US military aeroplanes were crowd pleaders during Exercise Talisman Sabre

JUST a few weeks ago, billions of dollars' worth of military aircraft were thundering into Rockhampton’s usually quiet airport as part of the Australian Defence Force’s largest exercise of the year.

An Osprey launches from the flight deck of HMAS Canberra during Exercise Talisman Sabre last week. Picture: Royal Australian Navy

JUST a few weeks ago, billions of dollars' worth of military aircraft were thundering into Rockhampton’s usually quiet airport as part of the Australian Defence Force’s largest exercise of the year.

More than 30,000 troops had assembled on central Queensland for Talisman Sabre, a biennial exercise for Australian and US troops at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area.

Hundreds of local plane spotters lined Rockhampton Airport’s fences and watched in awe as some of the US military’s most expensive and high-tech aircraft shuttled between the airport and Shoalwater Bay.

One of the stars of the aerial show was the US Marine Corp’s MV-22 Osprey held-planes which take off vertically like helicopters before rotating their blades to fly like a plane.

The Ospreys wowed the massive crowds around the airport and impressed the Australian troops in the field who marvelled as the heli-planes ferried soldiers between land and sea.

When the exercise ended, a small group of Marines of the 31st Expeditionary Unit stayed on at Shoalwater Bay to hone their skills.

Last Saturday, that exercise turned to tragedy at 4.07pm when one of the $100 million Ospreys with 26 Marines on board crashed during routine training.

The Osprey was shuttling troops from the Marine unit’s flagship vessel, the USS Bonhomme Richard, to the USS Green Bay, an amphibious transport dock in the ocean between capes Manifold and Wilson.

The heli-plane was reportedly on its final approach to the USS Green Bay when it smashed into the flight deck before plunging into the waters of Shoalwater Bay.

The entire crew was thrown into the ocean and forced to evacuate the sinking helicopter. Horrified Marines on board the ship rapidly launched a flotilla of small boats and aircraft for a rescue mission. They plucked 23 soldiers out of the ocean before the search was called off at 3am.

A Marine Sea King helicopter transported one injured Marine to Rockhampton for medical care but the remaining soldiers were treated on the vessels at sea.

As daylight broke yesterday, the mission’s focus was changing to recovering the three suspected bodies, and the sunken Osprey.

“The next-of-kin for the three missing Marines have been notified,” the Marines said in a statement.

While the exact circumstances of the crash are under investigation, it is believed the flight deck of the USS Green Bay was damaged and rendered inoperable during the crash, creating extra difficulties for the search and rescue effort.

A lone plane spotter at Rockhampton Airport yesterday said there had been intense activity there on Saturday night when the Sea King helicopter had bought the wounded soldier to hospital.

However, he said yesterday was the quietest the airport had been in nearly a month with not a military aircraft in sight.