1st Marine Corps JSF arrives in Maryland

[unhappycamper]

The first F-35B Joint Strike Fighter landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., on Nov. 15.


1st Marine Corps JSF arrives in Maryland
By Amy McCullough - Staff report
Posted : Monday Nov 16, 2009 21:59:19 EST

The first F-35B Joint Strike Fighter landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., on Sunday afternoon.

The test aircraft, known as BF-1, left the Lockheed facility in Fort Worth, Texas, early Friday and flew to Dobbins Air Force Base, Ga., to refuel. It arrived at Patuxent River just before 1 p.m. on Sunday.

BF-1 is the first of five test F-35B Short Take-Off Vertical Landing variants to be assigned to the air station. BF-2 is expected to arrive by the end of this calendar year and BF-3 will follow shortly behind that, Lockheed spokeswoman John Kent said. The air station also will be home to three Navy carrier test variants.

Before the aircraft can complete its first vertical landing, it must go through a transition phase. When regular airplanes fly, lift is created from the wing. But for hovering jets such as the F-35B, it is created from the jet itself. The transition phase is expected to include a series of flights, during which the aircraft will practice slowing down and transitioning lift from the wing to the jet — a critical step before an actual STOVL flight.

Additional testing will include flying with different weight loads and ordnance payloads, according to a Marine release.


Rest of article about this under-powered over-priced ($239 million) wonder at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/11/marine_jsf_111609w/