Before getting into the kit, here's some background courtesy of the instruction notes, along with some of my own photos of CV-22s in action at RIAT plus a couple of archive shots of the prototypes.
Overview
The MV-22B Osprey is a “tiltrotor” transport aircraft used by the United States Marine Corps and other branches of the American armed forces. Sharing the flight characteristic advantages of both rotor-winged (helicopter) and fixed-wing aircraft, the Osprey is capable of vertical take-offs and landing (VTOL) flight, greatly expanding its operational range and versatility. One of the great advantages of helicopters is of course their ability to take off and land vertically, negating the need for a long runway, and also its ability to hover in place while in flight. However, two major drawbacks of helicopters are their typically low flying speed and short operational range.
And while fixed-wing aircraft are capable of high speed and long operational range, they also require long runways or landing strips that may not be available in a given tactical situation. The “tiltrotor” feature which is at the heart of the Osprey’s design was developed to utilize the advantages while eliminating the disadvantages of both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Essentially the Osprey’s “tiltrotor” blades act like helicopter rotors, rotating horizontally, when the aircraft needs to act like a helicopter. But when the Osprey is to operate in high speed level flight like a fixed-wing aircraft, these rotors are tilted 90-degrees to the front to revolve vertically, acting essentially like giant aircraft propellers.
Development
Research on the tiltrotor concept began in the 1940s, when the United States Army and Air Force undertook a joint project to develop a “convertiplane” aircraft. In 1955, the XV-3 prototype that was the result of this project made its first successful hovering flight.
From 1971, the United States Army and NASA undertook joint research on the next stage of tiltrotor development with their XV-15 prototype making its first successful hovering flight in 1977 and its first airborne rotor tilt-to-level flight in 1979.
In 1981, the U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) officially announced that it would be developing a next-generation vertical take off and landing (VTOL) support aircraft for all branches of the Armed Forces. Under these auspices, the Joint Services VTOL Experimental Aircraft (JVX) project began, using the earlier XV-15 prototype as its base development aircraft. In 1985, the aircraft was officially named the V-22 Osprey. On May 2, 1986, full scale development (FSD) of the MV-22 officially began. On March 19, 1989, the first successful flight was made, with full production getting the go-ahead from the DoD in 1994.
Design
In terms of the basic structure, the airframe features two three-bladed “prop rotor” rotor wings with a rotational diameter of 11.58m, each attached to an engine nacelle. These two nacelles are in turn attached to the wingtips of the aircraft’s fixed wings, from where – utilizing the Osprey’s so-called “tilt system” – the rotor/nacelle units can be pivoted or “tilted” back and forth between horizontally and vertically rotating positions. The two massive prop rotors are counter-rotated relative to each other to eliminate the effects of torque on flight characteristics. A key safety feature of the Osprey is its ability to operate on one engine, in the event of the other engine failing, while still keeping both prop rotors rotating – a capability which is made possible by both prop rotors being joined by a single drive shaft.
The Osprey’s fixed wings are swept slightly forward, and they can be folded up to 90 degrees to facilitate storage, such as on an aircraft carrier. In this storage mode, all three blades of the prop rotors can also be folded up on top of one another to all face in a single direction, greatly reducing overall airframe size. The Osprey also features a “full glass cockpit” with cutting edge navigational and other instrument displays and avionics. The length of the cabin is 7.37m, 1.80m wide, 1.83m high and features a rear-opening cabin door that allows the easy on- and off-loading of troops, supplies and even small vehicles. The Osprey is used both as a transport and rescue aircraft. There are slight differences in onboard equipment between the Navy, Marine and Air Force variants of the Osprey, which at present include: the MV-22B, which is used by the Marine Corps for amphibious combat operational support and fast deployment; the HV-22B, which is used by the Navy as a combat reconnaissance and rescue aircraft; and the CV-22B, which is used by the Navy as a special operations (e.g. for SEAL missions) aircraft.
Aircraft Data
Flight crew: two; total width (including rotors): 25.54m; length: 17.47m; height: 6.63m; rotor blade length (1 piece): 4.90m; engine: Rolls-Royce Allison T406 with maximum output of 6,150shp; maximum ferrying/cruising range (with extra fuel tanks): 3,593km; ceiling: 7,925m; maximum speed: 565km/h (in level flight) and 185km/h (in “helicopter mode”).
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