21st SOS MH-53 FINAL FLIGHT
I recall a conversation with some folks from Hulbert Field at the Air Fete 2000, and queried the V-22 and was told in no uncertain terms, that the V-22 was AFSOCOM's future. Rotary Wing Spec ops was going to be purely in the lap of the 160th SOAR and that was that.
The Hulbert Field folks also back then, said by 2007, CV-22 would be in the Suffolk countryside however within a few months, there were two fatal V22 accidents and V22 testing and fielding got slightly ummm suspended so i suspected the timeline for fielding AFSOCOM units would be last on the agenda with regard to putting the USMC VMM squadrons as priority.
I guess now with the final flypast of the Pave Lows, and the gradual introduction of the CV-22...then the predicted timeline for this year being the CV-22 stationed in Europe might not be off course as such possibly by 1 or 2 years. So close.
The other alternative if there was an urgent need was when the old cant' remember the unit at Taegu or Osan AFB, in 2001 when their Pave Lows were gone from the 353rd Special Operations Group, and replaced by E Company of the 160th SOAR with MH-47E for vertical lift in that theater or operations.