Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat account of the development of the V-22 Osprey
ByR. Kabanliton July 25, 2015
A fantastic read, mainly because Richard Whittle is such a good storyteller. The book is a comprehensive account of the development of the V-22 Osprey from different perspectives, from a Historical, Technical and Political point of view. The most important highlights for me from the book are:
- How it had been the dream of early aviators to have a machine that can take off and land vertically and yet still have the speed of a fixed wing aircraft, hence the book title of "The Dream Machine" as that dream has been fulfilled by the Osprey;
- The fact that the Osprey's design was constrained because its dimensions were limited to enable it to operate on Landing Platform Docks, hence its Propellers ended up being shorter than ideal and its weight and complexity had to be increased because of the need to incorporate a wing-folding mechanism;
- The long and "bloody" battle it had to go thru in terms of funding under the Senior George Bush's administration who wanted it cut from the budget;
- How the whole program was nearly shelved after accidents and the scandal about the falsification of its maintenance records;
- Since the Osprey was such a new aircraft, much of its flight characteristics weren't really explored properly yet, leading to speculations about its vulnerability to the issue of a flight condition called the "Vortex Ring State (VRS)" and its ability to maneuver at slow speeds. Additional comprehensive tests ultimately proved these concerns to be false, and that in fact what was true was the reverse of what was speculated. The Osprey is much less vulnerable to VRS and much more manueverable and less susceptible to enemy fire than Helicopters.
Nowadays the Osprey has proven itself in service and is seen as truly a technological wonder, the only vertical take off and landing fixed wing aircraft in service in the world today. But its wasn't always like this, it had a very troubled development, but look at it now. This should serve a lesson to everyone of how some aircraft tend to have a troubled "teething stage", but ultimately turns out well in the end.
Overall a pretty good book, I really enjoyed reading it.
