the planes and the pilots. I’m not normally super patriotic but this just brings it out,” he said. “Seeing them, I feel a little bit safer and a little bit prouder to be an American.”

Family outing at air show

Amy and Brian McSweeney of Salem brought their two daughters to Pease on Saturday for their first air show experience.

The last time the couple attended a Pease air show, they said, it was individually with their fathers when they were children around the same age their daughters are now.

Brian McSweeney said his father was a Vietnam veteran. Amy said her father was a military veteran who subsequently worked in the aerospace industry.

“We’re looking forward to seeing the planes fly,” Amy McSweeney said as the crowds gathered.

Air show fan: 'If they're here, I'm here'

Coming from a family of service members, Ken Kierstead has always had a deep appreciation for the military and a specific fascination with high-flying aircraft. He is drawn to air shows and the military and aerobatic performers.

How strong is the Auburn, Maine resident’s love for air shows? Dating back to the late 1970s, Kierstead — seated in a stadium chair in the very front row bright and early for the Thunder Over New Hampshire Air Show at Pease — has been to between 35 and 40 individual air shows.

The majority of his air show experiences have been at Pease and the Great State of Maine Air Show at Brunswick Executive Airport in Maine.

“If these guys come back here next year, I’ll be here. I love it,” he said. “I can’t get enough of it.”

Son to a U.S. Army veteran, Kierstead recalled staying up late as a child to hear stories of World War II from one of his uncles, who flew in the Air Force during the war. His memories of those conversations with his uncle furthered his curiosity and prompted him to attend his first air shows when he was younger.

Decades later, Kierstead traveled over an hour early Saturday morning with a Saco-based friend to get onto the base as early as possible. The two arrived on-site at 8 a.m., lugged their belongings and set up shop, ready to take in the show hours ahead of liftoff.

“If they’re here, I’m here,” he said of the air show performers.

More air show coverage:

Here's everything you need to know before you go to air show at Pease on Saturday or Sunday

Can't make it to Pease? Here are great Seacoast spots to watch air shows

Aerobatics pilot Rob Holland shares how he's flying in Pease air show and over Hampton Beach Seafood Fest

Here's what it looked like when Air Force F-16 Vipers arrived at Pease before air shows

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Thunder Over NH Air Show: F-16 Viper brings thousands to Pease