F-35B - RAF in South Carolina - AW&ST

Playing with Lightning: F-35Bs Training In South Carolina

Mar 11, 2016

Tony Osborne | Aviation Week & Space Technology

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  Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, just inland from South Carolina's Atlantic coastline, was built in the 1940s as a base for anti-submarine warfare aircraft. Today, the airfield is undergoing a modernization in readiness for the F-35, with new hangars, hover pads and security fencing to support the new low-observable fighter. Eventually, Beaufort will be home to two F-35B training squadrons and two or three frontline F-35B and F-35C units.

  
  

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  Tony Osborne/Aviation Week

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In deepest South Carolina, the U.S. Marine Corps is helping the U.K. train and build its first squadron of F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters. On March 7-8, Aviation Week braved the sunshine and sand flies to get a close-up look at the aircraft and see how the training regime for the new fighter is developing. All photos: Tony Osborne/Aviation Week