On March 19, 2009, a young naval aviator climbed into the cockpit of AA-1, the first F-35 Lightning II fighter jet, for a flight test in the late morning at Fort Worth, Texas. He was to become the first Marine, and second U.S. service member, to fly the F-35A as it continued its extensive developmental phase performed by government, military and industry.

Retired Lt. Col. Ty “O.D.” Bachmann holds the historic distinction as the first U.S. Marine Corps pilot to fly the F-35’s conventional takeoff and landing variant, logging the flight-test program’s 90th mission. Bachmann, a Kansas native and a decorated fighter pilot, served two fleet AV-8B Harrier strike aircraft tours in the Middle East in addition to serving as a forward air controller in-between tours.

“I was Lightning Five,” he explains of his call sign as the fifth pilot to fly the F-35. The Joint Strike Fighter program transitioned from demonstration to development in the mid-2000s and Lockheed Martin Chief Test Pilot Jon Beesley flew the first F-35A flight, or “Lightning One,” in December 2006. Seasoned pilots such as Beesley, Jeff Knowles, Jim Kromberg, and Graham Thompson, made an impression on Bachmann, he said. These were experienced pilots with longstanding flight test and military careers who now added the new, sophisticated F-35 to their resumes. Being the F-35 flight test team’s youngest pilot, Bachmann said that the other pilots looked out for him.

“For me, it was amazing opportunity to be the first Marine to fly AA-1,” he said. “What helped me the most was being prepared when the opportunity came to be in that position [to fly]. I remember I spoke to [Jeff] Knowles who asked, ‘Are you going to be the first [Marine] guy to fly?’ I didn’t know the schedule that the contractor puts in place, so he put me on a bunch of simulation development sessions to get my F-35 knowledge as high as possible. If and when my time came to fly, the older guys wanted me to be the most prepared, and I was,” he recalls of the comradery that helped him succeed in the first F-35.

“Boring is successful in the flight tests, especially in the single seat fighter; and even if it is boring, you’re still on edge the entire event!” Bachmann explained regarding the testing of the F-35’s handling qualities and engine response during that first flight. He also noted that the fighter jet successfully completed all the maneuvers while in the air.

The intent of AA-1 was all risk reduction, noted Bachmann, which required that the test teams try out all these concepts to determine optimal results.

He continued, “It even came down to, ‘Do we want this button placed here? Do we want it to rotate or go up and down?’ And then it was all the flight control development in order to open the flight envelope for follow-on airplanes. Every single flight in AA-1 was a dedicated test mission that had checks in the box we had to perform, which was neat for this young guy during my time there.”

The U.S. Marine Corps’ strategy in the early 2000s was to acquire the F-35B, a short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the aircraft that would eventually replace the F/A-18 Hornet fighter and attack aircraft, AV-8B Harrier II strike aircraft, and EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft.

The similarity of the controls and flying characteristics of the F-35 A and B variants proved beneficial to Bachmann. Following his AA-1 flights, Bachmann joined the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and became the official government test pilot. With his exposure to AA-1, he was ready to get started on the STOVL knowledge base.

In 2013 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Bachmann served as the lead instructor for Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501) and trained new F-35 student pilots from the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, as well as the maintenance personnel. The joint training center was the Marines’ only F-35B educational institution responsible for aircrew training.

“It was going to be like F-35 University. The challenging part was figuring out how to do F-35 operations with zero airplanes because they had not been delivered yet,” said Bachmann. “The pilots all came from their own plane, whether it was an F-16, F-15, or F/A-18. And they thought they had the best jet. Coming together to learn the F-35 was good learning experience for all.”

Bachmann said his British colleague, BAE test pilot Graham Tomlinson, suggested “flipping the script” when prepping the design and operational test activities of the B variant.

“That meant [making] the airplane fly better when you don’t touch it. Make the airplane fly without thinking. It’s going to do what an airplane needs to do…fly…so you can be busy managing the weapons systems, communicating with others, and taking in the information,” he explained. “It’s not just about getting from point A to point B. The jets also tells you where the good and bad guys are, and what they are doing. Point is if you’re not worried about flying your plane, you can fight extremely well.”

Bachmann went on to command the U.S. Marine Corps’ first F-35B squadron, VMFAT-501, which was instrumental to the follow-on developmental and operational test missions that led to the service being the first to declare initial operating capability in July 2015.

Today, Bachmann is the Director of Flight Test and Demonstration at Collins Aerospace. The goals for his team are simple: safe, effective, and efficient.

“It is not unlike the tenets of work hard, be nice, and help others which I used with F-35B teams, and still use today,” he pointed out. “If I can apply safety, effectiveness, and efficiency to the planning and execution of any of our test machines, we’re going to get the data we need to succeed.”

Bachmann fondly remembers the F-35 fighter jet because he witnessed firsthand when technology took a massive leap forward, and he now finds it satisfying to see it perform in today’s modern world.

“It’s the ultimate reward,” he said. “The team worked hard and put in a crazy amount of time and effort to the development of the airplane. It was everybody – the services, the partnerships, the civilians and contractors. To see the product being as amazing as we thought it was going to be was worth the wait,” Bachmann said about the F-35 team that put the jet in the air. “I think we did a lot of things that were firsts and [we] figured them out along the way.”

Bachmann believes that the F-35 will continue as the most effective and capable air system made available today. The F-35 will ensure that the U.S. Marine Corps possesses the air dominance required to fight and win for the American people.

“Giving the warfighter the confidence that the F-35 is gonna bring them home is huge,” said Bachmann. “It is the preeminent instrument of power projection for the not only the Marines, but the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, and the international partners and customers. The fact that I was a part of its journey is remarkable.”