thedrifter
03-01-07, 11:13 AM
Osprey squadron to seize airfield for training
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Mar 1, 2007 10:27:46 EST
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The Marine Corps’ first operational Osprey squadron is scheduled to wrap up weeks of integration training Thursday as it participates in seizing an airfield near the North Carolina coast, officials said.
Six MV-22s with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, based at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., will zip leathernecks from Camp Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, to Outlying Landing Field Atlantic near Beaufort.
VMM-263 has participated in Marine Air Ground Task Force integration training with various units over the past several weeks, according to officials with Marine Aircraft Group 26 at New River. Last week, Osprey pilots flew 2nd Reconnaissance Marines to Fort Stewart, Ga., an Army post more than 300 miles from Camp Lejeune, for long-range training.
Thursday’s training event will include CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters and AV-8B Harrier jets. This will be the first time rotary-wing, fixed-wing and tilt-rotor aircraft will operate in a single objective area within a tactical mission profile, officials said.
Once the MAGTF integration training ends, VMM-263 will officially begin pre-deployment training. The squadron is supposed to deploy later this year, between late summer and early fall, officials said.
Marine Corps headquarters has not said where the squadron will deploy
Ellie
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Mar 1, 2007 10:27:46 EST
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The Marine Corps’ first operational Osprey squadron is scheduled to wrap up weeks of integration training Thursday as it participates in seizing an airfield near the North Carolina coast, officials said.
Six MV-22s with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, based at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., will zip leathernecks from Camp Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, to Outlying Landing Field Atlantic near Beaufort.
VMM-263 has participated in Marine Air Ground Task Force integration training with various units over the past several weeks, according to officials with Marine Aircraft Group 26 at New River. Last week, Osprey pilots flew 2nd Reconnaissance Marines to Fort Stewart, Ga., an Army post more than 300 miles from Camp Lejeune, for long-range training.
Thursday’s training event will include CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters and AV-8B Harrier jets. This will be the first time rotary-wing, fixed-wing and tilt-rotor aircraft will operate in a single objective area within a tactical mission profile, officials said.
Once the MAGTF integration training ends, VMM-263 will officially begin pre-deployment training. The squadron is supposed to deploy later this year, between late summer and early fall, officials said.
Marine Corps headquarters has not said where the squadron will deploy
Ellie