F-35 Stopover in Marietta

MARIETTA, Ga., November 6, 2012 – Employees at the Lockheed Martin facility here got the rare opportunity to see an F-35 Lightning II multi-role fighter up close on Nov. 5, as a new U.S. Marine Corps F-35B stopped by on its ferry flight from the Lockheed Martin production facility in Fort Worth, Texas, to the U.S. Navy’s test center at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

Technicians at the Marietta facility applied the final stealth coatings to the horizontal and vertical tails of this particular aircraft. The assemblies were shipped to Fort Worth for installation. The Marietta facility also currently delivers approximately one F-35 Center Wing Assembly per week to Fort Worth. This major fuselage section holds the aircraft's F135 engine and includes structures for attaching the F-35’s wings.

Here, F-35 Chief Test Pilot Alan Norman talks to the local Marietta media as Marietta F-35 Operations Director Steve Blake looks on.