Fighter jets fly high over High Rock

Steven Painchaud ignored the cold and stared out at the Atlantic Ocean Thursday morning for almost a half hour before being rewarded with the sight of five jet fighters streaking across the horizon inbound for Boston.The Massachusetts Air National Guard flyover by five F-15 fighters lasted barely a minute, but it was worth the wait for Painchaud, a Lynn resident and 39-year GE River Works employee who loves attending air shows and aircraft exhibitions.?It’s always fantastic,” he said as the jets, no bigger than silver pinpricks, streaked in close formation over Nahant.The National Guard on Wednesday described the fighter flight from Barnes Air National Guard base in Westfield as a “pre-planned media event” with a flight path including Salem, Boston, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, with the jets screaming along at altitudes as low as 1,000 feet.A Guard statement estimated the fighters would cover the distance between Salem and Boston sometime between 8:13 a.m. and 8:16 a.m. Thursday. The jets came into view over Swampscott, and then the ocean at 8:37 a.m., before momentarily disappearing from sight and then flying in formation over the ocean.F-15s are powered by Pratt & Whitney-built engines, but knowing that GE engines power similar jet fighters gave Painchaud reason enough to spend part of his morning looking eastward from Lynn Shore Drive.?I’ve always enjoyed watching jets,” he said.