Two F-35s Flown On Same Day At Pax River

Photos by Andy Wolfe (top) and Randy Hepp

Both F-35B variants in flight test at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, fly on the same day for the first time. Tomlinson flies BF-1 on its third STOVL-mode flight. He engages the lift system for eleven minutes during the flight. The flight profile includes airborne conversions at 200 knots and 5,000 feet and handling tests at 150 knots. The team at Patuxent River use hot pit refueling to fly a second sortie for BF-1 on the same day.

The second F-35B, BF-2, conducts additional air-refueling testing during its seventeenth flight. Bachmann takes the aircraft to 10,000 feet where he makes two refueling contacts with a KC-130 from VX-20 during the 1.4-hour flight.