F-35B Fleet Air Arm Pilot – the first Fleet Air Arm naval pilot is now undergoing training to fly the Royal Navy’s future “Jump Jet” even though they are yet to be ordered.    Alongside an RAF colleague, the veteran FAA Harrier pilot, a Lieutenant-Commander is converting to the “stealthy fighter” so that this experience can be passed on to a future generation of British aviators.   The transfer to the (only) ‘fifth generation’ fighter is of course central to the Aircraft Carrier programme.    Six weeks of training at Eglin Air Force Base (Florida) with US Marines Fighter Attack Training Squadron (VMFAT-501), will allow the British pair to join a very elite group as only 30 pilots have been, or are in the process of learning to fly F35 – also known (in the UK) as the LIGHTNING 11.  After Elgin the British pair will move to Edwards AFB, (California) where they will form part of a UK Test and Evaluation Squadron tasked with conducting operational tests on the new LIGHTNING 11.

The British Lieutenant-Commander (Ian Tidball) initially trained as a Commando SEA KING helicopter  pilot, before switching to SEA HARRIER clocking up over 1,300 hours flying with all three Fleet Air Arm Squadrons (800, 801 and 899) and from all three Aircraft Carriers (INVINCIBLE, ILLUSTRIOUS and ARK ROYAL).   In March 2006 he took part in the very last SEA HARRIER fly past with 801 Naval Air Squadron when that unit paid off.

The UK’s first test variant of the F35B (LIGHTNING 11) flew at Fort Worth (Texas), during the summer of 2012.   It is expected that the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force will start receiving front-line the new LIGHTNING 11 aircraft, probably operating out of RAF Marham, (near King’s Lynn), where the land based testing and training flights will continue into 2017, with the first test flights from the Aircraft Carrier QUEEN ELIZABETH planned in 2018.