by Master Sgt. Charles Ramey

Air Warfare Center Public Affairs

01/15/03 – NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFPN) # Air Combat Command entered a new era Jan. 14 as America’s newest fighter-attack aircraft touched down here.

Raptor 00-012, the first F/A-22 to be delivered directly to the command, was flown from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to Nellis by Lt. Col. David Rose, chief of Nellis’ F/A-22 integration office and ACC’s first F/A-22 pilot.

The command formally entered the F/A-22 operations realm Jan. 4 when maintainers from the 57th Wing’s 57th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and operators from the 53rd Wing’s 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron here completed the command’s first F/A-22 sortie at Edwards. Rose flew his first F/A-22 sortie in Raptor 00-012 and was launched out for the mission by Tech. Sgt. Greg Auzenne, the dedicated crew chief for the aircraft.

“All objectives were met during the initial 1.3-hour flight,” Rose said. “They included aircraft generation by members of Nellis’ 57th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, an in-flight performance evaluation of flying qualities, integrated avionics evaluations, flying at super cruise (flying faster than the speed of sound without afterburner), and simulated air-to-air combat maneuvers by the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron.”

Besides the Jan. 14 and Jan. 4 flights, the Nellis F/A-22 team also generated a third sortie with Raptor 00-012 on Jan. 8 where Rose performed more flight evaluations and conducted an in-flight refueling.

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