V-22 Osprey

[Spikes]

V22 is one sleek airplane...

[Mickey1992]

v-22 ospreys have had serious problems and many have crashed so they are not currently using them.

Footage of some in Iraq.  Nice to see that they did mount a machine gun in the rear.   

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cd5_1207273780

[yankedudel]

The V-22 is currently serving in Iraq as we speak.
The office I work in is currently sponsoring USMC VMM 263, the "Thunder Chickens."
They are based at Al Asad air base in Iraq.

[C(Sea)Bass]

USMC VMM 263, the "Thunder Chickens."

I think they might want to think about a new nickname

[Airscrew]

389th flying F-111s in late 80's at  Mountain Home AFB.... we used to call them "Thunder Chickens"

[Jappa52]

"According to squadron lore, the unit was originally called the Thunder Eagles, but the name got mistranslated in Vietnam, and the new moniker stuck. The squadron emblem shows a war bird that looks more like a fiercely determined eagle, clutching lightning bolts in its talons."

http://op-for.com/2006/06/thunder_chickens_prepare_for_l.html

according to the military channel it has a top speed of 360 and can travel 1000 miles on a tank which seems pretty awesome.  it will be interesting to see what its capabilities really are when the crews start to push it in combat

[Reschke]

Yep it is flying special ops missions in Iraq now. At least according to a friend of mine who flies AC-130U's out of Hurlburt.

[C(Sea)Bass]

"According to squadron lore, the unit was originally called the Thunder Eagles, but the name got mistranslated in Vietnam, and the new moniker stuck. The squadron emblem shows a war bird that looks more like a fiercely determined eagle, clutching lightning bolts in its talons."

IIRC other units had that problem as well. I think it was the 101st that had the eagle on their emblems, but the vietnamesse didn't have a word for eagle so the called them roosters (hence the Alice in Chains song). At least thats the information I got from my cousin and he is very knowledgable on that war.

[wrongwayric]

When i was still in the marines the v-22 came out and it got a bad reputation pretty quick because of some crashes. If i remember correctly they pulled it out of service for a while till they worked out some of the bugs it had. Once they had corrected the problems it seemed to perform as anticipated. Kind of like when the harriers first came out because of some early bugs and flaws they got a bad rap but once the designers and engineers figured out solutions they are pretty decent birds. I'm still waiting for the new Commanche helicopter to come into service, thing looks awesome.

[C(Sea)Bass]

I'm still waiting for the new Commanche helicopter to come into service, thing looks awesome.

Last time I checked the Commanche program got cancelled

[wrongwayric]

AWE bummer. Thing looked like it'd be a killer.

[Yeager]

v-22 ospreys have had serious problems and many have crashed so they are not currently using them.

Four were lost. 

[Reschke]

The Comanche airframe is supposed to go on display at the Army Aviation museum in Fort Rucker, AL sometime this year. I haven't been there in years but am planning on stopping on my next trip down to the beach with our kids soon.

[dhaus]

I hope it was only four.  Unfortunately, I knew the rotary pilot on one that went down.  He was to be the first operational squadron commander.  All on board were killed on that one.