F
F-35
14 JUNE/JULY 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com
t
he F-35 which Lockheed Martin is proposing as a replacement for the Canadian Air Force's CF-18 fighter
jet has been repeatedly slammed in the media for being a dud when it comes to dogfights. However, a for-
mer Canadian fighter wing commander, who's now an F-35 test pilot, says that it just isn't so.
We caught up with Billie Flynn at the recent Cansec 2016 conference in Ottawa. Before becoming a test
pilot for Lockheed, Billie spent 23 years in the Canadian Air Force. He flew 25 combat missions in Kosovo and Ser-
bia during the late 1990s as commander of the 441 Task Squadron. His experience puts him in a unique position as
5th-generation fighter jet test pilot because he has flown the Eurofighter Typhoon, all versions of the F-16 and the
CF-18, which the F-35 aims to replace.
"I was one of the so-called baby pilots back in 1982 that flew Canada's fist CF-18s," says Billie.
The Air Force wanted to see if young pilots like Billie could be trained to fly the then brand new first CF-18s, which
were called plastic fighters by the pilots.
"The CF-18 was so different from what the Canadian Air Force ever had…we didn't know how to manage it be-
The F-35 lighTing ii:
new Dog reADy For A FighT
Here's a fighter pilot's take on Lockheed Martin's
proposed replacement for the CF-18
Billie Flynn
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