Behind The Scenes With The British Pilots Learning To Fly The F-35 Fighter

Facts and figures: The new aircraft has been criticised for its £100m per jet cost, but it is also set to be the most advanced ever flown by the Royal Air Force

Behind The Scenes With The British Pilots Learning To Fly F-35 Fighter Jet Which Absorbs Radar, Flies Backwards...And Costs A Cool £100m -- Daily Mail

* British servicemen are learning to fly and maintain the F-35 - dubbed Lightning II - at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida
* Plane's premiere due at Farnborough air show, Hampshire, and Royal International Air Tattoo in Gloucestershire
* Royal Air Force and Royal Navy will be using 138 of the planes, which cost up to £100million each, starting in 2018
* Jets will replace the iconic Harrier jump jet, and not only does it take off vertically - it can also fly backwards
* The first pilots to use them in full service will be the famous 617 Squadron, formed for the Dambusters raids in WWII

These photos show how British pilots are putting a £100million fighter jet through its paces ahead of its first appearance in British skies this summer.

The first of the UK's F-35s – dubbed the Lightning II by maker Lockheed Martin – are at a giant military airfield in Florida’s Panhandle region, where pilots are practicing flying them backwards, stopping them in mid-air and reaching top speeds of 1.6 times the speed of sound.

The Daily Mail was invited for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes visit at the Eglin Air Force Base to find out how the first three British flyers and their 13 engineers are learning how to operate the F-35, which is recognisable by its sharp-angled design and special coating which makes it hard for enemy radars to detect.

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My Comment: Talk about "puff" pieces. This is pure F-35 propaganda.