EGLIN AFB — Soaring high above the Emerald Coast in an F-35 on Tuesday, Air Force Col. Andrew Toth was soaking it all in: the perfect weather, the feel of the jet shooting through the sky, the student pilot training in the jet next to him, and that it quite possibly was his last time to fly the jet, maybe to fly for the Air Force at all.
After two years at the helm of the first-ever training school for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the military’s newest and most ambitious air combat weapons system to date, Toth will hand over command to a new colonel at a ceremony today.
The flight was bittersweet, he said.
View a gallery of Toth's flight. >>
“The sweet part of it was that I was able to do an actual student sortie,” he said. “We did a formation and instrument ride with one of the guys going through the program, so I got to teach and instruct — all of the things I love doing — and that made it all the more special. The bitter part of it was knowing this will potentially be the last time I will get the opportunity to fly the F-35 or even in the Air Force again.”
Toth will take over as the director of assignments at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio.
For the last two years and three months, though, he has commanded the 33rd Fighter Wing, overseeing the training school for people across all branches of the U.S. and international militaries who are learning to fly or maintain the F-35.
When he arrived, the hangars and some of the school’s buildings were empty. No jets had been delivered.
It’s a much different picture today.
The wing boasts more than 1,875 people. They have flown more than 2,000 hours on over 1,500 sorties in the Marines and Air Force variants of the jet, and put more than 45 pilots and 900 maintainers though the school.
“We’ve seen incredible growth,” Toth said. “It has absolutely been an incredible experience being a small part of the team that has really taken this program from a paper aircraft to a fully functioning training weapons system.”
There were some challenges along the way.
Program delays pushed back timelines, some equipment issues had to be resolved and discoveries were made about how the aircraft functions that had to be accounted for.
“It’s extremely challenging, especially when we first stood up the wing and the expectation was the aircraft was going to arrive here and we were going to start flying,” he said.
That wasn’t the case. The first F-35s arrived in July 2011. They didn’t fly until the following March.
To keep up morale, Toth made sure everyone could see there was a next step: first engine run operations, then taxi operations, then continuing to verify technical maintenance data and eventually actual flight.
“As long as you continue to have a vision, morale seems to take care of itself,” he said. “Everyone here knew we would eventually start flying, so they were patient.”
That patience — and keeping in mind that the F-35 is still a brand new aircraft — was key.
Despite that, the program that has been in the works for over 15 years has made a lot of progress. The Marines have sent pilots and maintainers to Yuma, Ariz., where they will be ready to stand up the military’s first combat-ready force within the next two years. The Air Force also announced earlier this month that by 2016 it will have capability to conduct limited close air support missions, air-to-air missions and deep strikes into enemy territory.
Toth credits that in part to the work of the men and women at Eglin. He said one of his greatest experiences was seeing the impact that work has had on the F-35 program as a whole.
High-ranking Air Force and Defense Department officials visited the wing regularly, as did representatives from more than 40 countries.
He said that the international representatives often expressed surprise after seeing the maintainers repairing the jets, the aircraft flying in a pattern and students going through the academic training center. They told him they didn’t realize the program was that far along; they thought it was still on paper and in testing.
Toth said it takes coming to Eglin for many people to understand the training program is fully functional.
The representatives take that back to their countries. It has a positive impact on the progress of the program and helps to quell concerns about delays and setbacks.
In addition, Toth said it was amazing be a part of the first fully integrated wing, with Air Force, Navy, Marines and international forces working under one roof to fly and maintain a weapons system.
“It takes a lot of teamwork in order to get this ship going in the right direction,” he said.
As a leader, he worked hard to get whatever was needed to empower everyone to get their jobs done.
“I found that by doing that, our team was much more committed in getting this weapons system up and running because they felt like and could see that they were making a difference,” he said. “It wasn’t just a top-down driven thing. It was what they were doing, whether that was being an engine run troop and learning how to start the aircraft to standing up our communications network. Everyone had a job to do and they did it exceptionally.”
For Toth, it will be hard to step away from the program he helped establish and what drove and challenged him for the last two years.
“It will be tough letting go here, but I look forward to the next challenge,” he said.
It will also be hard for his wife Cheryl and their children to pack up and leave Northwest Florida.
“You can’t beat the environment here, but I think, more importantly, it is the people and the community that really have welcomed us, not only us as a family, but the military as a whole,” he said. “I’ve never been to a location where the support for the military is more prevalent than it is here in Northwest Florida.”
Col. Todd Canterbury will assume command from Toth at today’s ceremony. Toth said while it was his job to stand up the unit, it will now be up to Canterbury to fine-tune it.
Canterbury, a former Thunderbird demonstration pilot, previously was as the executive officer of the deputy commander of the United States Forces Korea at the United Nations Command in Seoul, South Korea.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Sage Reinlie at 850-315-4443 or lreinlie@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenRnwfdn.