AC-130U gunship/CV-22 Osprey

While I way down in FL I visited my cousin at Hurlbert Field. He's retired AF and now works as a contractor for Lockheed Martin. Got to fly the CV-22 in the simulator and got to crawl all over a AC-130U out on the flight line.

All I've got to say is if you get the chance to get in a real simulator don't pass it up. These things make the ones you see at the fair look like a Atari.

I was also surprised at how easy the CV-22 is to fly. Having only ever flown a Cessna a little after takeoff, I took off, did a couple of barrel rolls, and landed without a hitch once I got the hand of it. Hovering during takeoff and landing was the hardest part but not as hard as I figured it would be.

While looking at the AC-130U I was surprised that the airframe holds up to the 105mm. There's not as much holding as you think.

The whole "behind the scenes" tour of the base gave me a new found respect for what the AF does. That AC-130U seems like nothing but a flying coffin to me (other than flares there are almost no defensive countermeasures).

Hurlbert Field is USAF Spec Ops training territory. The Airmen that train there can kick some a$$.

The AC-130 is slow. They're not going to send it in where it has to defend itself against fast movers and Ground to Air missiles (sp?) But belive me, you do not want to be the enemy on the ground when spooky is flying up above.

My cousin was a gunner on the AC-130 before he retired. He now trains gunners. He's had some close calls with AAA on some of their missions. He says the best bet is the cover of darkness and the element of surprise to keep them out of trouble.

I really wish I had some pics but was told to leave the camera in the car.

KsM715 said:

Hurlbert Field is USAF Spec Ops training territory.

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The funny thing is, they fly some Russian helicopters and Lear type jets out of there. He wouldn't tell me much about them other than the helicopters were Russian.

We used to clear the range (Kilo Impact Area) at Fort Benning after the Spectre's worked it over.....all of the target vehicles were just holes connected by pieces of scrap metal.

There are days when I really would have talked to the USAF recruiter about what jobs were available to me rather than letting him talk me into what my ASVAB score said I should do.

I think "gunner" would have been alot more exciting than radio maint.

KsM715 said:

There are days when I really would have talked to the USAF recruiter about what jobs were available to me rather than letting him talk me into what my ASVAB score said I should do.

I think "gunner" would have been alot more exciting than radio maint.

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I'll be honest, If I had took that tour when I was 18, I more than likely would have joined the Air Force. Shoot, I would now if I wasn't too old.

This was the first time I've ever been around the AF and saw how things work. They seem more "laid back" than the other branches. My cousin is friends with a colonel and we visited with him a little. There were a bunch of other people around of lower rank and they were just cutting up and carrying on with him. I thought this was odd for a colonel but having never served I could be wrong.

Not more laid back. Just a different mindset of people that serve in the different branches of service. Most of the AirForce is support based and is more like a 9-5 job rather than manning a fighting position. Im glad I went USAF but after being stationed to and now permanently living near Ft Riley, The Army gets to play with some pretty cool stuff.

Flying as "mumbling cargo" years ago we dropped into H.F. trying to scrounge a part for the semi-broke A model we were on, gunships are way cool!

Saw the only nipple-less (radome) model I've ever seen there that trip.

I was a crew chief on the MV22 for a couple of years and yes..... it was cool. I was a member of the second unit to ever deploy the tiltrotor aircraft. Everybody asks me if it was fast, I always tell them if you were not strapped in and not paying attention to whats going o,n there is a good chance you would slide out the back.

m16ty- that sucks you were not able to take your camera.

When we would do a nav flight and land at little aux. airports, the tower would ask us to shoot a couple more approaches so they could see the aircraft transition from airplane mode to helicopter mode.

Charlie

I've seen pics from my cousin when they were running missions in Kosovo. They stayed at a 5-star hotel while they were there. He's got some cool pics of a gunship doing a flyby of the hotel at very low altitude.