Fresno's 144th Fighter Wing hosting training exercise for pilots KFSN Share: It's all part of a California Air National Guard training exercise. The sights and sounds of fighter jets taking off from the Fresno Air National Guard Base were hard to miss. "Loud, yeah it is deafening. It's really neat the way each one takes off in a different way," said Gloria Long. Gloria Long and her husband watched as pilots hit the afterburners from the comfort of their SUV. "One of them I swear was going right straight up, it was really cool," said Long. For the next week and a half, Fresno's 144th Fighter Wing is hosting a training exercise called "Valley Thunder."