Missing: USMC fighter jet
Missing: USMC F-35B. Last seen about seven miles north-east of Lake Moultrie, a few miles north of North Charleston (SC). Reward: $80,000,000. Listens to the name Lightning II. When found call the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing Public Affairs Office at 252-466-3827.
That could be a leaflet being distributed in that area, after Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501) Warlords lost the F-35B. The pilot successfully ejected from his stealth fighter jet, at 2,000 feet, and then showed up about ten miles away in the middle of a residential neighbourhood at a house on South Kenwood Drive in North Charleston, which is about seventy miles north-east of MCAS Beaufort, the units home base.
The ongoing search is focused on Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, both north of Joint Base Charleston. The decision to focus in those areas is “based on the jet’s last-known position”.
It sounds like he took one scene from Top Gun: Maverick quite literal, where Maverick crashes the SR-72 Darkstar before ejecting and walking to a small town where he stumbles into a local diner.
Picture: Scramble Archives (Hans van Herk)
