Luke 1 takes last Viper ride

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Grace Lee
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, 56th Fighter Wing commander, took his last flight in an F-16 Fighting Falcon Jan. 23 symbolizing another step forward in realizing Luke Air Force Base's new mission -- training the world's greatest F-35 fighter pilots.

"My last flight in an F-16 is a personal milestone, but it also represents a big change for all the 56th Fighter Wing Airmen," Pleus said. "I have been flying the F-16 for 22 years, so I am going to miss the jet. But I am excited to start my F-35 training and learning how to fly our amazing new jets."

Since April 1994 Luke has been training pilots in the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and with the March 2011 announcement that Luke would be the new home to the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter, changes began to appear.

It started with the construction of the Academic Training Center, a 145,000-square-foot two-story building that provides state-of-the-art training for Luke's fighter pilots. The facility celebrated its opening Oct. 9, 2014.

The first F-35 arrived at Luke March 10, 2014, from the Lockheed Martin factory in Fort Worth, Texas. It was an historic moment because it was the first of 144 that are scheduled to be based here.

The F-35 unveiling ceremony was held March 14, 2014. The event was attended by more than 500 people, including Undersecretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning, then Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Congressman Trent Franks, Gen. Robin Rand, Air Education and Training Command commander, Lorraine Martin, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics F-35 program vice president and general manager.

Luke is not only the F-35 pilot training base for the U.S. Air Force, but also for our partner nations including Australia, Norway, Turkey, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands and Denmark. "By working hand-in-hand with our partner nations, we will develop relationships that we can call upon in the future to keep our countries safe," Pleus said.

While other nations are still awaiting their F-35As to arrive, the Royal Australian Air Force already has already brought two of their new F-35 aircraft to Luke and those jets are currently assigned to the 61st Fighter Squadron, where Australian pilots and maintainers will work alongside U.S. service members for years to come.

As the last commander to fly the F-16 at Luke, Pleus closed with a message.

"My very first F-16 flight was in a 61st Fighter Squadron jet assigned to the 56 Fighter Wing, when the wing was stationed at MacDill," Pleus said. "Now with more than 2,000 flight hours in the F-16, it seems quite fitting for me to take my last flight F-16 just as it all began ... as a part of the 56 Fighter Wing. Having my family watch me taxi in today made this last sortie all the more special. We've come a long way since the 2011 announcement that Luke was going to be an F-35 training base. But I know we will be ready for our first F-35 class in May 2015."

Today there are 19 F-35s assigned at Luke, two of which belong to the Royal Australian Air Force.