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04/26/2015: LtCol. Paul Kopacz, Commanding Officer, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 364 (VMM-364), pilots a MV-22 Osprey at Camp Pendleton, Calif., on 23 April 2015.
This was the first flight for VMM-364 since transitioning from CH-46E Sea Knight’s as Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364 (HMM-364) and is a milestone event for a transitioning unit to attain a “Safe For Flight” endorsement.
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — It’s perhaps a most fitting tribute: The first active-duty Marine Corps operational squadron to get the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter became the last one to fly it and officially transition to its replacement, the MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor.
That shift happened Thursday during a dual-hatted ceremony at Camp Pendleton, where Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron 164 held a change-of-command and redesignation as a tiltrotor, or VMM, squadron.
It marked the end of an era, coming 50 years after the first Sea Knight model, the CH-46A, replaced the UH-34 flying combat missions in Vietnam in 1966.
“It’s bittersweet,” said retired Col. Daniel C. Hahne, who commanded the training squadron from 2002 to 2004. Hanhe was one of 10 former squadron commanders who joined Lt. Col. Gabriel Valdez for the pass-in-review before Valdez handed the squadron’s reins to Lt. Col. Eric Aschenbrenner. Aschenbrenner, a former F/A-18 Hornet jet pilot who transitioned to the MV-22 in 2009, will oversee the squadron of Ospreys as a deploying operational unit.
“How do you capture 50 years of clear awesomeness in 10 minutes? I can’t,” Valdez told the crowd, which included Vietnam veterans, active-duty Marines and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He noted the shiny olive green-painted Phrog — aircrews long have affectionately called them Phrogs, or Battle Phrogs — parked in the hangar.
“That’s going to be the last Marine Corps CH-46, ever,” he said.
That helicopter, designated by Bureau Number 153369, is one of the squadron’s last two CH-46E Sea Knights that will take their final flights from the flightline in a few days.
It will see a new chapter when it becomes a static display at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va.
A patch worn by Capt. Brett Bishop commemorates the last CH-46E squadron mission with Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. US Naval Institute Photo
The Phrog saw combat for the first time in the jungles of Vietnam in 1965 and again a decade later, when it picked up the last Marines off the U.S. embassy rooftop in Saigon on April 30, 1975.
The other helicopter, BUNO 155306, retains the light gray paint of the Marine Corps’ operational fleet and will join dozens of other Phrogs in long-term preservation, parked at the military’s “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Base in Arizona.
The final piece of the Marine Corps’ transition to the MV-22 Osprey as the backbone of its medium-lift transport fleet will come later this year with the redesignation of the last reserve squadron, HMM-774, to VMM.
But even as the Marine Corps long ago turned its attention to the MV-22, the venerable CH-46 is retiring with plenty of meat on its bones.
The Phrogs sent to the desert “are in the best shape of their lives,” Valdez told the audience, which included Maj. Gen. Michael A. Rocco, who commands the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, the Marine Corps’ West Coast-based wing at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego. “
They are combat ready. If and when they are needed again…, these aircraft would be up in the air in no time.”
Valdez gave kudos to the squadron Marines, nicknamed the “Knightriders,” who he said remained dedicated and adhered to the combat mindset even as “we dropped the H and added a V.”
Aschenbrenner, the incoming CO, reminded the Marines that while taking on the Osprey, they “are all still Knightriders.
We are going to write another chapter… like when the 46 replaced the 34…..”
The X-47B successfully conducted the first ever Autonomous Aerial Refueling (AAR) of an unmanned aircraft April 22, completing the final test objective under the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System demonstration program.
According to a NavAir story published on April 22, 2015:
While flying off the coast of Maryland and Virginia, the X-47B connected to an Omega K-707 tanker aircraft and received over 4,000 pounds of fuel using the Navy’s probe-and-drogue method.
“What we accomplished today demonstrates a significant, groundbreaking step forward for the Navy,” said Capt. Beau Duarte, the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Aviation program manager.
“The ability to autonomously transfer and receive fuel in flight will increase the range and flexibility of future unmanned aircraft platforms, ultimately extending carrier power projection.”
During the test, the X-47B exchanged refueling messages with a government-designed Refueling Interface System (RIS) aboard the tanker.
The aircraft autonomously maneuvered its fixed refueling probe into the tanker’s drogue, also known as the basket, the same way a Navy pilot would refuel a manned aircraft.
“In manned platforms, aerial refueling is a challenging maneuver because of the precision required by the pilot to engage the basket,” Duarte said. “Adding an autonomous functionality creates another layer of complexity.”
This testing helps solidify the concept that future unmanned aircraft can perform standard missions like aerial refueling and operate seamlessly with manned aircraft as part of the Carrier Air Wing, he said.
“This segment of the X-47B demonstration program allowed us to further mature AAR technologies and evaluate the government tanker RIS,” said Barbara Weathers, X-47B deputy program manager.
“We used similar command-control and navigation processes previously demonstrated during the X-47B landings aboard the aircraft carrier.”
Over the last few years, the Navy accomplished several significant firsts with the X-47B that showcased the Navy’s commitment to unmanned carrier aviation.
With the completion of this program, the service continues to develop its future unmanned carrier-based platform, known as UCLASS.
04/25/2015: U.S. Marines with Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) practice fast-rope training aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), at sea, Feb. 4, 2015.
The Marines are seen conducting unit-level training to prepare for their spring patrol of the Asia-Pacific region.
Delivering the Doolittle Raider’s Congressional Gold Medal is one of the highlights of my flying career. Too many people today do not understand how these 80 volunteers on 16 B-25’s changed the course of the War in the Pacific.
Till I draw my last breath, I have dedicated myself to keeping this story in front of the American public and reminding them of the “Mission before Self” demonstrated by these great American Heroes.
04/23/2015: The Military Sealift Command’s joint high-speed vessel USNS Spearhead (JHSV 1) pulls into Sekondi, Ghana, Feb. 3, 2015.
Spearhead is seen on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of the international collaborative capacity-building program Africa Partnership Station.
04/22/2015: The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) sails alongside USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).
Theodore Roosevelt is deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations supporting Operation Inherent Resolve conducting maritime security operations, strike operations in Iraq and Syria as directed, and theater security cooperation efforts.
