Five F-15 fighter jets from Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield did not fly over the Vineyard Thursday morning as scheduled, the Massachusetts Air National Guard said Thursday afternoon, because they ran out of time.
Earlier this week, the Air National Guard and Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said the fighter jets would be flying at low altitudes as part of a planned media event. The jets were scheduled to fly over Martha’s Vineyard at 8:47 a.m. Thursday at an altitude of 5,000 feet. The Vineyard was to be the last flyover location, with other locations including Hanscom Air Force Base, Fenway Park, the Massachusetts State House in Boston and Gillette Stadium. The jets were scheduled to fly over Cape Cod and Nantucket before flying over the Vineyard.
But spectators gathered at State Beach and elsewhere around Island waited for up to an hour without seeing the jets. Lt. Col. Sean Holbrook with the Air National Guard told the Gazette Thursday afternoon that the flights took off late because of complications on the ground, and the jets did not have time to fly over the Vineyard or Nantucket.
"We apologize for not making it," Lieutenant Colonel Holbrook said. He said the jets flew just south of Cape Cod before turning around.
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