VMFA-122 conducts first flight with F-35 Lightning II

Thursday Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122, also known as VMFA-122, conducted it’s first flight with the F-35 Lightning II.

According to Marine Corps Air Station Yuma officials, VMFA-122 opened a new chapter of their history on November 14, 2017, transitioning from the McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet to the Lockheed Martin F-35B and moving from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort to MCAS Yuma.

Maj. John Dirk, said, “We’ve got a very diverse group of people coming together to from this squadron and build it into a squadron that has a war-fighting capability.”

Lt. Col. John Price said, “We’ve got to have flight operations to be able to go out and train the air crew and train the maintainers in our core mission. So that’s what we’re beginning on Thursday, as we move towards full operations capability at the end of this year.”