"Until two weeks ago the aircraft were operated under a partnering agreement with the U.S. Marine Corps, so they’ve been operating and maintaining them and both U.K.. And Marine pilots have been flying them," says RAF Squadron Leader Frankie Buchler. "Once BK-1 arrived here we began organic operations. So all the flying, all the maintenance we are doing here is done under sovereign control, in accordance with our military operations back in the U.K. It is all British personnel working on the aircraft now and it will be the same with the second jet we will bring here shortly. We are the first nation to start conducting organic operations without support from the Marine Corps or U.S. Air Force."
A fourth British F-35B, BK-3, has been transferred from Eglin to Beaufort Pilot Training Center at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, where it is operated as part of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501). "That will stay at VMFAT-501 for the next few years to help train future U.K. pilots and maintainers," says Buchler, who in March 2013 became the first international F-35B instructor pilot student at the 33rd Fighter Wing to complete a sortie in the JSF.
