In an interview at Eglin AFB, Lt. Col. Lee Kloos, the first non-test pilot to start his transition to the F-35 discusses the experience. Kloos has 2000 hours of flight experience on the F-16 and is a USAF Weapons School graduate. Kloos started his F-35 training at Eglin last October. …
BK-1, the United Kingdom’s first F-35 Lightning II production aircraft, flew its inaugural flight mid-April 2012. Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti took the short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) jet through a series of functional flight checks during a sortie that lasted 45 minutes. The jet will complete a series of…
01/25/2012 The first night flight in the history of the F-35 Program was completed Wednesday, January 18, 2011 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Piloted by Lockheed Martin Test Pilot Mark Ward, AF-6, an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, launched at 5:05 p.m. PST and landed after sunset…
F-35 Era begins at Eglin Air Force Base The 58th Fighter Squadron Hangar at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. has begun training with the F-35 Lightning II CTOL Variant. Since late-July Eglin AFB has received four aircraft and over the lifetime of the program a total of 59 F-35s will…
