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MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT STEPHEN W. PLESS Vietnam War - U.S. Marine Corps STEPHEN WESLEY PLESS DETAILS RANK: MAJOR (RANK AT TIME OF ACTION: CAPTAIN) CONFLICT/ERA: VIETNAM WAR UNIT/COMMAND: MARINE OBSERVATION SQUADRON 6, MARINE AIRCRAFT GROUP 36, 1ST MARINE AIRCRAFT WING MILITARY SERVICE BRANCH: U.S. MARINE CORPS MEDAL OF HONOR ACTION DATE: AUGUST 19, 1967 MEDAL OF HONOR ACTION PLACE: NEAR QUANG NAI, REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM CITATIONFor conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a helicopter gunship pilot attached to Marine Observation Squadron 6 in action...

Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier Crashes Outside MCAS Cherry Point; Pilot Safely Ejected By: Megan Eckstein May 20, 2019 8:49 PM A U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier conducts an aerial refuel during exercise Bayou Thunder off the coast of Louisiana, Jan. 29, 2019. The purpose of the exercise is to enhance Marine attack Squadron (VMA) 231’s air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities while also strengthening service interoperability with joint services. The aircraft is assigned to VMA-231, Marine Aircraft Group 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. US Marine Corps photo. A Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier crashed in North Carolina, and the pilot is being treated...

Fox News reports that two soldiers were killed as their helicopter crashed to the ground in Fort Campbell, Kentucky during a routine training practice Friday evening. This is now the fourth crash this week, killing seven members of the armed forces in a span of a few days.The soldiers were members of the 101st Airborne Division. Accordingly, their names will not be released until 24 hours after next-of kin notification has been completed."This is a day of sadness for Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne,” said Brig. Gen. Todd Royar,” acting senior commander of the 101st Airborne Division and Fort...

Staff Sgt. Artur Shvartsberg—Marine Corps Air Station Yuma Co The Department of Defense plans on putting its surplus fleet of AH-1W Super Cobras up for sale on the international arms market. The news comes as the USMC continues to outfit its light attack helicopter squadrons with new-build AH-1Z "Viper" derivatives of the Bell design, which traces its roots directly to the iconic UH-1 Iroquois/Huey. A recent business opportunity posting over at Fedbizops.gov describes the need for flight and maintenance training, sustainment, and refitting "Whisky Cobras" with new commercially available off-the-shelf avionics upgrades in preparation for foreign transfers of the type...

MARINE MV-22 OSPREY TILT-ROTOR AIRCRAFT COMPLETE FIRST PACIFIC CROSSING May 03 2017 - 0 Comments By Tom Demerly FOUR U.S. MARINE CORPS MV-22 OSPREYS HAVE CROSSED THE PACIFIC FOR THE FIRST TIME. A flight of four U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft has completed a historic first ever long-range flight across the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin. The aircraft stopped on Guam and Wake Island during the multi-day long-range training deployment and were supported by Marine Corps KC-130 tanker aircraft. Total distance for the multi-flight deployment was approximately 6,000 miles. The four...

Known as the 'flying gun', the A-10 Warthog plane was a hero during Operating Desert Storm – but has since been deemed vulnerable and costly to operate. Now, a Minnesota-based startup has unveiled designs for a new attack plane called the 'Machete' that consists of a new metal foam developed in conjunction with the US Department of Energy. The metal foam is lightweight and strong - and is capable of stopping bullets and other projectiles in much less space than traditional armor, while the plane boasts the same 30mm cannon as the Warthog it could replace.

The U.S. Marine Corps is progressing with a new project to arm its MV-22 Osprey aircraft with new weapons such as laser-guided 2.75in rockets, missiles and heavy guns - a move which would expand the tiltrotor's mission set beyond supply, weapons and forces transport to include a wider range of offensive and defensive combat missions, Corps officials said. "Currently, NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Dahlgren explored the use of forward firing rockets, missiles, fixed guns, a chin mounted gun, and also looked at the use of a 30MM gun along with gravity drop rockets and guided bombs deployed from the...

BAE Systems’ laser-guided rocket has been rushed into combat on the AV-8B Harrier, seven months after it was requested by the top brass of the US Marine Corps. The semi-active-laser-seeking 70mm (2.75in) rocket, enabled by BAE’s mid-body guidance and control section, is already deployed on US Navy and Marine Corps attack helicopters and was recently acquired by the Army for the AH-64 Apache gunship, but it will soon become a standard tool on the fixed-wing AV-8B jump jet. US Naval Air Systems Command is delivering 80 units initially to Marine Attack Squadron-223 (VMA-223), which is currently deployed to an undisclosed...

Two U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E helicopters have collided off Hawaii Jan 15 2016 - By David Cenciotti The two CH-53E Super Stallions were conducting night ops off the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The U.S. Marine Corps have just confirmed that a Search and Rescue operation is underway off Hawaii’s Oahu after two CH-53E Super Stallions helicopters collided mid-air during night training. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, debris field was spotted less than 3 miles off the coast, near the town of Haleiwa, Both helicopters were from MCAS Kaneohe Bay and each had six people aboard. No further details on...

Friends: 2 USMC CH-53 helicopters went down off the coast of Oahu, 12 souls missing. One of my son's best friends is a CH-53 pilot stationed in Hawaii, and cannot be reached. We don't know if he was flying at the time. Please pray for Brian and all those involved. Thanks

King Stallion, the U.S. Marine Corps’ brand spanking new helicopter, completed its first flight Tuesday. The Marines’ new helo is incredibly advanced - it will be able to lift a whopping three times more weight than its predecessor.

      ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona Marine Corps Air Station Yuma or MCAS Yuma is a United States Marine Corps air station which is the home to multiple squadrons of AV-8B Harrier IIs of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 (MAWTS-1) and Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401 (VMFT-401), an air combat adversary squadron of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing of the Marine Corps Reserve. The station is located 2 miles from the city of Yuma, Arizona. A joint civilian-military airport, MCAS Yuma shares facilities...

About 1,300 people were evacuated after a Marine jet carrying ammunitions crashed in a Yuma, Arizona neighborhood Wednesday. The pilot ejected safely. A Marine spokesperson said the jet was trying to land when it crashed in the backyard of a home about a mile from Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma. Authorities say there have been no reports of injuries related to the crash. A Marine spokesperson said the AV-8B Harrier was carrying four 500-pound bombs and 300 rounds of 20-milimeter ammunitions. A one-mile area around the crash site was evacuated so a military explosives disposal team could safely retrieve the ordnance....

The crash occurred early Wednesday evening. Television reports show at least one home on fire on a residential street in Imperial, about 90 miles east of San Diego. Lance Cpl. Christopher Johns, a Marine spokesman, says the jet was a Harrier from Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona, but he has no further details.

TWO US Marine Corps jets have been forced to drop four unarmed bombs on the Great Barrier Reef. The two AV-8B Harrier jets each dropped two 226kg bombs on the world heritage-listed reef in an emergency jettison during a training mission on Tuesday. The incident came ahead of Exercise Talisman Saber, a biennial training operation between Australian and US forces based at Shoalwater Bay on the central Queensland coast. The dropped bombs had not detonated and a US official has reportedly said the chance of any of them exploding is "extremely remote". A Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority spokeswoman...

Camp Bastion attack could be U.S. Marine Corps Harrier fleet’s ground zero September 22, 2012 As already explained, the recent Taliban attack on Camp Bastion, that cost the U.S. the worst air loss to enemy fire in one day since the Vietnam War, almost wiped out the entire U.S. Marine Harrier force in Afghanistan: besides killing two Marines, including the Commanding Officer of Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 211, six AV-8B+ aircraft were destroyed and two more severly injured. Since the VMA-211 “Avengers” had deployed to Afghanistan with 10 airframes, only two Harriers survived the insurgent attack in one of the...

Marine Attack Squadron loses eight Harrier jets in worst U.S. air loss in one day since the Vietnam War On Friday Sept. 14, at around 10.15 p.m. local time, a force of Taliban gunmen attacked Camp Bastion, in Helmand Province, the main strategic base in southwestern Afghanistan.About 15 insurgents (19 according to some reports), wearing U.S. Army uniforms, organized into three teams, breached the perimeter fence and launched an assault on the airfield, that includes the U.S. Camp Leatherneck and the UK’s Camp Bastion, where British royal Prince Harry, an AH-64 Apache pilot (initially believed to be the main target...

<p>KABUL—The Taliban's weekend assault on a major coalition base was one of the most determined and effective ever seen in Afghanistan, according to details released Sunday, destroying six U.S. combat jets and damaging two others.</p> <p>In addition to the Taliban strike, which killed two U.S. Marines Friday night, two separate insider attacks by Afghan service members claimed the lives of six coalition troops. A lethal coalition airstrike, meanwhile, threatened to raise additional tensions in the country, amid reports of civilian casualties.</p>

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Two U.S. Marines were killed and two severely injured in the crash of a hybrid aircraft in Morocco on Wednesday, officials said. The Marines were taking part in joint U.S.-Moroccan military excercises located in the south of the country based in Agadir, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Rodney Ford in Rabat, who gave the toll. Capt. Kevin Schultz, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon in Washington, confirmed that the aircraft involved was an MV-22 Osprey, which takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane. The aircraft was participating in a U.S.-Moroccan military exercise...

Marine Corps’ NC air base undergoing big expansionPosted on: 10:05 am, March 5, 2012, by Ryan Sullivan MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, N.C. — The military’s big expansion in North Carolina continues as the Marine Corps builds a $140 million mega-hangar to hold four squadrons of a revolutionary aircraft. **SNIP** ...preparing to break ground on one of the Marine Corps’ largest single structures. The super hangar will house dozens of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.