Mega Helicopters

[Tricky Skills]

Woh! What on earth were those mega helicopters doing flying over Sunny Stockwell towards Brixton just now? A pair of them, 'Nam style.

Something to do with the Country Show? they were HUGE!

 

[wjh]

I saw two groups of two go over.

They looked like these to me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-22_Osprey

 

[ddraig]

raaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Farnborough Airshow is on this weekend iirc.

 

[AverageJoe]

Nah, Fairford this weekend, Farnoborough All next week.

It wouldnt have been the Osprey as they only had one at Fairford, and its never been in the UK before, and only the second time its been out of the US. If it had two rotors, it was most likely a Chinook, and if it had one it would have been a Lynx (the only helicopter that can loop the loop) or Gazelles.

I went and they had a Mig fighter that was being flown like it had been nicked - mental!

I don't even like planes, but you just had to stand open mouth and go "You cant do that in a plane....can you?"

And I learned a bit as well, as you can tell!

 

[netbob]

Nah, Fairford this weekend, Farnoborough All next week.

It wouldnt have been the Osprey as they only had one at Fairford, and its never been in the UK before, and only the second time its been out of the US. If it had two rotors, it was most likely a Chinook, and if it had one it would have been a Lynx (the only helicopter that can loop the loop) or Gazelles.

It defintly wasnt a chinook, although didnt look quite as hardcore as ddgraig's piccy. Some sort of plane with rotatable propellers though, it was doing a circuit from stockwell/kennington to brixton Streatham. Hovered for a bit too.

 

[editor]

I managed to grab a pic:

 

[dogmatique]

Pretty amazing craft, eh? We watched them circling the Country Show for half an hour.

 

[editor]

And here's the two-plane formation:

 

[dogmatique]

Bit scary though. Would you want to fly in what looks like a wind turbine white van?

 

[Biddlybee]

Saw both of them this afternoon... and took ages to work out what they were, the propellers kept changing positions

Definitely look like those ospreys.

(great pics ed)

 

[hotchiwitchi]

definately ospreys

The two helicopter/planes were definately Ospreys.
They are from the United States Marine Corps and they are in the UK attending the Fairford and Farnborugh air shows and testing procedures for transatlantic flight.
The rational behind them Is that they have the manouverability of a helicopter but can change in flight to a plane with the attendant advantages of range and speed.A fair few of them crashed while they were being developed.

 

[sir.clip]

 

[AverageJoe]

Hm... the man at Fairford - he tells lies.

They are ospreys. Very cool indeed

 

[hipipol]

Ha Ha!!!!!

Thank God for the pics, had both Blagster and Dum Dum trying to convince me I was hallucinating!!!!
I KNEW they were wrong uns!!!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Ah, thanks for the pictures. I saw those on the way back from the Country Show and was wondering what they were.

They were over Brixton for a good while according to someone I spoke to who was equally as baffled


VTOL? It just looks like it would be too clumsy. Not exactly a Harrier is it?!

 

[Crazy_diamond]

The two helicopter/planes were definately Ospreys.

I think you are right Boeing V22 Ospreys (So someone has said on the tidy bob show)

 

[hipipol]

Here ye go

http://www.boeing.com/rotorcraft/military/v22/docs/V-22_overview.pdf

Very new it seems

 

[William of Walworth]

I was at Brockwell during the entire Twinkle Brothers set ( ), it was during them that they supposedly flew over, and I never even noticed the planes ... for some reason or other

 

[pseudonarcissus]

Bit scary though. Would you want to fly in what looks like a wind turbine white van?

wind turbine white vans that crash a lot

The first Osprey flew in 1989 and began military flight tests in December 1991. It has yet to be used in actual missions. Critics take aim at its high cost -- more than $110 million per plane at current estimates -- and safety record, including fatal crashes involving the Osprey and a prototype.

In the early 1990s, the Bush administration tried to abandon the Osprey program, but the Marines convinced President Bill Clinton to revive it once he took office. However, the deaths of 23 Marines in Osprey crashes in April and December 2000 have placed the aircraft under new scrutiny.

The commander of the Marine Corps' only V-22 squadron, Lt. Col. Odin Fred Leberman, was relieved after admitting to superiors that he asked for maintenance records to be falsified to make the Osprey look more reliable. Leberman faces possible criminal charges.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/osprey/osprey.background/content.html

 

[DeadManWalking]

I was at Brockwell during the entire Twinkle Brothers set ( ), it was during them that they supposedly flew over, and I never even noticed the planes ... for some reason or other

Nice to meet you (again!) But if you don't remember the helicopters you may not remember talking to me (again!).

I thought they were on to me, just remember not to look at the black helicopters

I remember recently reading something about Google Earth having to be censored as a few people had been playing "Spot the black helicopters base"

 

[William of Walworth]

Nice to meet you (again!) But if you don't remember the helicopters you may not remember talking to me (again!).

No, I do remember perfectly, you had a can of Special!

I thought they were on to me, just remember not to look at the black helicopters

I remember recently reading something about Google Earth having to be censored as a few people had been playing "Spot the black helicopters base"

Comspiraloon alert!!!

 

[DeadManWalking]

No, I do remember perfectly, you had a can of Special!

Not just the one that day. Good to see you again.