The F-35A made its aerial demonstration debut on June 19, 2017 at the Paris Air Show in front of crowds of thousands. Judging by the excitement amongst the professional audience, this was clearly the ‘star of the show’
And the pilot certainly did his best to please the crowd, performing a couple of almost vertical ascents at right angles to the runway so that we could appreciate the flames and experience the full roar that made the ground tremble under our feet and that would have scared the wits out of Odin.
Most impressive was the 100% vertical ascent, followed by a stall turn leading into a gentle ‘tumbling leaf’ maneouvre – great stuff ! [Ed.]
The nine major partner nations, including the U.S., plan to acquire over 3,100 F-35s through 2035, which, if delivered will make the F-35 one of the most numerous jet fighters.
Source: YouTube