An F-35 Lightning II fighter jet takes off at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona — a major training base of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
For many years it emphasized training on the F-16 Fighting Falcon — a single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force. Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. But beginning in 2011, the emphasis switched to training on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II — a family of single-seat, single-engined, all-weather stealth multirole fighters, designed to perform ground-attack and air-superiority missions. Original image from Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress collection. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.