Florida Air National Guard report
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – When military aviators of the future look
back at the beginnings of the F-35 Lightning II program, they may see the names
of two Florida National Guard pilots listed among the first to fly the Air
Force's fifth-generation fighter jet.
Air Force Lt. Col. Randal Efferson and
Air Force Maj. Jay Spohn are the only Guard pilots currently assigned to the
33rd Operations Group at Eglin Air Force Base, and they'll soon be taking to
the skies to master the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
Once trained, Efferson and Spohn will
help develop the training and standards for other F-35 pilots as the fighters
are integrated into the Air Force's fleet of aircraft.
"It is a huge accomplishment,"
Efferson said, noting that they will be among the first 100 pilots to fly the
Air Force's newest fighter jet. "We've been working for the past two years
to get to this point, and just on May 3 we were issued clearance to fly initial
cadre pilots [non-test pilots]."
Spohn will be the fifth member of the
33rd to fly the F-35, and the second to train at Eglin; about three months
later Efferson will be the tenth military cadre pilot to fly. Before becoming
fully qualified as instructor pilots, Spohn and Efferson will each have to
complete five instructional sorties and one evaluation flight.
The Guard members' initial flights in
the F-35 come on the heels of recent public hearings in Florida and Georgia to
help determine if Jacksonville, Fla., will be selected as an F-35 base; the
Florida Air National Guard's base at the 125th Fighter Wing in Jacksonville is
currently one of six locations nationwide being considered as an operational
basing site for an F-35 squadron.
Both Spohn and Efferson said an F-35
base at Jacksonville would be a good fit for Florida and a great opportunity
for the National Guard, especially since the Florida National Guard already
embraced the F-35 program by assigning two of its officers as instructor pilots
at Eglin.
"The F-35 in conjunction with the
F-22 is the future of the Combat Air Forces," Spohn said. "Air
National Guard units getting the F-35 mean more longevity for those particular
Guard units, and the continued relevance of the Guard in the CAF as a whole as
the Air Force's transition to newer aircraft continues."
The initial flights for the F-35 pilots
will be focused on learning the basic aircraft systems without weapons and
finding out what it takes to maintain them.
"It is the first building block of
many that will eventually bring the jet to initial operational
capability," Spohn said. "This is 'no kidding' the very first step in
getting to that point."
The F-35 is the Department of Defense's
next generation of "strike aircraft weapons" systems for not only the
Air Force, but the Navy, Marines, and U.S. allies. According to Spohn and
Efferson, the versatile and high-tech aircraft will carry the U.S. Air Force
into the next 50 years of air superiority, and they will have the satisfaction
of knowing they were among the pioneers in its initial phases.
"I grew up in the '80s when the
F-15 [Eagle], the F-16 [Fighting Falcon] and the A-10 [Thunderbolt II] were all
new airplanes," Spohn said. "I look back and it's kind of hard to
believe that the airplanes that were new when I was young are now being replaced
by the airplane that I'm getting ready to fly.
"I'm sure there will come a day
when the F-35 is being replaced and I'll look back and remember when it was
new. It will certainly be after my time in the service, though."
According to Efferson, he gave up a
civilian career and joined the F-35 program in order to take his place in
aviation history, as well as serve his country.
"That was one of the biggest
reasons that I volunteered for this," he said. "I was a traditional
Guardsman in Alabama, but I wanted the opportunity to become part of history
and influence the next 50 years. So I put in my application and was lucky
enough to get picked."
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