U.S. Marines See MV-22 Improvements

Jun 24, 2010

By Robert Wall

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, N.C. — The U.S. Marine Corps says MV-22 performance and reliability are improving, but operators are still pushing for further enhancements, including improving the system’s firepower. The Marines have been using the GAU-17 mini-gun interim weapon system in deployed operations (they can also ramp-mount a machine gun). While the weapon has proved useful, Marine officials say the system could be improved. In particular, the ammunition feed system, range and software controlling the gun are viewed as areas for enhancement. A larger caliber round also is drawing interest. The Marines do not carry the gun on every mission, in part because it reduces the number of troops that can be transported from 24 to 18. The long-term plan is for a more permanent weapon, but the path forward has not been fully defined. Meanwhile, Marine officers point out that they have seen improvements in their MV-22Bs. For instance, a software upgrade to the full authority digital engine control and flight control computer has boosted the tiltrotor’s maximum speed to 275 kt., or 30 kt. more than before. The fuel burn has increased, but engine durability is not expected to be significantly affected. Another performance enhancement has been an increase in the maximum nose-up angle to 30 deg. from 20 deg. Service officials say they are also benefiting from reliability improvements now being introduced. The engine air particle separator, for instance, has been upgraded to have less failures and do a better job filtering sand. Blades have also been upgraded, as have swashplate actuators. One of the issues early in the MV-22 operational deployment period has been poor reliability. “I didn’t drop a single mission over there,” one officer says. The Marines also assert that the MV-22 has shown to be resilient on the battlefield. Tiltrotors that suffered damage from small arms fire were always able to return to action the next day, a senior officer says. Curing the composite patches to fix holes often proved to be the slowest portion of the fix. The Marines have championed the unique tiltrotor aircraft through decades of programmatic challenges and political attacks in Washington. Some Democratic lawmakers remain critical still, even as the V-22 has become operational in current wars. Meanwhile, officials across the Defense Department continue to gird for another round of cost-cutting as the Pentagon crafts its Fiscal 2012 budget request, including the first of a series of annual spending changes designed to save $100 billion over five years. Photo credit: U.S. Marine Corps

The U.S. government first realized the need for an aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and fast flying in the early 1980s and developed the Joint-Service Vertical Take-Off/Landing Aircraft Experimental program in 1981. Bell Helicopter partnered with Boeing Vertol and submitted a plan for an enlarged version of a Bell prototype. Officials designated the JVX aircraft the V-22 Osprey a few years after the initial proposal.

Pilots completed successful helicopter-style, airplane-style and sea-trial flights with the Osprey in 1989 and 1990, but lost two prototypes in the following two years, casting doubt over the program. After a year of redesign, the Osprey reemerged with several new safety features and returned to the sky. The program progressed without incident until another two fatal crashes in 2000 that again grounded the revolutionary aircraft. The resilient bird underwent heavy improvements and eventually received approval from the Pentagon in 2005 to get into action.

Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 deployed with the aircraft for seven months to Al Asad Air Base, Iraq in 2007, where it flew more than 2,500 successful missions in Al Anbar province. Although skepticism remained that success in Iraq would translate to success in Afghanistan, the aircraft would have a chance to prove itself sooner than most expected.

In 2008, most of the Marines serving with VMM-261 had never actually seen an Osprey, according to Lt. Col. Anthony Bianca, the squadron’s first commanding officer. In 2009, the squadron taxied an Osprey down their runway in New River, N.C., for the first time and just a few months after that, the squadron was on its way to war.

On Nov. 6, 2009, under the command of Bianca, several VMM-261 Ospreys flew nearly 600 miles in groups of three from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan in the Indian Ocean to the air field aboard Camp Bastion. Since arriving, the Osprey has filled a myriad of roles. From troop transport and routine cargo drops, to participating in clandestine special operations drops, this bird has taken on its fair share of tasks.

“The way an aircraft is used anywhere is going to depend on the theater and needs of the theater commander,” said Lt. Col. Ivan Thomas, the current commanding officer of VMM-261. “We have been used, very effectively, in a general support role for a lot of the long-range missions that require coming in and out of landing zones verses runways. We have been to Bagram, the eastern border with Pakistan, the Western border with Iran and the southern border with Pakistan.”

Thomas is an experienced pilot who has flown both the Sea Knight and the Osprey in operational environments. He flew “Phrogs” in Kosovo, Africa, Albania and Iraq. Although a diehard fan of the older aircraft, he readily admits that its replacement is bringing some very useful assets to the fight, especially its increased range.

That increased range is due in part to the aircrafts ability to fly higher than the CH-46. The Osprey’s increased altitude – flying at an average height of 10,000 feet compared to the Sea Knight’s average 1,000 feet – helps reduce fuel burn rate and allows pilots an opportunity to fly above bad weather and dust storms, according to Thomas. It also keeps the aircraft outside the range of small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades. And although the Osprey usually soars around 10,000 feet, it can reach altitudes of up to 25,000 feet.

However, the Osprey’s ability to level off in the clouds is not the only leg up it has on the CH-46. The aircraft is also capable of hauling heavier loads for longer distances, which means more armed Marines or more much-needed cargo delivered farther away or to higher mountain posts.

“The Osprey can fly twice as far, twice as fast and with three times the payload,” said Thomas.

And those stats may be outdated. Since arriving in Afghanistan, the MV-22 Osprey has received a software upgrade and changes to operational guidelines that have seriously increased its capabilities. The aircraft’s new software boosts its already impressive speed from 245 knots to between 270 and 275 knots, or more than 300 miles-per-hour, while flying straight and level. The Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization program now allows Osprey pilots to take off at 30 degrees of angel, which provides a 50-percent increase over its previous 20-degree cap. Although these changes allow the Osprey to get off the ground faster and cut down on travel time between destinations, the increased capabilities have not caused any changes in the squadron’s doctrine.

“These are great improvements and great capabilities, but it has not dictated that we change the way we fly our aircraft. This deployment has really validated the training [tiltrotor] squadrons receive at Mojave Viper,” said Thomas. “We are definitely going to concentrate on and reinforce our techniques, tactics and procedures before our next deployment because they have proven effective.”

The squadron has flown about 30 named missions since arriving, in addition to their daily grind of fulfilling assault support requests – all without any serious mishaps. Operating at such a high capacity and in such an austere, harsh environment has also given the squadron ample time to develop and adapt their maintenance routines. The increased heat, high winds and fine dust of Afghanistan cause increased wear on all types of aircraft. The Osprey, which has hundreds of miles of wire running through it, has experienced a few unique problems here.

“The MV-22 is fly-by-wire…it’s a computer,” said Thomas. “Rather than use a push-pull rod that might be hydraulically actuated, you are feeding information to a computer that tells flight controls where to go, which means there is a lot of communication going through a lot of wires. So with the MV-22, there are a lot of wiring issues.”

VMM-261’s avionics technicians have, in the words of their commander, become “experts,” with the aircraft’s wiring system. They can quickly “shoot” wires, which means they can check wires from start to finish for the tiniest breaks and rubs that could potentially cause future issues.

However, the avionics Marines are not the only Marines putting in overtime to keep the aircraft up. The squadron performs an average of 7,500 maintenance man hours each month on its fleet of aircraft. It takes the full maintenance team to keep this squadron at its high rate of readiness.

“The real heroes are the Marines who work on the aircraft,” said Thomas. “They are the ones who figure out how to adapt the maintenance and to ensure the aircraft are ready to go.”

Keeping this aircraft “ready to go,” isn’t as easy as it sounds because pilots, even though fly these aircraft well, do fly them hard.

“One thing I make sure I tell people is that we are not babying [the Osprey] at all,” said Brig. Gen. Andrew W. O’Donnell Jr., the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) commanding general who is now in charge of all aviation assets in Regional Command (South West) in southern Afghanistan. “That aircraft is landing in the dustiest zones, it flies at night, it flies in low light and it does everything everyone else is doing, if not more, because of its capability.”

Although the environment places increased strain on the aircraft and causes accelerated engine wear, the problems are not exclusive to the Osprey.

“The environment is extremely tough on all the gear that’s out here and it’s the same across the entire MAGTF,” said O’Donnell. “Whether you’re talking about a generator, an MRAP or even tents, we have these storms come in, constant extreme temperatures and the moon dust is taking its toll on everything.”

However, the Osprey and its crew have more than increased maintenance requirements to worry about while operating in such a hostile environment.

The Marines of VMM-261 have often found themselves on the front lines, dropping NATO forces into hostile zones or flying holding patterns above conflicts waiting to swoop in with quick reaction forces.

“Everywhere we go where the threat has dictated, we have had escorts,” said Thomas. “Whether it was Harriers or Hornets, Hueys or Cobras, those guys are dedicated to observing objective areas prior to our arrival, and will clear the zone and provide security for us to come in.”

Afghanistan has been a learning curve for the still young airframe. However, it is undeniable that the Osprey is performing on par with the other aircraft on the flight line. Although it had a rocky beginning, the Osprey has settled into a groove and is performing at an exceptional level in one of the toughest regions in the world.

Marines are America’s force in readiness and will find themselves called upon to go into the toughest places on the shortest notice and the Osprey will follow, dropping personnel and supplies into the most dangerous and devastated regions in the world. According to Thomas, the aircraft is ready to fulfill that role and has shaken its stigma as an oddity. It has taken its place as the Corps’ premiere medium-lift aircraft.

http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=51363

 

Gretel C. Kovach: (619) 293-1293; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Osprey at War

• By Ed Darack
• Air & Space Magazine, May 01, 2010

From AirSpaceMag.com

Camp Bastion, the British headquarters in Helmand province in the south of Afghanistan, is built in the middle of the desert for a reason. There are no villages nearby. An enemy would have to walk through miles of open and flat desert to attack.

It’s a tent city, four miles long and two miles wide, with a field hospital and an airstrip. The runway is short, barely long enough to handle the C-17 cargo aircraft that roar in and out of the base each day. The camp sits adjacent to Camp Leatherneck, headquarters of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

Helicopters crowd Bastion’s airfield: CH-53D Sea Stallions, CH-53E Super Stallions, Bell UH-1Y Venoms, and AH-1W Super Cobras. In the rough terrain and roadless expanses of Afghanistan—and over roads hiding improvised explosive devices—helicopters are often the only practical means of transportation for U.S. Marines. Until last November, that is. That’s when Camp Bastion became home to the tiltrotor MV-22 Osprey and Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 (VMM-261), the first Osprey squadron deployed to Afghanistan.

Just four weeks after arriving, the Ospreys went on the offensive. On December 4, 2009, the MV-22s inserted an 80-person reconnaissance force near the town of Now Zad in northern Helmand. Operation Cobra’s Anger was meant to shut down the Taliban’s line of communications, and the routes through which their fighters and weapons move.

 

The Osprey’s primary role in Cobra’s Anger was insertion: carrying 24 Marines like a bat out of hell to combat. Although it did the job in Now Zad and, more recently, Marja, the MV-22’s main work in Afghanistan so far has been assault support, transporting personnel and supplies of all types—from mail to bullets to diesel-engine parts—to a series of austere combat outposts throughout Helmand. That mission had been the task of the CH-53 helicopter. (The Marine Corps is replacing the venerable CH-46 Sea Knight, which doesn’t do well in Afghanistan’s high elevations, with the MV-22.)

The Osprey is not just a newly fielded aircraft but an entirely new type of aircraft, the first transport in operation that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but that offers the speed and range of many fixed-wing aircraft. “When you’re going to a place without a runway, you need a rotorcraft. When you’re going a long way to a place without a runway, you need a tiltrotor,” says Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Bianca, VMM-261’s commanding officer.

This is only the fifth combat deployment for the Osprey (including three tours in Iraq, and a shipboard deployment), a platform that was certified operational just four years prior to its arrival in Afghanistan. The Osprey is enduring more scrutiny than most new aircraft types, because during its development, four Ospreys had high-profile crashes, including one during an operational evaluation in 2000 in which all four crew members and 15 passengers were killed. Major Timothy Miller, -261’s operations officer, says, “For a lot of people, the V-22 is an unknown. There are misconceptions, so you have to do some education up front, and attempt to allay people’s concerns.”

From his tent office on the flightline at Bastion’s airfield, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Thomas, executive officer of VMM-261, summarizes the Osprey’s advantages. It’s twice as fast as a CH-46 and can carry double the payload. The Osprey can fly above the ground threats posed by the enemy in Afghanistan, including small-arms fire and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles.

For additional protection, the Osprey’s powerful engines allow pilots to launch the aircraft vertically and “corkscrew” to altitude directly above the safety of a base.

The launch is unlike anything else. “It felt like getting shot to the moon,” recalls Gunnery Sergeant Steve Morris, who was on the original reconnaissance team inserted into Now Zad. “Your stomach goes to your ankles; it’s a really heavy feeling.”

This morning I get to feel that sensation for myself, as I ride along on a resupply mission. Once loaded and fueled, two MV-22s taxi onto the main runway. With all diagnostic indicators on the aircraft’s multi-function displays in the OK, and with clearance from the tower, our Osprey lifts into the air from a dead standstill, the other from a slow roll. As the aircraft begins its smooth arc forward, one of the pilots asks the crew chief, “Ready to go fast?”

“Roger.”

Lieutenant Colonel Bianca, one of the program’s longest-serving Osprey pilots (he has 1,600 hours as an MV-22 pilot), says of passengers at this point in their first flight: “Open up the throttles and pull the nose back, and you should see the look of incredulity on their faces.” With one hand on the thrust control lever and another on the control stick (which in helicopter mode works like a cyclic and in airplane mode like a regular airplane control stick), the pilot rotates the two nacelles forward toward airplane mode, and the aircraft’s smooth upward arc is replaced by slight buffeting. With the airspeed indicator parked at 180 knots (the top speeds of the fastest production military helicopters range between 150 and 170 knots), the pilot pulls back on the stick, making a hard-right bank and corkscrewing the Osprey steeply upward. “You can tell when a grunt has flown on the MV-22 before by the way he cinches down the straps and holds on to the shoulder strap that’s towards the front of the aircraft,” says Bianca. “He knows what kind of acceleration is coming.”

And accelerate it does, its powerful engines enabling it to climb at thousands of feet per minute. Once at altitude, the speed indicator pushes up to about 230 knots, although the Osprey can go much faster. After just a few minutes of flying, we corkscrew back down, and with a rattle reminiscent of a loud lawnmower engine, the nacelles transition back into helicopter mode, and the craft drops onto a landing zone at a combat outpost near the Helmand River.

As the aircraft approaches the ground, stacks of large container boxes rise into view, then dust flies up. Another container box, this one just eight feet in front of the nose, emerges from the dust. The Osprey smoothly touches down. Marines crammed in the back file out a side door as a forklift pulls out two “tri-walls”—large tote boxes made of triple-layer paperboard—full of supplies. At many outposts, the Osprey’s powerful engines create a brownout, a blinding plume of dust. On this landing, the air is relatively clear. Pointing to river rocks that Marines have taken from the Helmand and spread over the landing zone, Major Will Grant explains that the improvised surface has created better visibility for landing here.

Once all passengers and their gear have been stowed, the Osprey again rises straight up into the sky.

HMM-166 pilot flies father's 'Sea Knight' 41 years later

4/21/2010  By Cpl. Christopher O'Quin   , Marine Corps Air Station Miramar

February 8, 2010 1:57 PM

USS Bataan—After a couple of days working just under the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan you begin to recognize the signature sounds of various helicopters: The high-pitch rip of an HH-60 Knighthawk, the deep, rapid drum beat of the giant CH-53D Super Stallion or the rhythmic song of a UH-1 Huey. So the crew of the USS Bataan, outside Haiti, knows when something new lands onboard. Seconds after a bass-drum vibration shook the ward-room lounge, an excited Marine officer stuck his head in and announced "The Ospreys are taking off! Let's go up to the top of the island and watch!"

The Osprey, of course, is the name of the MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft, an airframe with a 30-year development history marred by accidents and controversy over the high development costs. The Osprey survived Congressional inquiries, scandalous crashes and volumes of argument to sit, rotors spinning, on the sunset-lit flight deck of the Bataan. The five-story cramped walk-up was worth it to watch the Ospreys make their humanitarian mission debut. Rotorcraft are essential to delivering food and supplies to remote locations across the country and to medevac wounded to the sick bays of the naval fleet.

Two of the aircraft rose vertically, gracefully side-slipped port of the ship, and then gradually accelerated forward as the wing-tip turboprop nacelles rotated clockwise. They are attached to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and were operating off another amphibious ship, the USS Nassau. The mission to Haiti is only the Ospreys second deployment with the 24th MEU, and by far the youngest aircraft in the fleet by decades. Whether the 24th MEU was redirected to Haiti because of its unique fleet of ten Ospreys, or simply because it was already underway, is unclear. But the capabilities of the Osprey in Operation Unified Response are obvious.

"They give us really long legs," Marine Osprey pilot Capt. Josh "Slam" Carpenter says. "We can go much farther, much faster than the traditional helicopters. For medical evacuations, we get the call and we're there and back a lot quicker." With a top speed of 280 knots in full fixed-wing mode, the Ospreys travel twice as fast as traditional choppers, yet touch down at the same tight landing zones. "That speed," Carpenter says, "is saving lives."

In addition to emergency flights, the Ospreys have successfully delivered more than 55,100 pounds of meals ready to eat, nearly 4000 gallons of water and around 2600 pounds of medical supplies to Haiti, flying from Nassau to Haiti and ferrying supplies from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the major staging area for Operation Unified Response. Of the 239 missions, the MV-22s also took advantage of their longer range to survey desperate, isolated areas of northern Haiti. "When the props are in fixed-wing mode, the ride is just like any other airplane," Carpenter says, a quality that helps reduce fatigue on long flights.

Over the nearly three-decade development period, the Ospreys suffered tremendous criticism. One of the main problems, according to critics, is the relatively low cargo capacity (8000 pounds) compared to the Super Stallion helicopter (17,000 pounds) many people thought the Ospreys would replace. While a ride in a CH-53 Super Stallion almost always comes with an hydraulic-fluid shower, Carpenter doesn't describe the tilt-rotor as a replacement. "It's just another part of the puzzle," he says. "The 53s can lift more, the [CH-] 60s can land in smaller spaces, but we can travel faster, farther and retain maneuverability in hover."

"We've gotten our share of attention," Carpenter says, referring to both Haitian interest and voyeuristic press folks on a signal deck. "The more missions we do like this, the more the 22 will be seen as well worth it." Unfortunately, those missions were cut short yesterday, when Southern Command released the 24th MEU (which includes the Nassau and her Ospreys) from operations in Haiti. While they are still at anchor off of Haiti at the time of this reporting, the 24th will soon resume its original mission, sailing into theaters in the Near East.

MAG-26 CO flies his last Phrog

Cpl. Meg Murray

12/17/2009  By Lance Cpl. Steven H. Posy  , Marine Corps Air Station Miramar

Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161 entered a new era in aviation Saturday as the MV-22 “Osprey” landed to begin the replacement of the CH-46 “Sea Knight” and its 44-year legacy.

VMM-161 received its first Osprey Dec. 12 and is the first West Coast-based squadron to convert to the tilt-rotor platform.

“We are all very excited and pleased to have it here and to begin training on it,” said Lt. Col. Jason T. Keefer, the squadron’s executive officer.

With the Osprey’s arrival, VMM-161 began the transition from an aging fleet of medium-lift CH-46 “Sea Knights” to more operational aircraft as part of a Marine Corps-wide process.

The Osprey is a twin-engine, tilt-rotor aircraft with hover and slow flight capabilities that deliver range, speed and fuel efficiency. The aircraft can lift 15,000 pounds of external cargo or carry up to 20,000 pounds of internal cargo or 24 combat-equipped Marines.

The Osprey’s engines can rotate in mid-flight, converting the aircraft to a turboprop airplane that can fly at high speed and high altitudes. This feature provides the vertical functionality of a helicopter and the performance of a fixed-wing aircraft.

Pilots and crew who are already trained aid in the transition to the new platform, said Keefer.

A pilot’s training takes between six and eight months, with two months of simulation training required on the West Coast and two months of flight training on the East Coast at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C.

VMM-161 should receive 12 MV-22 Ospreys to complete the 19-month transition.

Last NC CH-46 squadron soon to have Ospreys

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — It’s the beginning of the end for East Coast-based CH-46 Sea Knights.

When Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 264 returns to North Carolina with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in the coming weeks, it will be the last time a CH-46 squadron based on the East Coast will deploy with a MEU.

“We’ve reached a milestone,” said Lt. Col. Mike Snyder, commanding officer of the MEU’s aviation combat element.

HMM-264 will be the sixth and final CH-46 squadron to transition to the MV-22 Osprey at Marine Corps Air Station New River becoming VMM-264. The transition will occur by the end of October, said Maj. Eric Dent, a Marine spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters.

New River currently has an Osprey training squadron and three operational tiltrotor squadrons. Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 recently stood up and VMM-261 is in its final transition phase, Dent said.

The West Coast will begin transitioning its Sea Knight squadrons either late this year or early next year, he said.

While the CH-46 is going the way of the dinosaur, not everyone is convinced that all of its capabilities will be replaced by the Osprey.

“The CH-46 is a proven technology,” said Col. Mark Desens, 26th MEU commanding officer and Sea Knight pilot. “It is one of the most reliable aircraft in the inventory. It is stable and provides the perfect platform for things like fast-roping, which will be problematical with the Osprey. Also, it is metal, which means if it gets shot full of holes it is an easy fix, while the MV-22 will not be so easy.”

Knights last ride: CH-46 helicopters return from their final East Coast MEU deployment

Story Date
3/15/2009  By
Byline
Cpl. Aaron J. Rock  ,
Unit
26th MEU

End nears for CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — On any given day, dozens of helicopters and jets take off from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station — some for local training flights, others for assignments overseas or other stateside bases.

But the quiet departure in late July of two CH-46E helicopters, affectionately known around the Corps as “Phrogs” for their frog-like silhouette, marked yet another retirement of the Vietnam-era helo. Aircrews with the “Grayhawks” of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 161 flew these Sea Knights to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, outside Tucson, Ariz., home to the military’s enormous aircraft complex known as “The Boneyard.”

The helicopters landed with no fanfare, no ceremony, “no general there to say, ‘Hey, these airplanes have flown a good life,’ ” said Capt. William Murphy. “The ceremony is us getting to fly it there.”

Murphy has logged some 1,500 hours in the Sea Knight during his 10 years in the Corps, many during multiple tours in Iraq. His squadron, which received its first CH-46A in 1966, will eventually transition to the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.

These two Phrogs join a dozen other CH-46Es already in the base’s famous collection of 4,400 military jets, bombers, reconnaissance planes and helicopters, including two other Grayhawk Sea Knights delivered in June.

“It’s not every day we see the CH-46E,” said Terry Vanden-Heuvel, business affairs liaison with Davis-Monthan’s Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, which runs the famous storage facility and maintains the aircraft there.

The first CH-46E Sea Knight to be retired and stored in the Boneyard, a Sea Knight from HMM-365, arrived Nov. 2, 2005, 41 years after the first CH-46 — the “A” model — entered the fleet. Six others followed in 2006. Two arrived last year. So far in 2008, the Boneyard has welcomed five Sea Knights.

The collection grows

All told, the collection at Davis-Monthan includes two-dozen CH-46Es along with 14 of the Marine Corps’ earlier ”D” model. Several more Sea Knights are expected to arrive before year’s end.

“It’s pretty steady right now. We are not getting rid of any of them,” said Tim Horn, who directs the Naval Inventory Control Point team that oversees the 1,750 naval aircraft parked in the desert.

The Corps is transitioning two Sea Knight squadrons annually to the Osprey, said Maj. Eric Dent, a headquarters spokesman at the Pentagon. That’s about two dozen helicopters a year. While many are redistributed to other units, the number of retired airframes is slowly growing.

So far, 27 “E” models have been retired or stricken from service, according to Naval Air Systems Command. They include a handful of Sea Knights at Fleet Readiness Center-East, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.

The retired helicopters are owned by Naval Inventory Control Point, and “a number of parts are removed for continued support of the remaining aircraft,” said Rob Koon, a NavAir spokesman at Patuxent River, Md. The preserved helicopters are stored for future needs, if required.

Five retired helicopters are still serving the military in a way, Dent said.

Two are being used as trainers: one at the Navy’s Fire Fighting School in Pensacola, Fla., the other for fire suppression at China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center, Calif. A third was sent to General Electric to help test infrared suppression. Two others are on display in North Carolina: one at New River Marine Corps Air Station’s front gate, the other at Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte.

Bittersweet delivery

For the Phrog community, these days are a mix of operational highs — flying combat missions and supporting ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan — and the bittersweet task of taking a helicopter to what might be its final resting place.

“They’ve been a workhorse,” Horn said.

And saying goodbye can be personal.

“You taxi in, and you can’t believe you’re dropping it off,” Murphy said. “You’re never going to pick it up again.”

At the Boneyard, aircrews hand over the helicopter along with its maintenance cards and logbook, which is kept in a depository at Davis-Monthan.

All but one of the Sea Knights there are in “type 2000” storage, a category of aircraft prepared for storage relatively intact, “unless authorized to pull parts,” Vanden-Heuvel said. In other words, the helicopters can be cannibalized if necessary.

“We’re reusing all the critical parts of it to support the Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Horn said. That means engines, transmissions, rotor heads and blades. It takes several days to strip one of these birds. Each part is noted on component cards to make it easier to track should the need arise later. The fuselage then is sealed, though parts could be removed for priority requests.

Some go to the Boneyard’s “flush farm,” where fluids are replaced with preservation oils, said Horn, a retired Air Force KC-135 mechanic. Workers cover the aircraft with a removable silicone-based sealant.

“By sealing up the aircraft, it keeps the inside temperatures of the cockpits within 20 degrees of the ambient temperature,” he noted. “Without it, cockpit temperatures would soar up to 400 degrees and cook the avionics inside the aircraft.”

Aircraft in the war-reserve section “can’t be touched,” Horn said.

The lone Phrog in “type 4000” storage, retired by HMM-164 two years ago, has one more mission remaining: museum duty.

Article: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news...night_082408w/

Freedom earned with "Blood, Sweat and Tears"

10/31/2007

Top Aviator Takes Final Flight Amongst the Clouds

By:  Pfc. Andrew S. Keirn