Royal Navy 'Top Gun' pilots train to fly US fighters

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The F18 fighter jets gleam dazzling silver in the California sunshine at Naval Air Station Lemoore, where the control tower handles up to 300 operations a day.

British Royal Navy pilot Lt Dan Latham is walking out to his aircraft with his American colleague for a training mission that will see them fly through the cloudless skies for hundreds of miles over the desert on a practice bombing raid.

Dan, from Ormskirk in Lancashire, is one of the lucky few chosen to fly with his American naval counterparts in the US for four years.

The Royal Navy want to ensure the maritime flying skills of their pilots are maintained, until the new British aircraft carriers and the stealth fighter jets due to fly from them are ready.

The UK government has decided to revert back to plans to order a series of F-35B "jump jets", to operate from the new aircraft carrier currently being constructed.

HMS Queen Elizabeth could ready for sea trials in 2017, with the F-35s flying from them in 2018.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18041297