Aircraft
58-Year-Old British Pilot Takes F-35B into the Air
Lockheed Martin realized there is no substitute for experience.

When Lockheed Martin chose a test pilot to take the F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) version through development and into the air, the company realized there is no substitute for experience. Therefore, when aircraft F-35BF-1 took to the skies over Texas last month, a 58-year-old British pilot was at the controls.

“I’m old but supposedly wise,” Graham Tomlinson told AIN at the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas, where he has spent the past six years. Tomlinson was a test pilot for BAE Systems for 22 years. Of more significance, he has been flying STOVL jets since 1974, when he joined his first Harrier squadron in the Royal Air Force. He qualified as a test pilot in 1978, and has since been at the forefront of the “jump jet” development.