Author: Richard Whittle Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1416563199 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 622
Book Description
A fascinating and authoritative narrative history of the V-22 Osprey, revealing the inside story of the most controversial piece of military hardware ever developed for the United States Marine Corps. When the Marines decided to buy a helicopter-airplane hybrid “tiltrotor” called the V-22 Osprey, they saw it as their dream machine. The tiltrotor was the aviation equivalent of finding the Northwest Passage: an aircraft able to take off, land, and hover with the agility of a helicopter yet fly as fast and as far as an airplane. Many predicted it would reshape civilian aviation. The Marines saw it as key to their very survival. By 2000, the Osprey was nine years late and billions over budget, bedeviled by technological hurdles, business rivalries, and an epic political battle over whether to build it at all. Opponents called it one of the worst boondoggles in Pentagon history. The Marines were eager to put it into service anyway. Then two crashes killed twenty-three Marines. They still refused to abandon the Osprey, even after the Corps’ own proud reputation was tarnished by a national scandal over accusations that a commander had ordered subordinates to lie about the aircraft’s problems. Based on in-depth research and hundreds of interviews, The Dream Machine recounts the Marines’ quarter-century struggle to get the Osprey into combat. Whittle takes the reader from the halls of the Pentagon and Congress to the war zone of Iraq, from the engineer’s drafting table to the cockpits of the civilian and Marine pilots who risked their lives flying the Osprey—and sometimes lost them. He reveals the methods, motives, and obsessions of those who designed, sold, bought, flew, and fought for the tiltrotor. These stories, including never before published eyewitness accounts of the crashes that made the Osprey notorious, not only chronicle an extraordinary chapter in Marine Corps history, but also provide a fascinating look at a machine that could still revolutionize air travel.
Author: Ronald O'Rourke Publisher: DIANE Publishing ISBN: 1437918778 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 27
Book Description
The V-22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter and flies forward like an airplane. DoD plans call for procuring a total of 458 V-22s. Contents of this report: (1) Intro.; (2) The V-22 In Brief; Intended Missions; Key Contractors; Total and Annual Procurement Quantities; Multiyear Procurement for FY2008-FY2012; Est. Total Program Cost; Prior-Year Funding; FY2010 Funding Request; Request for MV-22s; Request for CV-22s; Program History in Brief; Deployment to Iraq; Anticipated 2009 Deployment to Afghanistan; Foreign Military Sales; (3) Aircraft Reliability and Maintainability; Other Potential Issues; (4) Legislative Activity in 2009; May 21, 2009, Hearing on V-22 Program. Illustrations.
Author: Bill Norton Publisher: Ian Allan Publishing ISBN: 9781857801651 Category : V-22 Osprey (Transport plane) Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
This joint Bell and Boeing project was established in 1982 in response to the Joint Services Advanced Vertical Lift Program covering a wide performance envelope and multiple tasks. The answer came in the form of the V-22 tilt-rotor, a concept tested earlier by Bell with their 1977 XV-15. The transport aircraft style fuselage of the V-22, able to carry 24 troops, is topped by a wing with a complex flap/aileron system and two swivelling pods housing Rolls-Royce turboshaft engines, each driving enormous three-bladed prop-rotors. The intention was that the USAF would receive the CV-22B for special missions work, the US Marine Corps the MV-22B assault transports and the US Navy the HV-22B CSAR/fleet logistics version, but the technologically challenging program has been set back by fatal accidents and an 18 month grounding while flight safety issues were addressed.However, it is set to recommence a restricted development program with the intention that the production aircraft will begin to be delivered at the end of 2003 and gain initial operating capability by 2005, making this comprehensive new book a timely in-depth coverage of the aircraft.
Author: Jeremiah Gertler Publisher: CreateSpace ISBN: 9781490519425 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 30
Book Description
The V-22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter and flies forward like an airplane. Department of Defense plans call for procuring a total of 458 V-22s, including 360 MV-22s for the Marine Corps; 50 CV-22 special operations variants for U.S. Special Operations Command, or USSOCOM (funded jointly by the Air Force and USSOCOM); and 48 HV-22s for the Navy.
Author: Richard Whittle Publisher: Macmillan ISBN: 0805099646 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 369
Book Description
A history of the Predator drone, discussing how it transformed the American military, reshaped modern warfare, and triggered a revolution in aviation.
Author: Barnes Warnock McCormick Publisher: Courier Corporation ISBN: 9780486404608 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 356
Book Description
An extremely practical overview of V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) aerodynamics, this volume offers a presentation of general theoretical and applied aerodynamic principles, covering propeller and helicopter rotor theory for both the static and forward flight cases. Both a text for students and a reference for professionals, the book can be used for advanced undergraduate or graduate courses. Numerous detailed figures, plus exercises. 1967 edition. Preface. Appendix. Index.
Author: Don Harvel Publisher: Bookbaby ISBN: 9781098303327 Category : Drama Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
June 28, 1972, the day I reported to the United Stated Military Academy at West Point, one of our class's first military acts was to subscribe to the Cadet Code of Conduct, swearing not to lie, cheat or steal ... nor tolerate among us anyone who does. I also pledged, as a cadet, and later as an officer, to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States. Any future allegiance I incurred fell subordinate to these two.Perhaps that's why I developed an affinity to the flying safety field which resides in a sacred niche within the sphere of flying. At the pinnacle of this citadel of truth resides the accident investigation process ... where there is no room or tolerance for politics or innuendo.I accepted the job to investigate the April 9th, 2010 CV-22 Osprey accident with reservations concerning the magnitude of the task and the inherent barriers preventing the collection of evidence a half-a-world away. But I failed to account for the obstacles of full disclosure, politics, and the reluctance of the same entities that assigned me the task, to accept the controversial findings of the investigation.If, at this point, you have read the first few pages of this book looking for an indictment of the government, Air Force, or the contractors who supply weapons of war, put the book back on the shelf ... or click remove from the digital cart. This is no vendetta, tell-all, hatchet job. This book is about facts and truth. Over a period of five months, the Air Force CV-22 accident investigation board traveled thousands of miles, interviewed over one hundred witnesses, and collected mounds of evidence in an inhospitable environment searching for the reason an Osprey aircraft impacted the ground in the remote desert of eastern Afghanistan. The accident took the lives of four personnel aboard the accident airplane.The following pages chronicle the unpublished and exhaustive investigation process, ending with my opinion of the cause of the Osprey accident on th
Author: Richard Whittle
Author: Ronald O'Rourke
Author: Bill Norton
Author: Jeremiah Gertler
Author: Martin D. Maisel
Author: 
Author: Franklin D. Harris
Author: Richard Whittle
Author: Barnes Warnock McCormick
Author: Don Harvel