
The RAF's state-of-the art new fighter jet touched down in the UK for the first time tonight.

The world’s most advanced stealth aircraft landed at RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, after flying from the US with a Briton at the controls.

Its arrival came two years after it pulled out of air shows because of an engine fire.

As if the sky had been choreographed, a spectacular rainbow broke out on the arrrival of the new jets

The £100million British F-35B Lightning II jet - joined by two more owned by the US Marine Corps - will take part in a series of air shows across the UK next month.

It will carry out its first flight over its new base at RAF Marham, Norfolk, and over the two aircraft carriers currently being built in Scotland.

The Ministry of Defence has so far bought eight of the jets, which are set to fly off the two carriers by 2020.

The F-35B is one of the most advanced aircraft in the history of aviation but has been plagued by problems

The first F-35B touched down at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire around 8pm tonight and was tweeted

The F-35B will eventually be flown off the Royal Navy's new carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The former is due to come into service next spring. The original plan was to buy a short take-off and landing (STOL) version of the F-35 and fit the carriers with catapults and arrester traps

But the STOL version of the F-35 was found to be troublesome and in 2012 the Ministry of Defence did a U-turn and opted for the F-35B which is capable of vertical take-off and landing

F-35: PLAGUED BY PROBLEMS May 2012 - The British government performed a U-turn. It had originally planned to buy a fleet of F-35C jets for its aircraft carriers. But a design fault meant the plane kept missing the hook which arrested its landing. So the Ministry of Defence opted instead for the F-35B. July 2015 - An F-35 was outperformed in a mock dogfight over the Pacific by an F-16, which was designed in the 1970s. A test pilot said it was too slow to hit an enemy plane or dodge gunfire. March 2016 - Rigorous testing at California's Edwards Air Force Base found major problems with the planes AN/APG-81 AESA radar system, which kept crashing. April 2016 - A US government report says the whole fleet could be taken offline because its Autonomic Logistics Information System software has no back-up. Five out of six of the jets were unable to take off during testing because of 'immature systems and software'. Advertisement

Four of them are currently in their test and evaluation stage and it is one of those that arrived in the UK.

In total five of the jets are being delivered this week.

Equipped with laser-guided missiles and bombs, when they go into service they will fly secret missions blitzing enemy strongholds.

They have a range of 1,300miles so will fly over war zones after taking off from the carriers in the middle of the ocean.

Based at RAF Marham, they will be flown by Navy and RAF pilots of the new 617 Squadron.

The squadron was made famous as the Dambusters during the war but it has now been disbanded and specially re-formed to fly the new planes.

The RAF pilot flying the British plane was Squadron Leader Hugh Nichols 38 from Epsom, Surrey.

He became the first British pilot to make a vertical landing in a F35-B at the Eglin Air Force Base in the US in March 2014.

He studied at the University of York before joining the RAF in April 2000. He was then selected to go on exchange with the US Air Force.

The jets took off from MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said of their arrival: ‘The F-35Bs are the most advanced fast jets in the world.

‘Whether operating from land or from one of our two new aircraft carriers, they will ensure we have a formidable fighting force.’

He said the jets would be part of a plan for stronger and better defence to deal with the ‘increased threats to our country’.

Justin Bronk, airpower expert at the Royal United Services Institute, said of the arrival: ‘It is a huge deal especially given how long anticipated it is and how many technical and political issues have got in the way of this flight.

‘It is very hard to detect it in real time and it is incredibly good at detecting anything else.’

The F-35s had to be refuelled in mid-air across the Atlantic by a US air force tanker plane (pictured)

A number of aviation enthusiasts were there to welcome the new plane to RAF Fairford today

Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Andrew Pulford (left), greets RAF pilot Squadron Leader Hugh Nichols (right) who flew the F-35B on its first transatlantic crossing. The plane will not enter service until 2018

Squadron Leader Nichols (left) was accompanied by two US Marine Corps F-35B aircraft from their training base at Beaufort, South Carolina

The state-of-the-art cockpit system enables the pilot to tell friendly jets from the enemy.

Their screen also includes real-time information from other F-35s flying for friendly foreign nations.

Between them at any moment they will be covering tens of miles, with a 360-degree picture of what is going on around them both in the air and on the ground.

Everything went exactly as planned but the RAF could not claim credit for the rainbow

A spectacular rainbow marked the arrival of the first F-35B, flown in by a US Marine Corps pilot

The Lockheed Martin jet, developed in America, has the ability to evade enemy air defences by having the lowest possible radar signature.

The Joint Strike Fighter stealth jet uses radar-absorbent coatings, as well as flat surfaces, sharp edges and fibre mats to deflect radar signals, allowing it to strike the enemy before they even know the aircraft is nearby.

Experts say this technology can make it invisible to the high-frequency radars used in modern air-defence systems. It is expected to be the backbone of Allied air power for the next 50 years.

Bosses at Lockheed Martin envisage the F-35 fighter jet fighting wars in the Middle East and against Russia in the next decade.

The original Lightning jet (left) was in service with the RAF from 1954 until 1988. The new Lightning (right) is obviously much more advanced

One of the plane's shows off its vertical landing ability. It is the first jump jet Britain has had since the Harrier fleet was scrapped in 2010

It will go on show for the first time at the Farnborough Air Show and the Royal International Air Tattoo in Gloucestershire next month.

‘If the pound stays this low there will be difficulty meeting some of the procurement targets Justin Bronk, RUSI

Britain has said it will have 48 of the jump jet F-35Bs by 2023 and will eventually go on to buy a fleet of 138.

Britain’s first squadron of F-35s should be combat ready by 2018.

But following a Brexit vote, analysts have warned the slide of the pound against the dollar will make the purchase of the jets from the US more expensive and could result in less being bought.

Mr Bronk added: ‘If the pound stays this low there will be difficulty meeting some of the procurement targets.’

The jets have been beset by delays and in July 2014 they were due to appear at air shows in the UK but were grounded in the US after they started catching fire.

Squadron Leader Hugh Nichols (centre) poses besides the first of Britain's new supersonic stealth strike fighters. The plane will be displayed at the Royal International Air Tattoo and Farnborough International Air Show over the next few weeks

The first of Britain's new supersonic stealth strike fighters is flanked by two United States Marine Corps F-35B aircraft as it lands at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire

Squadron Leader Hugh Nichols sits in the cockpit of the F-35B Lightning II jet. It has been bedevilled with technical problems

The F35-B is the most advanced jet in the world but each one costs a whopping £100m, which is currently $134m but could get more expensive if the pound weakens