Thursday, June 6, 2013

Eglin F-35 fleet grows

More F-35s arrive at Eglin AFB, Fla.
Air Force photo
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The largest fleet of F-35 aircraft grew to 25 with the arrival Wednesday of two F-35A variants at the F-35 Integrated Training Center in Northwest Florida. More than 30 pilots from all three variants have been trained at the training center, where the Air Force has 12 F-35A joint strike fighters, the Marine Corps has 11 and the United Kingdom embedded with the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron-501 has two F-35Bs. The Navy is slated to get its first two F-35C variants in the coming weeks. About 72 pilots from the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy are scheduled to graduate F-35 transition pilot training this year. (Source: 33rd Fighter Wing, 06/06/13)