8/20/2012 - Col. Andrew Toth, the 33rd Fighter Wing commander, passes his helmet and gear to Staff Sgt. Jeremy Houser, of the 33rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, after his aircraft familiarization sortie in the F-35A Lightning II joint strike fighter Aug. 16 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Toth’s two-ship formation flight marked the 100th and 101st F-35A sorties flown at Eglin. (U.S. Air Force photo/Samuel King Jr.)

8/20/2012 - Airman 1st Class Lance Colbert, a crew chief from 58th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, reviews joint technical data tasks, like maintaining landing gear pins, in a Portable Maintenance Aid after the 100th sortie of an F-35A Lightning II at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Aug. 16 Colbert is on the leading edge of helping stand up maintainer and pilot student training at the world’s premier joint strike fighter F-35 Integrated Training Facility located at Eglin’s 33rd Fighter Wing. The F-35 incorporates a wide range of new technologies for stealth, multi-mission capabilities, and sustainability. Colbert has been an integral part of activities leading to the almost 200 combined sorties to date at Eglin for the Air Force and Marine Corps variants of the F-35 as the team continues to train up instructor pilots and develop maintainer syllabus. (U.S. Air Force photo/Maj. Karen Roganov)

8/20/2012 - A maintainer watches the F-35A Lightning II joint strike fighter as the pilot performs shutdown procedures after a sortie at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Aug. 16. (U.S. Air Force photo/Maj. Karen Roganov)

8/20/2012 - Staff Sgt. Douglas Bays, a crew chief with the 57th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, selects tools for post-flight maintenance tasks on an F-35A Lightning II at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Aug. 16. Bays is here training in anticipation for when the 57th will stand up its F-35 flying operations later next year. Bays is one of three maintainers from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., being trained on the F-35. Once their training is complete, they'll provide maintenance support to the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron's F-35 fleet. The 422nd is a geographically separated unit of the 53rd Wing, headquartered at Eglin. (U.S. Air Force photo/Karen Roganov)