London, UK (SPX) Feb 12, 2010 – A Royal Air Force officer has become the first UK pilot to take to the skies in a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, known in the UK as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Squadron Leader Steve Long flew at 20,000 feet (6,000m) over Naval Air Station Patuxent River, a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA, where he has been based with VX-23 US Navy Air Test and Evaluation Squadron since May 2008.