Warbird Information Exchange

how is the v-22 osprey tilt rotor performing in active service?? I never hear anything good or bad about it. is it even being used???

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Yes, USAF variants come through here all the time.
In fact, I saw one being put through its paces a mile or so away...the day after the local open house.
Pretty impressive.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

And USMC versions are being used all the time, including making routine deployments aboard LHD's and in a variety of theatres. Hours steadily building, as the CH-46 has been largely withdrawn.

Report card still seems to include a good deal of spin, with some cooking fo the numbers perhaps, seems really tough to get the real man hours and availability rates. I would say generally getting fair marks. Some question about the CV-22 crash report a few years back, with 2 generals disagreeing.

Oddly they didn't get much use around 29 Palms - I lived about ten miles east of there in Yucca Valley from 2005 to 2012 and although attack and transport helicopters flew over pretty much every day, I only saw an Osprey once (June 3, 2011 from my post in the Spotting thread, and once you've heard one you won't forget the sound!). Are there more there now?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Only 1 Marine squadron left with CH-46's. All the others have converted to Ospreys now. We just shipped out the last Osprey to HMX-1 last month.

I live near Quantico MCB and they occasionally fly near my home.

I love seeing them fly, but wow! I thought Harriers were loud, but the Osprey is ear-splitting.

Just friggin' fantastic!!

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All I did was press this red button here...

Used by the Marines and the Air Force. Saw them fly at the MCAS Cherry Point air show about 4 months back. And they are probably just a couple of decades or more away from possibly qualifying as a vintage warbird..........

One flew over my house a couple of months ago. It sounded like a B-25 mated with a CH-53. I don't think they could come up with a "stealth" version of it.

my son worked on ch - 53's at cherry point marine air station for 3 years. he said that it was armed w/ a ramp rear fired gatling gun only, & thought it was way under gunned. how could an osprey get the fire power around those massive blades in either hover mode or horizontal flying mode anway??

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

my son worked on ch - 53's at cherry point marine air station for 3 years. he said that the osprey was armed w/ a ramp rear fired gatling gun only, & thought it was way under gunned. how could an osprey get the fire power around those massive blades in either hover mode or horizontal flying mode anway??

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

BAe has been working on a belly-mounted remote gun system that is a 3-barrel gatling type similar to what's on the AH-1. It won't be able to fire above the V-22, but it'll cover the whole lower hemisphere. They had fielded 6 or so a couple years ago to Afghanistan with the USMC for field testing but I've not heard much since.

Also, the ramp pintle mount can have either the M2 or M134 mounted and I've seen both.