Happy for you having a hilarious moment here on SDF,,, its not nearly as much fun as it was 5 years ago, LOL! If the F-35 wanted to "pick up the pace" it would have and would have no problem doing so, even without afterburner, but the fuel burn would go up.. just as it does on "every aircraft", when the throttles are advanced...
SDF has seen better days, when BDPopeye and Jeff Head were in the wheelhouse,,, they spent many, many hours making sure we all were on our best behavior... the kind of rude nonsense we see and hear these days would have met a sudden death!
Our present mods are very fine gentlemen, and men of character and honor, each one, but, the bold and precise steerage of BD and Jeff has been throttled back! very sad for each of us, but I'm very thankful that Jeff Head is still with us, the Lord even now sustaining him through a magnificent fight against cancer, and BD has pulled the throttles back, leaving the headaches and heartaches of leading a bunch of "characters", to more youthful gentlemen...
When the USMC crossed the Pacific as AFB mentioned above, one of the reasons they had to top up 8 times was the USAF insistence that the refuelling probe remained extended at all times, incurring drag penalties and thus fuel economy was much worse than otherwise because the aircraft had to have sufficient diversion fuel at all times.
