Illustrious takes the MV-22 Osprey onboard

[MEON VALLEY FLYER]

Does anyone know when the MH53M Special Operations Squadron at Mildenhall is due to convert to the CV22?

Could be a: when every one has finished writing their wills or b: then the recruitment office has changed all members to dwarfs as only they can operate within the space constraints

[buoy15]

Load of bollocks and RN/MOD spin
This is to justify a multimillion £'s refit and allow the RN to continue flitting around the world, showing the flag, and hosting cocktail parties
This ship should have been 'worked up' and sent to war
Why the need for an 'exercise' to 'demonstrate' potential co-operation in 'joint operations' with an ac that has a bad history of crashes and fatalities, even on land
Next will be the need to combat the effects of terrorism, drug running, bi-lateral agreements-shared interests blah blah, when this supposed "1st Rate Ship of the Line" should be where it's needed, in the Gulf, not fannying about off the eastern seaboard of the US
How about a £350m refit for the ex Royal Yacht to be a 'hospital ship', which could also take an Osprey on the cocktail deck to deliver and evacuate the drunks to and from the party?

[US Herk]

Originally Posted by Lazer-Hound

Does anyone know when the MH53M Special Operations Squadron at Mildenhall is due to convert to the CV22?

My guess is that there will be a significant gap. Pave Low is scheduled to depart this year & Osprey won't be available yet...First operational AFSOC CV-22 squadron is 8 SOS (formerly MC-130E) at Hurlburt Field - not sure how many Osprey they have at present, but it's just a handful. OCU at Kirtland, 71 SOS, has four or so I believe.

[Widger]

Buoy15,

You are so very way off the mark, for a number of reasons. If you are serving, then ask someone to correct you woefully inadeqaute awareness of current CVS ops and the reasons behind these decisions.

Round the buoy again!

[Not_a_boffin]

widger - he's probably L**** P***.

[Mmmmnice]

Why all the debate? Surely it's a case of 'if it's passing let's try the deck'? Leave it 'til later and then you fall into the old 'can't do it if it's not been done before' trap. I am surprised that Boscombe didn't try to muscle in some how - or did they?

[Phil_R]

I know very little about VTOL aircraft and this is presented in the spirit of genuine enquiry, not irony.

OK, it's a ship, but the USMC should be used to that. Other than the fact that it is a ship and it may be moving (and presumably is during flight operations to minimise rolling around), is there anything particularly special about landing on one particular piece of floating real-estate, as opposed to another?

Why is this clever? I would have presumed that this sort of thing would be done as a matter of course, whenever the need to do so arose.

I appreciate that there may be a difference between "what we are allowed to do" and "what is possible to do" and this may be one of those instances.

Phil

[XV277]

I suppose the benefit is that some in the RN now know what one looks like (rather than 'That Chinook looks a bit buggered').

[Wader2]

Phil, probably because it's bldy small that's why.

Also gotto be real gentle too to avoid more dents in the flight deck.

[Lazer-Hound]

USMC Harriers on Illustrious

http://royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.9793