
Thirty years ago, on March 19, 1989, the Bell [TXT]-Boeing [BA] V-22 Osprey first broke contact with the ground, initiating a program that would suffer tragic trials before entering service and becoming one of the most in-demand combat aircraft in the U.S. military fleet. More than 375 Osprey tiltrotors — the only aircraft of its kind in service in the world — have since racked up 450,000 flight hours with the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force Special Operations Command and…