$ 0 0 U.S. Air Force test pilot Lt. Col. Hank “Hog” Griffiths believes he may have flown faster in an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter than anyone else. Griffith says in June he took the F-35A to 583 KCAS (exceeding Mach 1.2). “I may be the first to fly this fast in the jet so far,” he muses. “The jet handles well, and she just wants to fly fast. It has a monster engine. It looks like an aircraft that’s built around an engine.”