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In a book I have recently been reading I managed to find a date of a pic after the Raptors first flight (can see this pic in the F-22 gallery). It was dated 1997. Was it really that long ago? I thought that it came out in 2000?

Parkeran

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I believe the date is correct - September 1997 was the first flight after officialy been named "Raptor". But these typical procedures are followed by airframe tests, structural tests, software tests, fine-tuning the aircraft....First deliveries of the Raptor were in 2003-2004 if I recall correctly.

Elite 1K Joined: Jul 22, 2005 Posts: 1011 Status: Offline

Parkeran wrote:

In a book I have recently been reading I maneged to find a date of a pic after the raptors first flight (can see this pic in the F-22 gallery). It was dated 1997. Was it really that long ago? I thought that it came out in 2000?

Parkeran

Even scarier is the prototype flew in '90.

Enthusiast Joined: Mar 13, 2007 Posts: 98 Status: Offline

sferrin wrote:

Parkeran wrote:

In a book I have recently been reading I maneged to find a date of a pic after the raptors first flight (can see this pic in the F-22 gallery). It was dated 1997. Was it really that long ago? I thought that it came out in 2000?

Parkeran

Even scarier is the prototype flew in '90.

All hail to the Clinton adminstration! If it were a heavy bomber program it would have been more like 12 years between prototype flight and production version flight.

Elite 2K Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2097 Status: Offline

First flight of Raptor 4001 took place at Dobbins ARB, Marietta, Georgia, on 7 September 1997 with F-22 chief test pilot Paul Metz (Lockheed Martin) at the controls.

J.J. wrote:

First flight of Raptor 4001 took place at Dobbins ARB, Marietta, Georgia, on 7 September 1997 with F-22 chief test pilot Paul Metz (Lockheed Martin) at the controls.

I still have my T-Shirt...lol

What a Day that was!!

Elite 2K Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2097 Status: Offline

That T-Shirt should be very Cool

. But I still have three photo CDs from Lockheed Martin with a huge lot of hi-res pictures of the first flight. Very Happy

Over the weekend I will upload at least the very best shots.

That would be great make sure you attach some into this topic!!!

Parkeran

Elite 2K Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2097 Status: Offline

Today, I uploaded a first batch of pics from my three Lockheed Martin photo CDs. To view these pics, at the moment please check our F-16 Photo Gallery for uploads. Sometime later these pics will be included in our F-22 Photo Gallery. And I will upload some more. Only one sample:

F-22A no. 91-4001, marked Raptor 01, during its first flight on September 7th, 1997.

Please note: In case of their three photo CDs Lockheed Martin provided neither photo captions nor names of photographers. They only provided pages of color printouts with thumbnails from each CD. Because of that I must create my own photo captions.

Elite 2K Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2097 Status: Offline

Hi all! After I uploaded first pictures from my three Lockheed Martin photo CDs, in our F-22 Photo Gallery we created a brand-new sub-album "F-22 First Flights". This evening, I´m still in the process to upload some more pictures. Please check out our new sub-album for any further additions! And please note: All of that is original LMTAS photo stuff, but never published before in such a quantity on any other public website or in printed publications! In this special case, F-16.net provides again first-hand public photo info for first time!

That´s my 1.500th post on F-16.net Cheers

Tomorrow, I will upload some more pictures.

Elite 1K Joined: Jul 20, 2005 Posts: 1034 Status: Offline

Am I the only one that cannot find this F-22 sub-album? If so, can someone point me to it? Thanks.

Elite 2K Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2097 Status: Offline

Please go to our <a href="gallery_item15059.html">F-22 Photo Gallery</a> and select the first item, which is <a href="gallery_item213468.html">the sub-album</a>! For newest uploads please also check our section "<a href="http://www.f-16.net/gallery_item49893.html">Upload photos"</a> or "<a href="gallery_new.html">newest additions</a>".

Elite 1K Joined: Jul 20, 2005 Posts: 1034 Status: Offline

Nope, not there...no sub album 'first flights'...

F-16.net Webmaster Joined: May 23, 2003 Posts: 2354

Hi Checksixx and everybody else, now you should be able to access <a href="gallery_item213468.html">that gallery</a>. The permissions for that new album were not set correctly yet.

Now it works Smile

Thanks

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Forum: F-22A Raptor

Raptor's first flight