Hi Derek,
I cant give you an authoritative reply as I never worked on the F35 programme and the last time I worked in Structural test at Brough was when I was a graduate apprentice in 1970/71. I spent a few weeks in the Buccaneer full scale fatigue test control room monitoring the test which was running at the time, That basically meant looking out for any red or amber lights on the rig controls, listening for any strange noises from the specimen, particularly on the high g parts of the duty cycle and looking for hydraulic leaks.
Given the time that the F35 test at Brough started and the fact that the specimen was an F35A (and the UK are buying F35B) I suspect it was a generic test to find out any major problems ahead of full scale production so that any major mods required could be embodied early. I would expect that given the three major variants of the aircraft and the wide variety of customers there will be several more fatigue tests done, tailored to the specific build standards and duty cycles. I dont know when or where they are going to be done, or even if they will be carried out. Maybe computer design and analysis has progressed to the point where a full structural test is not deemed necessary, but that seems to be a rather large leap of faith to me.
Maybe Australia will do their own full scale fatigue test as they have done for the Hawk Mk 127. I guess it depends on the fleet size they buy as to whether its justified as a stand alone test or done in conjunction with other customers.
Gareth