I'm not so sure the Osprey will turn out to be foolhardy at all. The early problems seem to have been worked out, just like what happens with any new design. Nobody knows, but I hope it works out well.
The concept of the Osprey is a good one. Higher speed transit than a CH-46, longer range, but still about the same lifting capacity and mission capability. I hope it works.
Hey, I was just in NC near Camp Lejuene and saw a 15 ship formation of Ospreys and they were damn impressive. An article in the Jacksonville NC magazine had an article about them and they are in the final stages of their combat trials. When they come on line they will be huge asset, able to carry a complement of 24 Marines at high speed and put them down anywhere.
Correction: five generations, since the 1950's. The earlier versions were known as POGO's. The latter as VTOL's. In terms of complexity the Osprey is equivalent to a Ferarri, except the Osprey is more expensive to maintain, by at least a factor of 250. The Marines squandered a lot of money on this pig. Under the right circumstances, and with a little luck, you could down it with a $5.00 slingshot.