October 24

What happened on October 24 in aviation and space history.

• October 24, 2000

  First flight of the X-35A demonstrator

  First flight — The X-35A, the first of Lockheed Martin's two demonstrators for the Joint Strike Fighter competition, lifted off at 09:06 Pacific time from Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, California, with test pilot Tom Morgenfeld at the controls. It used a little over 2,000 feet of runway and landed uneventfully at Edwards Air Force Base. The flight opened the test campaign that would pit the X-35 against Boeing's X-32.