TILT-ROTOR CRAFT ARRIVES AT EDWARDS FOR TESTING.Byline: Daily News EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - The Air Force's third CV-22 has arrived at Edwards Air Force Base for testing. Flown from the Bell-Boeing production facility in Amarillo, Texas “Amarillo” redirects here. For other uses, see Amarillo (disambiguation). Amarillo is the 14th-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. , the tilt-rotor craft will undergo several weeks of modifications to install a special instrumentation package for flight testing. ``Aircraft 25 is primarily coming to Edwards so we can catch up on testing that we've been unable to accomplish on the other two aircraft here,'' said Tim Bigelow, 418th Flight Test Squadron dedicated crew chief for the aircraft. The aircraft is a modified MV-22, the tilt-rotor version for the Marine Corps, but it was delivered as a close representation of an Air Force production version CV-22, officials said. The aircraft was fitted with long-range fuel tanks, multimode radar for low-altitude flying and a dual digital map for its pilots. It is also fitted with defenses to fool heat-seeking and radar-guided anti-aircraft missiles. The modifications are intended to make the craft better fitted for night flying, flying at low altitude in bad weather, and rescuing downed pilots behind enemy lines. The CV-22's tilt rotor allows it land and take off vertically like a helicopter and it will be able to fly with the speed and range of a turboprop turboprop: see turbine. turboprop Hybrid engine that provides jet thrust and also drives a propeller. It is similar to the turbojet except that an added turbine, behind the combustion chamber, works through a shaft and speed-reducing gears to turn a airplane. The CV-22 is beneficial to the Air Force Special Operations Command Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) was established 22 May, 1990,with headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Fla. AFSOC is a United States Air Force (USAF) major command and is the air component to the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), a unified command because it combines the best capabilities of the C-130 transport and the Pavelow H-53 helicopter, said Maj. James Donald James Donald (May 18, 1917 - August 3, 1993) was a Scottish actor. Tall and gaunt, he specialized in playing authority figures; military officers, doctors, or scientists. Donald was born in Aberdeen, and made his first professional stage appearance sometime in the mid-30's. , Defense Contract Management Command acceptance test pilot for the CV-22. ``The CV-22 allows you to go twice as far as the Pavelow and gives you more landing capabilities than the C-130,'' Donald said. The CV-22 test program is expected to wrap up at Edwards in 2007 and operations will continue at Hurlburt Field Hurlburt Field is a base of the United States Air Force located in Okaloosa County, Florida on the Eglin Air Force Base reservation immediately west of the Town of Mary Esther. at Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is the home of the United States Air Force 96th Air Base Wing of the Air Force Materiel Command, and is also headquarters for more than 45 associate units. , Fla., and Kirkland Air Force Base, N.M. The first production representative test CV-22 is expected to be delivered in the summer. The second production representative CV-22 is scheduled to arrive in late 2005. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Tech Sgt. Alvin Singh watches Monday as the Air Force's third and newest CV-22 taxis to a hangar at Edward Air Force Base. U.S. Air Force |
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