NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2007 7
● Corps blimey... Illustrious’ fl ight deck is crammed with US
Marine Corps AV8B Harriers as an MV-22 Osprey lifts off and
(below) ten jump jets from the Great American Bulldogs –
Marine Attack Squadron 223 – are lined up on Lusty as well as
the Osprey
Pictures: PO(Phot) Christine Wood and LA(Phot) Darby Allen, HMS Illustrious
Home of the
RARE birds have taken
the US, one led by Illustrious. celebrations. the Busy Bee was something of
nest on Britain’s strike
There are no plans yet by And one thing is essential when a building site as RN and FSL
carrier off the Eastern
Whitehall to buy or operate in New York: a rig run. engineers worked around the clock
the Osprey from British Everyone, as we know, to revamp three of the destroyer’s
Seaboard of the United warships – but given loves a sailor. four diesel generators (a new radar
States.
the UK’s global “It was a fantastic aerial was also thrown into the
For the first time HMS
operations alongside experience to walk mix to add to the ‘fun’).
Illustrious has been home to two
the USA, the ability around New York, And so it was that Lusty sailed on
of the most potent aircraft in the
to fly the Osprey to see famous ahead, with Manchester departing
US Armed Forces’ arsenal.
from RN carriers landmarks such Pompey two days behind.
One had a familiar outline; the
is a capability well as the Empire A mid-ocean rendezvous was
other was like nothing the flight
worth investing in, State Building, and hastily arranged with RFA Fort
deck crew had seen before.
especially as the to speak to New George for refuelling – if the two
Fourteen US Marine Corps’
Marine Corps are Yorkers who were ships missed the meet-up for any
AV8Bs – the American version of
likely to deploy Osprey very keen to capture reason Manchester’s visit to New
Britain’s legendary Harrier – are
overseas for the first time us on photograph and York would be off.
using Lusty as their base for war
later this year. listen to a sea dit or two,” Thankfully, they did not fail to
games in the Atlantic.
As for the AV8Bs, they brought said Lusty’s AB(WS) Parkinson. meet – although 24 hours later the
Also setting down on the
200 US Marine Corps personnel There was a sobering moment destroyer was tossed about in 35ft
carrier’s deck was a far stranger
led by Col Eric ‘Beans’ Van Camp, for some of Illustrious’ ship’s seas and battered by 55kt winds
sight – a Marine Corps MV-22
plus one Royal Marine. company at the site of the World which would have prevented any
Osprey.
Pilot Maj Jim Dresner is on Trade Center. mid-Atlantic refuelling.
Osprey is the world’s first tilt-
exchange with the US Harrier CO Capt Tim Fraser and the So severe was the weather
rotor aircraft – it can land, take-
force, Marine Aircraft Group 14, ship’s chaplain Fr David Yates laid in the ocean that it flooded the
off and hover like a helicopter,
based at Cherry Point in North a wreath at Ground Zero and gave destroyer’s 4.5in turret and shorted
but once airborne can fly like
Carolina. a brief eulogy in honour of the an electrical circuit – promptly
a traditional propeller-driven
“My exchange with the US victims of the 9/11 atrocities. fixed by CPO Daryl Griffiths and
aircraft at speeds over 300mph
Marine Corps has been fantastic, On a happier note, Lusty’s his team to allow the gun to work
and heights above 25,000ft.
but flying from Illustrious for this sports teams clashed with local once more.
Osprey has had a drawn-out and, exercise is one of the highlights,”
professional and NYPD sides on With all the dramas dealt with
admittedly, chequered history, but the green beret enthused.
the football, rugby and hockey Manchester sailed up the East
it can carry more troops faster and Before the arrival of the
pitches; the latter clash saw the River to Brooklyn where her berth
further into battle than the US American aviators, Illustrious and
closest result with the flat-top afforded the ship’s company a
Marine Corps’ traditional CH46 her trusty escort HMS Manchester
going down 5-4 to Rye Field, magnificent view of the Manhattan
Sea Knight helicopters. paid a high-profi le visit to the city
one of the top amateur sides in skyline.
Lusty’s flight deck was that never sleeps.
the USA. Upon completion of the war
understandably packed with crew This was the first visit to
Manchester made a lightning games, Illustrious is due to visit
eager to see this rather ungainly Manhattan by a British flat-top
dash across the Atlantic to ensure Charleston before heading back
bird land ahead of the Joint Task since Lusty’s sister Invincible
she would be in the Big Apple for across the Pond with her faithful
Exercise involving three carrier called in back in 2004 – a visit
Independence Day celebrations. escort.
task groups off the east coast of which also coincided with July 4
Barely a week before July 4
0007_NN_Aug.indd 107_NN_Aug.indd 1 226/7/07 10:55:546/7/07 10:55:54
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