F-35 put through refueling paces
Some of the first Marine Corps F-35B pilots are getting practice in a routine but important task in the new plane: midair refueling. Maj. Ty Bachmann, a test pilot, and Maj. Paul Holst, who is preparing to be an F-35 instructor, had a train-the-trainer day at Eglin Air Force Base Tuesday to run the first midair test of the aerial refueling systems on the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, which is expected to make its first appearance at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma later this year.
The pilots each took off in an F-35 from the coastal Florida Air Force base and flew about 50 to 75 miles off-shore before meeting up with a C-130 tanker out of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., to replenish their fuel in the sky over the Gulf of Mexico. The 300 gallons of fuel they took on wasn't much for a plane, but enough to show that the systems were solid and the training was effective.
Holst, an experienced pilot with about 1,800 hours in the F-18, said it was an overall similar refueling technique “The airplane and the tanker worked as advertised, and everything went really smoothly.”
Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252 assists Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 in an aerial refueling on F-35B Lighting II aircrafts Tuesday. This was the first aerial refueling training flight to be performed on F-35B aircrafts.