Fighter Generations

The F-35C Carrier Suitability Test Team deployed aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) for Developmental Test Phase Two (DT-II) in October 2015. Trials with F-35C test aircraft CF-03 and CF-05 spanned nine days in operating areas near the Atlantic coast between Florida and Virginia. DT-II followed a successful round of initial sea trials in 2014.

The operational career of the F-111 came to an end on 3 December 2010 at RAAF Amberley, as a crew in an F-111C (serial number A8-125) of the Royal Australian Air Force touched down for the aircraft’s last landing. The RAAF had operated the F-111 since 1973. A8-125 was the first F-111C to land at Amberley that year.

The Royal Air Force's No 17(Reserve) Test and Evaluation Squadron at Edwards AFB, California is focused on mission capabilities and tactics for the F-35 Lightning II.

My hope is that these articles, by giving some insight into how the F-35 works and why it was designed that way, will help pilots fly the airplane better, employ it more effectively, and handle emergencies more intuitively. The articles may also help dispel some myths. As Joe Bill put it, “as airplanes become more complex and more capable, the amount of misinformation seems to grow.” With your help, we can keep the mythology in check.

A thorough, albeit not exhaustive, list of identification tricks and tips may help sharpen everyone’s F-35 spotting skills. So next time you see a photo of an F-35, you can impress your friends by correctly naming the variant.

The 90th FS (nicknamed Pair-O-Dice) was the first F-22 squadron in Alaska, receiving its advanced aircraft in 2007. The 525th FS (nicknamed Bulldogs) received their Raptors later the same year. In addition, the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd FS (the Hellions) is an Associate unit that provides pilots and maintainers who fly and fix the aircraft alongside their active duty counterparts.

Two months shy of twenty-seven years since it was first flown, the F-117 was retired in ceremonies on 21 April 2008 at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, where it had been operated by the 49th Fighter Wing since 1992, and then on 22 April in Palmdale, California, for the people who had designed and built it at the then-Lockheed facilities there.

The 56th FW at Luke AFB, Arizona, has been designated as the primary F-35A training base for the US Air Force as well as for eight international partner air forces and several other countries purchasing F-35s under Foreign Military Sales, or FMS, programs.

Many of the photos in this collection were taken specifically for a special cockpit issue of Code One that was published as the No. 1 issue in 2007.

The fifth generation of fighters, the Lockheed Martin F-22 and F-35, fundamentally changes the concept of operations for combat. A review of the first four generations of fighter aircraft around the world shows why.