Saw a couple of Ospreys flying overhead the other day and went on bunnytrail where I learned they were designed in response to helicopter failures during operation eagle claw (Iranian hostage rescue failed mission). Never realized it was this big a mess.
Conversation
This is the Rube Goldberg machine of covert ops, unnecessarily complicated by fuel limits, 2 nights, 2 staging locations within Iran, landing a bunch of C-130s at first site to refuel helicopters from Nimitz en route to second site. Whole thing fell apart.
Replying to
And that’s how the world now has this ugly beast of a tilt rotor: the Osprey
It’s kinda ugly-beautiful though, like the A-10, the platypus or the A-7
3
7
LA is turning me into a bit of a helicopter fan
3
2
Replying to
There was back channel (illegal) activity to keep the hostages from being negotiated out. That’s known. No chance of sabotage here?
1
Replying to
Did you make it to the follow-up plan? Operation Credible Sport, with it's rocket-assisted C-130 that was supposed to land in and then take-off from a football stadium is an ever better plan! A pretty clear second step in designing the mission profile of the V-22.
Replying to
Iirc Beckwith estimated a high chance of failure, did it any way. The guts to try...




