Langley's "Fighting First" Elephant Walk
On 31 January 2025, thirty jets from Langley's 1st Fighter Wing conducted an Elephant Walk. Quite an achievement in itself but considering that the Fighting First has about seventy aircraft in its inventory, this is lower than one would expected.
A total of 24 FF coded Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptors and six FF coded Northrop T-38A Talons took the Virginia skies from Joint Base Langley-Eustis to demonstrate and highlight the Wing's capability to mobilise Air Combat Command (ACC) forces rapidly in high-stress scenarios. The 1st Fighter Wing at Langley became one of ACC's largests combat wings, after gaining more aircraft when Tyndall AFB (FL) was severely damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018.
After consulting the Scramble Database you will find that some 55 F-22As and 15 T-38As are now at the 1st Fighter Wing's disposal. It should be noted that sometimes there are aircraft, for instance during the last Elephant Walk, that had not been (actively) noted for many years.
The following active FF coded F-22As were noted on 31 January 2025; 02-4039, 05-4095, 05-4099, 08-4158, 08-4161, 08-4162 (as 1FW flagship), 08-4163, 08-4166, 08-4168, 09-4174, 09-4178, 09-4181, 09-4184 + ten others unknown.
The following FF coded T-38As were noted; 62-3702, 62-3722, 63-8133, 63-8218, 68-8154 and 68-8186/86 (as 7FTS flagship Aggressor colours).
Credit photos: USAF / Credit patch: www.aviatorgear.com