The suitability of age forming for the shaping of damage tolerant structures is investigated by formulating and testing new alloy-age forming combinations. The alloy formulation process is driven initially by modelling of strength and semi-quantitative understanding of other microstructure-property relations. Using this a range of Al-Cu-Mg-Li-(Zr-Mn) based alloys predicted to provide yield strengths in aged condition comparable with incumbent 2024-T351 alloy for lower wing skins are selected. It is shown that several of these new alloys after artificial aging representative of age-forming have proof strength (PS), fatigue crack growth resistance (FCGR) and toughness that are comparable or better than 2024-T351. UTS to PS ratios of the new alloys are lower than 2024-T351.