Good evening, FighterSweep Fans! What better way to start off the week than with a spectacular in-cockpit experience with the 69th Fighter Squadron “Werewolves” at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.
The Werewolves are the flying unit in the 944th Operations Group, a component of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. All of the pilots at the unit are very senior fighter pilots, supplementing the other F-16 Formal Training Unit squadrons at Luke with their broad experience base and expertise–to include Weapons Officers and Instructor Pilots with thousands of hours in the F-16.
The 69th now has personnel qualified not just in the different Blocks (25, 42) of the Viper still operating out of Luke, but also in the F-35A Lightning II–the new kid in town. The 61st and 62nd Fighter Squadrons are the first two units at Luke to field the JSF, and transition courses (TX courses, as they’re called) are fully underway in the new schoolhouse.
“HAK,” an F-16 Instructor Pilot in the 69th Fighter Squadron, pre-flights the cockpit of a Viper prior to a training sortie at Luke AFB, Arizona.
This awesome video is an offering from Scott Dworkin, a well-traveled aviation photojournalist who has done a great deal of work at Edwards Air Force Base, as well as other installations around the country.
This will probably be the best ten minutes you spend all evening, so be sure to sit back, crank the volume, and enjoy the footage of the 69 FS Werewolves raging over the Arizona desert!