F-22 Milestones - Part 2

23 May 2006: The 1st Fighter Wing at Langley deploys twelve Raptors, eighteen pilots, and 174 maintainers of its 27th FS to Elmendorf AFB. This deployment is the longest to date for the F-22. The aircraft stay in Alaska for six weeks. During the deployment, one F-22 pilot achieves nine aerial victories on a single mission. The F-22, working with F-15s and F/A-18s, produces a kill ratio of eighty-three to one in one day.

17 August 2006: The eightieth F-22 produced (04-4080) is flown for the first time.

20 September 2006: The 43rd FS at Tyndall AFB—the F-22 Raptor schoolhouse—reaches the 5,000-hour flying mark.

5 November 2006: Four F-22 pilots from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB fly over FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, as Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne officiated the coin toss for the NFL game between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. The flyover takes place on Air Force Appreciation Day.

1 December 2006: The F-22 officially replaces the F-15 as the aerial platform for the US Air Force East Coast Demonstration Team. Maj. Paul Moga of the 1st FW at Langley AFB becomes the first demonstration pilot for the team.

19 January 2007: Brig. Gen. Burton Field delivers the last of forty F-22s (05-4085) from Lockheed Martin in Marietta to the 1st FW at Langley AFB.

3 February 2007: F-22s participate in their first Red Flag exercises at Nellis AFB. The 94th FS from Langley AFB deploys fourteen Raptors and almost 200 personnel. The exercise also involves B-2 Spirit bombers and F-117 Nighthawk attack aircraft.

12 February 2007: The ninetieth F-22 produced (05-4090) is flown for the first time.

16 February 2007: Twelve Raptors and more than 250 personnel assigned to the 27th FS at Langley AFB arrive in Kadena AB, Japan, as part of a regularly scheduled US Pacific Command rotational assignment. Kadena, on the Japanese island of Okinawa, marks the longest deployment to date for the Raptor (7,700 miles). The 27th flies more than 600 sorties during the three-month deployment. The aircraft return to Langley on 11 May.

28 April 2007: The F-22 performs its first aerial demonstration for the public as part of the Air Force East Coast Demonstration Team. Maj. Paul Moga flies the Raptor in its first public demonstration at Airpower Over Hampton Roads, an airshow at Langley AFB.

30 April 2007: Raptor 03 is retired to the National Museum of the US Air Force in a small ceremony at Wright-Patterson AFB. The aircraft was one of nine aircraft built during the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the F-22 program.

8 June 2007: F-22 Raptors support Space Shuttle STS-117 launch operations as part of Operation Noble Eagle.