Marine Corps test pilot Maj. Russell Clift makes a vertical landing in F-35B test aircraft BF-01 at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, on 7 December 2012. This flight, the 268th in BF-01, marked the 1,000th flight for the short takeoff/vertical landing variant of the Lightning II. The first flight of the F-35B came on 11 June 2008 and the first vertical landing came on 18 March 2010. BAE Systems test pilot Graham Tomlinson was at the controls for both of those F-35B milestone flights.
