‘Grim Reaper’ fighter jets to make loud exit from Pease

PORTSMOUTH — A squadron of F-15C fighter jets that have stayed at the Air National Guard Base at Pease will begin leaving early Tuesday morning.

David Mullen, the executive director of the Pease Development Authority, acknowledged they won’t be going quietly.

“My understanding is they’re going to use their afterburners when they take off,” Mullen said. “They take off, then turn on their afterburners and go straight up, it’s like a rocket ship.”

“We do get calls when that happens,” Mullen said.

The PDA issued a “community advisory” on Monday, letting area residents know that the F-15Cs would be leaving Pease.

In the advisory, Sandra McDonough, the PDA’s operations specialist, noted that the fighter jets are “required to utilize the engines’ afterburners as an operational necessity with this aircraft.”

“Consequently, area residents may perceive a significant noise event as a result of the jet aircraft departures,” she added.

The F15Cs will begin leaving at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, with six jets leaving the airport, followed by six more at 5 a.m. on Wednesday and the final two at 7 a.m. on Thursday, airport officials said.

“It’s really something to see,” Mullen said about the fighter jets using their afterburners. “It’s like a mini-air show.”

The jets are part of the 493rd U.S. Air Force wing out of England.

Andrew Pomeroy, airport operations manager for the Pease Development Authority, said pilots from the 493rd wing landed at Pease on Sunday, April 2.

The 493rd fighter squadron, who are nicknamed the “Grim Reapers,” are part of the Air Force’s 48th fighter wing, and are located at RAF Lakenheath, England.

The F-15Cs, which are also called F-15 Eagles, “are an all-weather, extremely maneuverable, tactical fighter designed to permit the Air Force to gain and maintain air supremacy over the battlefield,” according to the official website for the Royal Air Force Base where the 493rd is stationed. “The Eagle’s air superiority is achieved through a mixture of unprecedented maneuverability and acceleration, range, weapons and avionics. It can penetrate enemy defense and outperform and outfight any current enemy aircraft.”

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