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Beautiful blue skies, not too hot, not too cold. The young Ospreys are all over the place, the older birds are paired off, the new guys are on their own. The cross is stainless steel, 208 feet tall. It is on the grounds of Mission Nombre De Dios, next to Hospital Creek. This is said the be the site of the first mass said in the New World. Makes no difference if you are Catholic or not, it is a beautiful place to visit, sit, and contemplate.

I've watched a pair of Osprey for several years now, I can usually find them but they are hard to approach. I saw them today, couldn't get a good angle, moved on down the creek a bit, and this guy was sitting there. It looks like a young male, and he isn't jumpy. Hopefully, no one will give him reason to be. Look at the size of the foot, they have awesome strength behind those talons.

A nice video that I thought FReepers might enjoy  :-) YouTube - U.S. Marines Jump from Osprey Video description posted at YouTube:B-roll of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit conducting a parachute Drop at Fort Picket. Scenes include a helicopter flying overhead, Marines jumping from the aircraft and landing in a field below. Produced by 22nd MEU.

CV-22s complete first operational deployment by 1st Lt. Lauren Johnson 1st SOW Public Affairs 12/2/2008 - HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- The final two CV-22s broke across the Florida horizon just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. And after a 5,300 nautical mile flight across the Atlantic ocean, they had surely worked up an appetite. The aircraft, from the 8th Special Operations Squadron, arrived home Nov. 26 on the heels of two other CV-22s, all of which had spent the last month in Bamako, Mali supporting Exercise FLINTLOCK-09, a regularly scheduled training exercise in the Trans-Saharan region designed to build relationships and...

Osprey keeping watch. He won't overlook anything. A telephoto shot at 535 mm equivalent.

AL ASAD — As the second MV-22 Osprey squadron to deploy to a combat zone, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, continues to build on the Osprey’s strengths and versatility in Iraq. The MV-22 Osprey is the Marine Corps’ newest airframe and is poised to shoulder the responsibility as the Marine Corps’ sole medium lift helicopter platform in the future. “When you have an aircraft with the lift capacity that the MV-22 has, and that can move troops or cargo in a safe and timely manner to your entire area of responsibility, your stock value tends to...

Air Force Lt. Col. Darryl Sheets has been a pilot for 13 years, but when he switched to the new Osprey troop and cargo carrier, "it was like learning how to fly all over again." Even if you're just along for the ride, like civilians who got a demonstration Wednesday morning, the CV-22 Osprey takes some getting used to. Especially at the moment of truth, when this one-of-a-kind, helicopter-airplane hybrid switches from one mode of flight to the other - in midair. Critics disagree, but the Pentagon insists it worked out all the bugs for pilots such as Sheets during...

Al ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq ---- Capt. Zachary Webb says he has no qualms about the Marine Corps' newest aircraft, the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey that takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane. "This aircraft is a Corvette," the 29-year-old native of Orange said Thursday during an interview on this sprawling air base centrally located in Iraq's Anbar province. "It can go from zero to 220 knots from takeoff until 9,000 feet." Webb is part of the first generation of Marine Corps pilots to fly the controversial aircraft after it went into service in the fall....

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2008 – The MV-22 Osprey has proven itself in Iraq, and Marine officials are applying the lessons learned in the first operational deployment of the tilt-rotor aircraft to current operations. From left: U.S. Marine Lt. Gen. George J. Trautman, Lt. Col. Paul Rock, Capt. Sara Faibisoff and Sgt. Danny Herrman answer questions about the initial combat deployment of the MV-22 Osprey during a press briefing at the Pentagon, May 2, 2008. All four Marines participated in the Marine Corps' first operational Osprey squadron. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess...

Osprey documentary to air Web-posted Sunday, April 6, 2008 The Military Channel will premiere a one-hour documentary on the V-22 Osprey at 9 p.m. today. Much of the film is about VMM-263, the first operational Osprey combat squadron, but it also presents an overview of the Osprey program from its inception. The V-22 is produced under an industry partnership between Bell Helicopter and Boeing. Final assembly is completed in Amarillo. - Globe-News staff

The Department of Defense has awarded Bell Helicopter and partner The Boeing Co. a five-year, $10.4 billion contract to make 167 V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The contract includes 26 CV-22 aircraft for the Air Force Special Operations Command and 141 MV-22 aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps. The contract includes an option for additional aircraft. The fuselage for the V-22 is built by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems in Philadelphia. Bell builds components for the aircraft in Fort Worth and completes final assembly at its Military Aircraft Assembly Center in Amarillo. The V-22 is a tiltrotor aircraft with proprotors and engines installed...

An MV-22 Osprey, belonging to Marine Medium Tilt Rotor Squadron 263, sits on the deck waiting for members of the 27th Infantry Brigade, 7th Iraqi Infantry Division and Marines with Military in Transition team 0720 to load up after a heli-borne operation. Photo by 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Fwd) Public Affairs. AL-ANBAR PROVINCE — As Coalition forces continue to operate throughout the Iraqi countryside, training the Iraqi security forces (ISF) to stand on their own two feet becomes an increasingly familiar scene. Third Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) does its own part in the transition process by participating in training operations...

It's hard to imagine an American weapons program so fraught with problems that Dick Cheney would try repeatedly to cancel it — hard, that is, until you get to know the Osprey. As Defense Secretary under George H.W. Bush, Cheney tried four times to kill the Marine Corps's ungainly tilt-rotor aircraft. Four times he failed. Cheney found the arguments for the combat troop carrier unpersuasive and its problems irredeemable. "Given the risk we face from a military standpoint, given the areas where we think the priorities ought to be, the V-22 is not at the top of the list," he...

WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey might be getting more firepower. The aircraft, which is currently making its combat-zone debut in Iraq, has the ability to hover like a helicopter and fly like a fixed-wing aircraft. It is meant to replace CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, the Corps’ aging workhorse. Ospreys come equipped with a gun at the ramp in the rear of the aircraft, but they might also get a gun with a 360-degree field of fire, said Marine Lt. Gen. John G. Castellaw. “One of the options would be to install within what we call the ‘hell-hole’ —...

The truth about the Osprey By: COL. GLENN WALTERS - commentary Unlike most of the V-22 critics, I have actually flown the MV-22 Osprey. I flew hundreds of hours in this remarkable aircraft when I commanded the Marine Corps' test and evaluation squadron 2003-2006, and I am obliged to tell the truth. The truth is the Osprey is the most thoroughly tested aircraft in the history of aviation for one fundamental reason: the safety of its passengers. Our nation expects that the military will use the best engineered, maintained and operated equipment available. Our troops deserve it. The Osprey we...

Column - Roger Williams: Time reporter wouldn't give conflicting source time of day Opinion Column Over the past several days, my office has received a barrage of phone calls and e-mail inquiries regarding Time magazine's Sept. 28 article on the V-22 Osprey. I certainly don't pretend to be a professional journalist, but I do feel it important to set forth a factual response for my fellow Amarilloans - people the world recognizes as having a major stake in the future of the Osprey. Time magazine reporter Mark Thompson chose to rely on select, outdated information which was both inaccurate and...

A squadron of tiltrotors for the US Special Operations Command may enter service in Iraq far in advance of the type's planned in-service date of early fiscal year 2009. The first deployment of Bell Boeing CV-22s may be accelerated to replace an ageing fleet of Sikorksy MH-53 Pave Lows currently used by air force special operations units for transport and search-and-rescue missions, US Air Force chief of staff Gen Michael Moseley said on 26 September. The CV-22 could be deployed in "pre-initial operational capability" status to provide the vertical lift mission, he said, addressing the Air Force Association's annual convention...

HMS Illustrious has become the first Royal Navy ship to embark a US Marine Corps Bell/Boeing MV-22 Osprey aircraft onto its deck during a joint exercise in the United States. The landing, which comes ahead of a US-led Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFX) on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, was the first time that an Osprey has embarked in a non-US vessel anywhere in the world. The MV-22 Osprey, the world's first tilt-rotor aircraft, has a unique vertical take-off and landing capability. It is ideally suited to working from the deck of HMS Illustrious, which is currently the...

Out riding the motorscooter, and found this Osprey with a fresh catch. This is inside the St. Augustine city limits.

MSNBC.com Osprey aircraft heading to Iraq Marines bullish on hybrid helicopter-plane despite past accidents MSNBC News Services Updated: 7:02 p.m. CT April 13, 2007 MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. - The Marine Corps announced Friday it will send 10 V-22 Ospreys to Iraq this year in the first combat mission for the hybrid aircraft expected to carry troops in and out of battle at unprecedented speed. Built by Boeing Co. and Bell, a unit of Textron Inc., the planes' deployment marks a significant reversal for an aircraft program that was nearly scrapped after two deadly test crashes and a history...