Post by andypspotter on Feb 6, 2016 11:45:08 GMT
An Italian Air Force pilot flying the first Italian-made F-35A Lightning II has made history after completing the first transatlantic crossing of the stealthy, single-engine Lockheed Martin type.
What’s more, aircraft A coupleL-1 was refuelled en route by Italy’s own Boeing KC-767 tanker, which received F-35 tanking certification at Edwards AFB between July and September last year.
The aircraft took off today from Lajes Field in the Azores island group at 7.30am local time before turning south over Canada to touch down at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Maryland at about 2.24pm on 5 February – approximately 6h and 2,000nm later.
At the controls was Italian test pilot Maj Gianmarco, callsign “Ninja,” who received his F-35 flight qualifications in November at the multinational F-35A pilot school at Luke AFB.
It was a moment of national pride for Italy when AL-1 touched down. After triumphantly unfurling his nation’s flag from the cockpit, Gianmarco was greeted by top generals from the Italian AF who travelled aboard the KC-767 to witness the occasion.
In June 2014, a contingent of US Marine Corps F-35Bs had been poised to make the transatlantic crossing to London to attend the Farnborough Airshow until an F-35A caught fire at Eglin AFB in Florida, temporarily grounding the fleet. USMC F-35Bs are again preparing to make the journey to Farnborough for this year’s show in July, but it’s now too late to claim the monumental achievement.
Those pilots will settle for second place but the first flight from America to Europe. Gianmarco was selected six months ago to ferry AL-1, and he admitted there have been many sleepless nights leading up to this moment. He says those marines who had been prepared to fly to Farnborough in 2014 helped him prepare for this first crossing, and his aircraft is admittedly newer and more reliable than those earlier model jump jets.
“I’m excited to be the first one to do that,” he said when asked about beating the marines. “I will give them all the help they need to do this. Semper fidelis!”
The F-35A flew alongside an Italian Eurofighter Typhoon, which was transiting to the USA for a separate Red Flag exercise and landed at a different location along with its own tanker contingent.
“After we went south, we hit this warm front that’s hitting the East Coast right now, and we had some moderate to severe turbulence on a couple of occasions and during refuelling as well, but we managed to do that successfully anyways,” Gianmarco says.
The first leg of the journey from the final assembly and checkout (FACO) facility at Cameri Air Base, Italy to Lajes Field occurred earlier this week and involved three in-flight refuellings.
The aircraft, tail number MM7332 of the Italian AF’s 32nd Wing, refuelled four times between the Azores and NAS Patuxent River without any faults or boom disconnections.
Gianmarco says AL-1 is a more mature model than the aircraft he flew at Luke AFB, and he had complete confidence in the aircraft prior to making the crossing despite it being the first production model of a completely new assembly line.
AL-1 will remain at Patuxent River for two to three months of electromagnetic environmental effects testing before continuing on to the multinational training base Luke AFB. Eventually, five Italian aircraft will transit to Luke, where they will be shared among pilots of the F-35 partner training programme. The sixth example will become the first operational aircraft of the 32nd Wing.
The Cameri plant is owned by the Italian government but operated by Alenia Aermacchi of Finmeccanica. Assembly of the lead example began in July 2013 and AL-1 first flew in September 2015.
The line will deliver aircraft for the Italian and Royal Netherlands air forces. Italy could procure as many as 60 F-35As and 30 F-35Bs depending on funding and the local political environment.
What’s more, aircraft A coupleL-1 was refuelled en route by Italy’s own Boeing KC-767 tanker, which received F-35 tanking certification at Edwards AFB between July and September last year.
The aircraft took off today from Lajes Field in the Azores island group at 7.30am local time before turning south over Canada to touch down at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Maryland at about 2.24pm on 5 February – approximately 6h and 2,000nm later.
At the controls was Italian test pilot Maj Gianmarco, callsign “Ninja,” who received his F-35 flight qualifications in November at the multinational F-35A pilot school at Luke AFB.
It was a moment of national pride for Italy when AL-1 touched down. After triumphantly unfurling his nation’s flag from the cockpit, Gianmarco was greeted by top generals from the Italian AF who travelled aboard the KC-767 to witness the occasion.
In June 2014, a contingent of US Marine Corps F-35Bs had been poised to make the transatlantic crossing to London to attend the Farnborough Airshow until an F-35A caught fire at Eglin AFB in Florida, temporarily grounding the fleet. USMC F-35Bs are again preparing to make the journey to Farnborough for this year’s show in July, but it’s now too late to claim the monumental achievement.
Those pilots will settle for second place but the first flight from America to Europe. Gianmarco was selected six months ago to ferry AL-1, and he admitted there have been many sleepless nights leading up to this moment. He says those marines who had been prepared to fly to Farnborough in 2014 helped him prepare for this first crossing, and his aircraft is admittedly newer and more reliable than those earlier model jump jets.
“I’m excited to be the first one to do that,” he said when asked about beating the marines. “I will give them all the help they need to do this. Semper fidelis!”
The F-35A flew alongside an Italian Eurofighter Typhoon, which was transiting to the USA for a separate Red Flag exercise and landed at a different location along with its own tanker contingent.
“After we went south, we hit this warm front that’s hitting the East Coast right now, and we had some moderate to severe turbulence on a couple of occasions and during refuelling as well, but we managed to do that successfully anyways,” Gianmarco says.
The first leg of the journey from the final assembly and checkout (FACO) facility at Cameri Air Base, Italy to Lajes Field occurred earlier this week and involved three in-flight refuellings.
The aircraft, tail number MM7332 of the Italian AF’s 32nd Wing, refuelled four times between the Azores and NAS Patuxent River without any faults or boom disconnections.
Gianmarco says AL-1 is a more mature model than the aircraft he flew at Luke AFB, and he had complete confidence in the aircraft prior to making the crossing despite it being the first production model of a completely new assembly line.
AL-1 will remain at Patuxent River for two to three months of electromagnetic environmental effects testing before continuing on to the multinational training base Luke AFB. Eventually, five Italian aircraft will transit to Luke, where they will be shared among pilots of the F-35 partner training programme. The sixth example will become the first operational aircraft of the 32nd Wing.
The Cameri plant is owned by the Italian government but operated by Alenia Aermacchi of Finmeccanica. Assembly of the lead example began in July 2013 and AL-1 first flew in September 2015.
The line will deliver aircraft for the Italian and Royal Netherlands air forces. Italy could procure as many as 60 F-35As and 30 F-35Bs depending on funding and the local political environment.