Farnborough Airshow: Inside the F-35 Lightning II - the invisible fighter jet

“It is easy to fly because that’s not my job anymore,” he explained.

“My job is operating the information that is presented on the screen in front of me. That’s my task and I shouldn’t be worried about flying the aeroplane.”

Since none of the component parts of the aircraft reflect radar energy, it is impossible to see the F-35 while it is in flight. All the bombs and missiles are carried on the inside of the F-35.

"When we want to fire a missile or drop a bomb, the doors open, the bomb falls out, the doors close and the aeroplane is back to being invisible again," Mr Flynn said.

"This aeroplane, when it flies, is infinitesimally small. It’s not Harry Potter and the cloak of invisibility, but it’s pretty darn close.”

The F-35 has a 43,000 pound thrust class engine which pushes the aircraft to 1.6 times the speed of sound and 700 nautical mph. It pulls 9G - “and it does all of that full of bombs, full of fuel, full of missiles”, Mr Flynn added.

Fourth generation fighter jets, which the F-35 is replacing, need external fuel tanks to fly long distances in combat, and they carry bombs and missiles on the exterior of the aircraft.

“When you do you create drag, you slow the aeroplane down. It can’t go super sonic anymore, it can’t pull at maximum G and it can’t accelerate quickly,” Mr Flynn said.

“My aeroplane does all of that full of bombs, full of missiles, full of fuel.”

The no-show by the F-35 Lightning II at the Farnborough Airshow was a major blow to its manufacturers Lockheed Martin, who hoped an appearance would boost foreign orders.

The entire fleet was grounded in America for safety checks after fire tore through the engine of a US Air Force test jet last month.

Britain is a major player in the F-35 programme and has said it will buy 48 jets to fly from the UK's new aircraft carriers and RAF Marham.

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