F-22 Milestones - Part 2

11 June 2010: A YF-22 prototype goes on display at the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards AFB. The YF-22, previously on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, was airlifted via C-5 Galaxy transport.

9 July 2010: Top military, government, and local officials formally dedicate two F-22s—appropriately adorned with traditional leis—in ceremonies at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, inaugurating the base as the newest home for the Raptor. The Raptors are assigned to the 199th Fighter Squadron, the Hawaii Air National Guard unit at Hickam.

29 July 2010: The Air Force announces an F-22 fleet consolidation. While no final decision has been made, it is anticipated the 7th Fighter Squadron at Holloman AFB will relocate to Tyndall AFB. The 8th Fighter Squadron at Holloman will be deactivated and its aircraft will be redistributed.

8 August 2010: F-22 pilots from Elmendorf AFB participate in Exercise Vigilant Eagle, a cooperative anti-hijacking exercise involving the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the Russian Air Force.

4 October 2010: Officials from the 19th Fighter Squadron, which had been based at Hickam Field since 7 December 1941, hold a realignment and assumption of command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The 19th FS is an active-duty Associate unit with the 199th FS, the Hawaii Air National Guard unit at the joint base.

18 March 2011: An Air Force F-22 is successfully flown at supercruise speeds fueled by a 50-50 blend of conventional petroleum-based JP-8 and biofuel derived from camelina, a weed-like plant not used as a food source.

3 May 2011: Gen. William M. Fraser III, commander of Air Combat Command, announces that the entire F-22 fleet will be grounded as a safety precaution. The announcement follows twelve separate incidents reported over a three-year period in which pilots experienced hypoxia-like symptoms.

12 May 2011: Production of the 195th and final F-22 mid body is completed at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth. The fuselage section was loaded into its shipping container prior to an employee ceremony.

13 May 2011: The 8th Fighter Squadron, the active-duty F-22 unit at Holloman AFB, is officially inactivated, marking only the second time in the squadron’s sixty-one year history that it has been inactive.

10 August 2011: Lockheed test pilot Dave Ferguson passes away after a long battle with cancer. He was seventy-two. Ferguson flew the first flight and carried out initial airworthiness tests on the YF-22 prototype in 1990.

19 September 2011: Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz approve an implementation plan developed by Air Combat Command officials to allow the F-22 Raptor to resume flight operations after a four-month stand down. Flights at all F-22 bases resume shortly after the announcement.

4 November 2011: Lt. Col. David Piffarerio, commander of Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Fighter Squadron at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, becomes the first pilot to reach 1,000 flight hours in the F-22 Raptor.