From our good friends at AirshowStuffVideos comes this Heritage Flight performed by a United States Air Force (USAF) Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning II and a North American P-51D Mustang warbird. This performance took place during the London Airshow 2017 at London International Airport in London, Ontario Canada. The aircraft takeoff, perform their formation flybys, and each perform a solo flyby before recovering after the performance. Turn that sound UP!
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The North American P-51D-25NA 44-73029 (N51JB Bald Eagle) is a Horsemen Flying Team aircraft. It entered service with the Ohio Air National Guard (ANG) during the early 1950s and spent time in the Nicaraguan Air Force before returning to the States in 1963. The aircraft changed hands several times during the 60s and 70s and was raced as #15 Jay Bee during the 70s. Jim Beasley acquired the aircraft in 1983. A landing accident in 1984 grounded the aircraft for a while but a restoration completed in 2010 returned the aircraft to flight with The Horsemen.
The Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning II in the video is F-35A Air Force serial number 11-5038 (MSN AF-49) and was delivered to the Air Force on July 29th 2014. Since acceptance the jet has been flown by the 61st Fighter Squadron Top Dogs of the 56th Operations Group based at Luke Air Force Base near Glendale in Arizona. The 56th can trace its roots all the way back to the 56th Fighter Group based in England during World War II- yes, that’s right- Gabby Gabreski’s unit. The 56th was re-activated in October of 2013 to provide F-35A training.
