The Connecticut National Guard saluted healthcare workers Thursday with a flyover that took a path through West Hartford.

UConn Health Center, Farmington. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

By Ronni Newton

If you heard a loud roar of an engine just after noon on Thursday, and looked up to see an enormous aircraft flying very close to the ground, you were witnessing the Connecticut National Guard 103rd Airlift Wing’s special salute to healthcare workers.

The “Flying Yankees” scheduled a salute, with a C-130H Hercules aircraft – a flyover of hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout the state.

“Operation American Resolve” began in Torrington just after 11 a.m., headed south over hospitals in Waterbury, as well as the many hospitals in Fairfield County – Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, and Bridgeport – that have been on the frontlines of treating COVID-19 patients for the past two months. Yale New Haven Hospital, as well as hospitals and healthcare facilities in Middlesex County also received a salute.

Just before 12:15 a.m., slightly ahead of schedule, the C-130H Hercules aircraft passed over West Hartford, en route from Hartford to the UConn Health Center in Farmington, where many healthcare workers had a chance to step outside for a view. Dozens of cars had also pulled into the parking areas on the health center campus, and there were many people with cellphones and cameras eager to witness and photograph the flyover.

After leaving Farmington, the flyover continued on to New Britain, Bristol, Manchester, the shoreline, and ended in Enfield just before 1 p.m.

Our thanks to Lisa Stone Kim of Stone Kim Photography (www.stonekimphoto.com) for sharing the great photo with We-Ha.com.

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UConn Health Center, Farmington. Photo credit: Ronni Newton