'Game-changing' Lightning II impresses RAF pilot
As training with the F-35 Lightning II steps up in Florida, a Royal Air Force pilot shares his impressions of the advanced stealth jet.
![F-35B Lightning II aircraft in formation (library image) [Picture: © 2013 Lockheed Martin Corporation]](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a61ee3840f0b60ab9a8529f/s300_sdd_f35testb_205.jpg)
F-35B Lightning II aircraft in formation
Flight Lieutenant Hugh Nichols completed his first sortie in the next-generation stealth fighter at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida in November.
The Lightning II aircraft, together with the Typhoon FGR4, will provide the RAF combat air component essential to UK defence.
Flight Lieutenant Hugh Nichols [Picture: Staff Sergeant Nicholas Egebrecht, United States Air Force]
Flight Lieutenant Nichols, the first RAF Number 1 Group pilot to fly the aircraft, said:
This is a notable step in the Lightning II story and one that marks a real shift in emphasis from development to employment.
We’re also just starting to train the first Number 1 Group engineers here at Eglin, which is another important milestone in the development of the UK aspect of the programme.
Lightning II’s advanced mission system sensors have done nothing but impress me so far and I have no doubt that this aircraft will deliver strategic, game-changing capabilities in future defence scenarios.
To be the first Number 1 Group operational pilot is both an honour and a privilege and I look forward to helping stand up Number 617 (The Dambusters) Squadron in 2016 and bringing the jet back to the UK in 2018.
An F-35B Lightning II on the tarmac at Eglin Air Force Base [Picture: © 2013 Lockheed Martin Corporation]
Three UK pilots and 13 engineers from the RAF and Royal Navy are learning to operate the aircraft at Eglin under a partnering agreement with the United States Marine Corps as part of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501).
Another 12 engineers recently arrived at Eglin for 5 months of trade training at the Lightning Academic Training Centre prior to being posted to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Beaufort in South Carolina and Edwards Air Force Base in California in mid-2014.
Lightning II will be the UK’s fifth-generation short take-off and vertical landing joint strike asset. The multi-role supersonic stealth aircraft is planned to achieve initial operating capability in a land-based role from RAF Marham in 2018 and, alongside the Royal Navy, aboard the future HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier in 2020.
F-35B Lightning II aircraft in flight (library image) [Picture: © 2013 Lockheed Martin Corporation]
Flight Lieutenant Hugh Nichols
Flight Lieutenant Nichols, who is 35 and was born in Epsom, Surrey, joined the RAF in April 2000 and has flown Hawk and Harrier GR9 aircraft as well as flying the F-16CJ on exchange with the US Air Force.
He will go on to qualify as an F-35B instructor pilot and will remain on VMFAT-501 until the UK stands up its first squadron at MCAS Beaufort in 2016.