The 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base marked a major training milestone with the graduation of its 1,500th F-35 pilot, Maj. Rolandus “Turbo” Scherders of the Royal Netherlands Air Force June 5, 2025.
Scherders, RNLAF 312th Squadron director of operations, was assigned to the 308th Fighter Squadron for training and completed a five-month training course as part of Luke AFB’s international F-35 Lightning II pilot development program. The Netherlands is one of several partner nations with pilots embedded at Luke AFB, underscoring the integrated nature of training on the fifth-generation fighter.
“When they told me I was the 1,500th, the first thing that came to mind was that time flies,” Scherders said. “The program has been going for a few years, and hitting this milestone really shows how much has been accomplished in such a short time.”
Scherders previously served as an exchange pilot with the U.S. Air Force for the F-16 Fighting Falcon and then received the opportunity to return to a joint training environment with the F-35. With 15 years of flying experience, Scherders brought a seasoned perspective to his transition from the F-16 to the F-35…