Thursday, May 23, 2019

Great Photos and Videos as a Pair of United States Marine Corps (USMC) MV-22B Osprey Tiltrotor Aircraft Pop into Rockhampton

On Thursday 23 May, the unmistakable sight and sound of two United States Marine Corps (USMC) Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft filled the skies of Central Queensland as they completed two visits into the Australian Army District Support Unit (DSU) compound nearby to Rockhampton Airport.


During both visits in the late morning and late afternoon, both Ospreys flew together down from Townsville and looked to complete some familiarisation exercises before landing in the DSU and taking on fuel.  After the refuel, both Ospreys returned to Townsville via airwork around the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA).













There are four USMC Ospreys that have arrived into Townsville in recent days with their visit believed to be in support of the joint Military Exercise Southern Jackaroo which is currently underway within the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA).



The two Osprey tiltrotor aircraft that visited Rocky on Tuesday were identified as 168028 / YZ-07 and 168032 / YZ-09 and flew together as "Skytrain 11".  They are of the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 (VMM-363) ‘Lucky Red Lions’ which have been deployed to Darwin recently as a part of the 8th Marine Rotational Force Darwin (MRF-D).  Several MV-22B Ospreys, along with Bell  UH/AH-1 helicopters, arrived in Darwin via ship before being flown the short distance to RAAF Base Darwin.








Sincere thanks to all the local plane spotters for allowing us to share their great photos and videos of a great couple of visitors to Rockhampton!  We can't wait to see what the next few weeks brings!

Photos and Videos taken by Jason Miller, Daniel Bishop, Kayanne Hardsman, Trevor Hardsman and 'IAD'  ©

No comments:

Post a Comment