V-22 Osprey Deploys Aboard USS WASP

Zaphod

Zaphod

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VMM-263(MV-22B Osprey) photos from aboard the USS Wasp LHD-1


MEDITERRANEAN SEA (Sept. 29, 2007) - An MV-22 "Osprey" attached to Marine Medium Tilt-rotor Squadron (VMM) 263 takes to the air from the flight deck of the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1). Wasp is on a surge deployment bringing the Osprey on its first combat deployment to the Middle East.
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I don't care what anyone says. That is one cool bird:

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Plenty of other pics at the link.

GET SOME, fellas! Semper Fi! :thumb:
 
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(Yes, this does border on bragging) And is off-topic.

My dear step-father (step in name only) had a long career in the Navy. One of the ships he seved on is the Wasp.

When my son left for college -and NROTC - my step-father searched through one of his sea trunks and produced a wonderful 8 x 10'" black and white aerial photo of the Wasp that was taken in the mid 1950's.

We framed it for my son and it is on the mantel of the fireplace in his dorm room where it looks perfect.

I have a photo of my step-father whispering in the ear of my son when he was an infant and we think that was when my son decided to serve in the Navy.

Step-father has been at least partial inspiration for 5 of the grandsons to serve.
 
Nice story. Different Wasp.This one is a new state-of-the-art amphib capable of performing both flight deck and well deck ops simultaneously. The Coral Sea is going/has gone away so all the remaining carriers are nukes.

The Oriskany is now a dive site south of P'cola. Others did not suffer so noble a demise.
 
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^^^^^^^^I knew you did. Just didn't want any of these Zoomies and Woops think we were still using 60 yr old technology.
 
USNA69 said:
^^^^^^^^I knew you did. Just didn't want any of these Zoomies and Woops think we were still using 60 yr old technology.
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You forgot to finish the sentence: "...like they do." :biggrin:


No wonder that thing had so many development issues! Damn thing folds up more than the French do in battle, and yet it's still expected to fly!

I shoulda' studied AeroE after all.... :frown:
 
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Wait - there are two USS Wasp's?

The Navy can't build a ship that will last 60 years?
 
Zaphod said:
No wonder that thing had so many development issues!
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It still does have a lot of issues. Like the Harrier, the USMC does R & D with operational crews. I'm afraid that it will take a lot more lives before the next generation replacement comes along.
 
Just_A_Mom said:
Wait - there are two USS Wasp's?

The Navy can't build a ship that will last 60 years?
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Let's start off with some useful links:

USS WASP (CV-7)

USS WASP (CV-18)

USS WASP (LHD-1)


The Navy reuses ship's names all the time, but only one ship can have a given name at a given time.

Ships last approximately 25-40 years, depending on their type and optempo. Carriers last longer because they are extremely expensive and are pampered despite their heavy use. Frigates are more "disposable" because they are comparitavely cheap.

USS DALE (CG-19), my first ship, was first designated a Guided Missile Frigate (DLG) and was later reclassified a Guided Missile Cruiser (CG). She lasted 36 years before being sunk as a target ship. :frown:
 
USNA69 said:
It still does have a lot of issues. Like the Harrier, the USMC does R & D with operational crews. I'm afraid that it will take a lot more lives before the next generation replacement comes along.
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Well, I guess that's true of anything cutting-edge. Still, you'd think the platform would be more mature. The Osprey was being talked about way back when I was a M/C at NAPS, for Pete's sake!
 
Even though it has been around for a long time, lack of funding has prevented it's development.

I think it's biggest problem is "settling with power", or vortex ring state, such that when the aircraft descends through it's own rotor wash, it loses lift. The Osprey design is such that it is a problem during steep fast decents (picture a combat landing) and I don't think there is anything they can do to fix it.
 
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My drinking buddy in my company is a prior Marine. He was a tilt-rotor mech. with the MV-22 test squadron. He absolutely loves that bird, and knows a lot of guys who are deploying with VMM-263.

He always claims they work flawlessly, with a few hitches here and there...but we still give him hell about 'crashing Ospreys.' Some guys even came up with a good marching cadence about Ospreys falling out of the sky over Plebe Summer.
 
Yep, the Marines, to a person, love it. It should be a huge factor in the type of warfare which we are now waging.

The settling with power problem is inherent to the design. As to the seriousness of it, no one knows. I've talked to most of the Bell engineers over the years and they don't seem to agree. The only "fix" is to not get into a steep fast approach. Works great in peacetime. Combat situations could be a different situation.

The remainder of the mishaps are common to Naval Aviation and bringing a new aircraft into the fleet. The settling problem bothers me though.

Time will tell.
 
We got to see the Osprey up close and personal when it was at our small mountain airport for high altitude testing. Quite the machine!
 
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