Glowing Feedback on LIGHTNING 11 – the first Fleet Air Arm pilot has given glowing feedback of ‘unrivalled’ next generation fighter, and says it will give the nation’s future carriers “unrivalled” striking power.     The small British team are based with VMFAT 501 – Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, known as the “Warlords”, who were formed especially in 2010 to bring the F-35 into service with the US Marine Corps.    Collectively, the British and American pilots are putting in eight to twelve sorties every day from Eglin Air Force Base.    The verdict came from Lieutenant Commander Ian Tidball after a month flying the F35 LIGHTNING II – the most advanced stealth fighter in the world.   The veteran HARRIER pilot is learning the art of flying the jet, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, alongside fellow trailblazer Squadron Leader Frankie Buchler from the RAF, supported by a 13 strong team of British maintainers – seven Fleet Air Arm, six Royal Air Force.

Lieutenant Commander Ian Tidball has 1,300 hours behind him in the cockpit of HARRIERs, followed by time flying the American F-18 SUPER HORNET.    The UK currently has three test versions of the LIGHTNING 11 F-35B – the short take-off/vertical landing variant of the aircraft – which are being used not just to train the pilots, but also the engineers and technicians in the art of maintaining a stealth fighter which is two generations ahead of the HARRIER.

Although the F-35 is assembled in the USA by Lockheed Martin, the fighter is an Anglo-American venture with around one seventh of it designed and built in the UK. Around 130 British firms are providing parts and equipment for it, worth around £ 1bn per year to the UK economy.

Once training at Eglin is completed – probably next year – the British team is due to decamp from Florida to Edwards Air Force Base in California where, having learned how to fly the F-35, they carry out operational tests to prepare it for front line service.     The Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force are due to start receiving front line F-35B in 2016, operating out of RAF Marham, (near King’s Lynn), where land based testing and training flights will continue through 2017.     The first test flights from the Aircraft Carrier QUEEN ELIZABETH are planned in 2018.