Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Osprey in Washington State?

According to a relatively reliable source (and by that, I mean a relative: My sister) there are V-22 Ospreys flying in South Central Washington (Prosser area)!  If anyone has any corroborating information, along with where they are operating from, and where they are going, I would appreciate ANY news!  I will attempt to post photos as soon as I get some!  An Osprey is the ambitious mating of a helicopter and an airplane.  This gawky looking aircraft is faster than a helicopter, but has the VTOL capabilities of a helicopter.  They are the product of over thirty years development, probably more.  As far as I know, the USMC is the only operator at this time, but I am notoriously unreliable!

Here is what an MV-22 looks like (I borrowed this photo from Military-Today).

Other sitings recently include a pair of F-18s, a C-130, a C-17, and a P-3, all in the Yakima area.  If you are in Washington State and would like to contribute sitings, feel free to leave a comment, I welcome it.

There are certain places where activity is expected, for instance, Whidbey NAS, McChord AFB, and Fairchild AFB, however, recently Fairchild moved many of its assets to Moses Lake, at Grant County International Airport.  One would expect C-17s, KC-135s, and EG-18Gs from those places.  Portland International hosts ANG F-15s.  Other aircraft would likely be transient.

Take, for example, this C-130 that passed over my house tonight.  Where the heck is he from and why didn't he fly lower, so I could get a better picture?  Here are my pictures.

That is much too small to see detail.  Try this:

This is obviously a C-130, but what model?  Have a look at the lumps and bumps. 

  So, what is it?  Is it an MC-130?  The picture below is an MC-130 (borrowed from the USAF).

It doesn't seem to have the requisite lumps amidships, though, how about this next one?
The lumps on the side seem too large, but at least they are there, but this one is missing the lump on the nose, hanging down.  It seems like a FLIR (Forward Looking InfraRed) turret.  I am leaning toward an MC-130 that has some sort of sensor or antennae in that amidships position.  What do you think??

So, let's have some comments, folks!  Update me!

2 comments:

Charissa said...

Glad to see the post. Will get photographic proof asap.

Charissa said...

POST IT!!! You saw it too!