Lightning Strikes at Florennes Air Base

The 1st F-35 Lightning II fighters for the Belgian Air Force arrived in Belgium yesterday. 1SQN pilots brought them home to Florennes Air Base. On base, they were greeted by His Royal Highness King Filip of Belgium, the Secretary of Defense, the Chief of Defense along with other dignitaries. Outside the fence, a couple of hundreds of aviation enthusiasts looked on as those 1st 3 F-35’s with Belgian Air Force livery touched down.

In fact, these were not the very 1st F-35’s delivered to the Belgian Air Force. 8 more Belgian F-35’s are assigned to 312 SQN. They are stationed at Luke Air Force Base in the USA. They are used to train our pilots on the new airframe.

We had a day of typical Belgian weather: a sky with 50 shades of grey and from time to time a light drizzle. So, my pictures did not turn out to be great. I’m sure that I’ll have plenty of opportunities to meet these jets in better light.