American F-35s gear up for debut on Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth

The fearsome warplanes from V Marine Fighter Attack (VMFA) 211 Squadron touched down at RAF Marham in Norfolk from their base in Yuma, Arizona last week.

The US Marine Corps squadron will be working alongside Britain’s 617 Squadron as they prepare to embark Queen Elizabeth later this month for Exercise Joint Warrior.

The mighty 65,000-tonne warship left Portsmouth yesterday afternoon following a two-day delay after some of the crew tested positive for coronavirus on Monday.

The squadron of American aviators are now running tests in hi-tech simulators ahead of embarking on the £3.1bn aircraft carrier.

Once on board, both the US and UK squadrons of jets will carry out qualifying tests to make sure pilots can operate from the vast warship day and night,

Training will also include live and inert weapons training ahead of next year’s planned deployment, which will be Queen Elizabeth’s first operational mission.

With the training complete the aircraft will then conduct Exercise Joint Warrior from HMS Queen Elizabeth followed by a second exercise later in the year.

Group Captain Jim Beck, RAF Marham’s station commander, said: ‘It’s fantastic to welcome VMA-211 Squadron to RAF Marham for the first time and we are looking forward to working with them over the coming weeks to prepare for their deployment to HMS Queen Elizabeth.

‘We are planning to undertake a qualification period and then participate in two exercises. These exercises will really put our personnel to the test to ensure that they are ready to deploy on carrier strike group 21 next year and will be the opportunity to showcase the capabilities of the F-35 working alongside our Nato partners.’

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HMS Queen Elizabeth will return to Portsmouth briefly to pick up supplies at some point next week.

She is expected to remain at sea for several weeks carrying out her final phase of training at sea, working with a multinational group of warships.

When she deploys next year, she will be accompanied by British and American F-35s.

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