Below: Raptor
02 ies past the
tower at Edwards
AFB. It was one
of nine EMD
aircraft, plus
Raptor 3999 for
structural tests
and Raptor 4000
for fatigue tests.
Above left to
right: Raptor 01 is
own for the rst
time at Edwards
AFB. Lt Col Steve
Rainey was at the
controls for its
return to ight.
Lockheed Martin/
Judson Brohmer
Testing in
April 1999. The
main weapon
bay doors are
opened here
to reveal three
AMRAAM test
rounds on the
left plus orange
instrumentation
test kit in the
right bay.
Lockheed Martin/
Kevin Robertsonan F-16 as our chase. The F-16 joined on
me after take-o and we immediately saw
the power of the Raptor. The mil power
thrust is far greater than a conventional
ghter. We started climbing to 15,000ft,
me with the gear down, and the F-16 on
my left. He started falling away from me
and having to use afterburner to keep
up. It was then that I began to appreciate
the raw power of the F-22. Once we got
to altitude we commenced some small
manoeuvres, I retracted the gear but I only
went up to about 250kts. The airplane was
very much like the simulator. After about
an hour came the scariest part — landing
back at Marietta. There were a couple of
thousand people out there and I didn’t
want to screw it up.’
The landing went to plan and Metz
described the Raptor as a ‘delight to y.’
He had been airborne for 58 minutes. A
second sortie of 35 minutes took place
on September 14, after which the aircraft
underwent minor structural modi cations
and was then placed in structural test
xture for load ground tests and strain
gauge calibration.THE MOVE TO EDWARDS
Aircraft 4001 made only two ights at
Marietta before being shipped to Edwards
AFB aboard a C-5 Galaxy in February- It resumed test ying in May. ‘I left
for Edwards right after the rst ight,’ says
Paul Metz. ‘John Beesley ew trip two,
which was cut short. I left to set up shop
at Edwards.’
‘Ship Two’ — 4002 — made its maiden
ight from Marietta on June 29, 1998, and
was ferried to Edwards on August 26. This
followed the rst in- ight refuelling (by
4001) of an F-22 on July 30.
The test points started to be notched up.
On October 13, 1998, Lockheed Martin test
pilot Jon Beesley ew the F-22 faster than
the speed of sound for the rst time.
By the end of 1998 con dence had been
su ciently built to enable a decision on
Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP). Having
notched up 183 relatively trouble free
hours of ight testing on November 23,
1998, it paved the way for the release of
$195.5 million in late December 1998
for advance procurement for six Lot 1
LRIP aircraft, which became known as
Production Representative Test Vehicle II
(PRTV II) to save a Congressional budgetary
clause. In early December, Lockheed Martin
had already received a $503 million contact
for two PRTVs.
Talking of that early test work at Edwards,
Paul Metz says: ‘I spent three years at
Edwards. The rst airplanes were for
engine and airframe test only, to exploreRAPTOR^2316-27 Metz First Flight C.indd 23 28/09/2017 14:53