Governor visits Westover

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. James Bishop and MSgt. Andrew Biscoe
  • 439th AW Public Affairs
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. --  Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker toured Westover Dec. 18, getting a mission briefing and a first-hand look at one of the base’s core maintenance areas.

The governor, accompanied by Maj. Gen. L. Scott Rice, National Guard State Adjutant, also visited the adjacent Westover Metropolitan Airport.

Col. Al Lupenski, 439th Airlift Wing commander, hosted the governor, general, and a large group of staffers and state representatives. After the mission briefing, the commander brought the governor to the isochronal inspection dock, where the group toured a C-5.

“Wow,” Baker said, while standing in the cargo deck of a C-5M Super Galaxy. “It looks a lot bigger when you’re standing in it.”

Following the ISO tour, the group traveled to the civilian airport to conduct a press conference on the outcome of the governor’s visit to Westover.

“Westover is hugely important,” Baker said, adding its operations generate millions of dollars into the western Massachusetts economy. “It’s an economic engine for this area,” he said.

Rice pointed out its strategic significance too. “When the Army needs to move something, they come here…it’s the closest airlift base to Europe.”

As the governor spoke into a microphone with the growl of a Patriot Wing C-5 taking off nearby, he said he was impressed with the size of the joint-use airfield.

“This is a big runway. This is a big base. And it has a lot of opportunity,” he said, adding the state’s primary role should be to ensure there’s “a partnership with the base.”

State government officials have formed a task force to evaluate how the state could partner with the federal government for more joint airfield operations at Westover. The state-owned Westover Metropolitan Airport shares taxiways and hangars that became surplus after the active-duty Air Force departed Westover in 1974.

State and federal officials are also exploring the possibility of 24-hour operations at the airfield, which is now only open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.