View allAll Photos Tagged OperationUrgentFury
"Aviation Meets History ️📜"
This Cubana Airlines AN-26 tells a story beyond aviation—it’s a symbol of Cold War tensions that played out in the Caribbean. Shot down where it sat and left behind during the 1983 U.S. invasion, Operation Urgent Fury, it now stands as a striking reminder of Grenada’s past.
#HistoryInTheMaking #AviationHistory #GrenadaTravel #ColdWarRelic #CaribbeanHistory #OperationUrgentFury #AbandonedAircraft #ExploringHistory #AviationPhotography #GhostPlanes #AirplaneGraveyard #AviationAddict #TravelMore #HiddenHistory #WWIIPlanes
United States Ambassador Linda Taglialatela and a delagation from the US Embassy Bridgetown visit the SGU DPSS Command Center.
Reagan era anti-war protest message,
Fillmore street, Western Addition district, San Francisco,
Under President Reagan, US invaded the tiny Carribean island of Grenada in October 1983, the first major operation conducted by the US Military since Viet Nam.
Code-named operation Urgent Fury.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada
photographed 1983
(Narrative by National Museum of the Marine Corps) This is the heavily damaged tail boom from a USMC Bell AH-1T Cobra helicopter gunship (ship EM-32) which was shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire on 25 October 1983 during Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada.
Cobra pilot, Capt. Timothy B. Howard made a successful crash landing on a soccer field despite suffering a broken leg and a shattered right arm. Co-pilot/gunner Capt Jeb F. Seagle dragged Howard from the wreckage of the helicopter to a safe position and was subsequently killed by enemy forces.
While Seagle was extracting the wounded Howard, Capt. John Giguere, flying overhead in a second AH-1T Cobra (EM-30) made multiple attack runs against enemy anti-aircraft positions and encroaching enemy troops. An HMM-261 CH-46 transport helicopter braved heavy enemy fire to collect the wounded Howard. Just as the CH-46 had cleared the area with Howard aboard, Capt. John Giguere's Cobra was hit by enemy fire. The Cobra fell into the nearby harbor, instantly killing both Capt. Giguere and his co-pilot/gunner, 1stLt Jeff Scharver.
Semper Fidelis Marines.
The Cobra Tail Boom is currently on display in the exit hallway of Legacy Walk. It will be included in our Final Phase exhibit on Grenada that opens in 2019-20.
As part of the operations taking place in preparation for Obama's visit to Trinidad for the Summit of the Americas, an F15 takes off from Point Saline's International Airport.
Somewhat of a flashback with the campus of St. George's University in the background. Rescuing american SGU med students being one of the reasons given for military action in 1983's Operation Urgent Fury.
"Echoes of 1983 ✈️"
Standing in the presence of history at Pearls Airport, Grenada. This AN-26 (CU-T1254) Cubana Airlines turboprop is one of the relics left behind from the U.S. military intervention in 1983. Once part of a bustling airport, now a silent witness to history.
#ColdWarRelic #GrenadaHistory #AviationLovers #CubanAviation #AN26 #LostAviation #Warplanes #HistoricSites #MilitaryHistory #CaribbeanWar #AbandonedAircraft #PearlsAirport #TravelBackInTime #AviationPhotography #AviationEnthusiast
After Operation Urgent Fury in 1983 this monument was erected in memory of the fallen US Soldiers here in Grenada !
Chancellor Modica welcomes US Ambassador Larry Palmer and General John Kelly to SGU's True Blue Campus on the 30th Anniversary of Operation Urgent Fury.
LCDR Patrick J. Murphy, USNR, of suburban Chicago, Illinois, has been identified as one of the victims of the September 11th terrorist attack on the Pentagon. A member of the Naval Reserve, LCDR Murphy was performing a three-week assignment with the Navy Command Center, standing duty when the attack occurred.
The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Park - 1 Rotary Road on the Pentagon Reservation in Arlington, Virginia - Google Map - additional views
Operation Urgent Fury
The invasion commenced at 05:00 on25October 1983. American forces refuelled and departed from the Grantley Adams International Airport on the nearby Caribbean island of Barbados before daybreak en route to Grenada. It was the first major operation conducted by the US...
The Bell AH-1 Cobra (also called HueyCobra) owes its existence to the Vietnam War. While the proof of the air cavalry concept was being proven every day, the US Army was also losing huge amounts of helicopters to ground fire. Equipping the troop-carrying “slicks” with door guns helped, and arming the UH-1 Iroquois/Huey with weapons was another interim solution. Clearly, however, the solution lay with a dedicated attack helicopter that could defend the troop carriers.
Bell, the manufacturer of the UH-1, had been also experimenting with a concept of a heavily armed, turreted, and thin fuselage helicopter. The US Army awarded a proof-of-concept contract to Bell, which replied in a heavily modified Model 47 called the Sioux Scout. It failed to win any orders, but Bell kept at it even as the Army pursued the far more complicated and expensive AH-56 Cheyenne. This resulted in the Model 209, based on components of the UH-1 and the original conceptual design.
With the Vietnam War intensifying and the Cheyenne going nowhere, the Army issued a requirement for an interim solution, which the Model 209—built and tested in only eight months—won easily. The Army ordered 110 AH-1Gs in April 1966 and the type was in action in Vietnam a year later. It was highly successful there, and successive marks of the Cobra would continue to fight in America’s wars since—Grenada and both Gulf Wars. US Army Cobras were upgraded continually in the 1980s, resulting in a dizzying number of variants: the AH-1S (with upgraded engine), AH-1P (with flat glass windscreen), AH-1Q (with TOW missile system), AH-1E (with 20mm gatling cannon in nose turret), and AH-1F (with laser rangefinder and countermeasures). In 1988, the Army finally gave up and redesignated the whole lot as AH-1S.
US Army Cobras were finally retired in 2001, but USMC Cobras remain in service, with the fleet being converted to AH-1Z Kingcobras. Israel, Iran, and Pakistan likewise have used and continue to use their Cobra fleet, and it is generally considered to be the most successful and prototypical attack helicopter.
This AH-1S is 77-22778, built originally as a AH-1E "TOW Cobra." It may have served with the 82nd Aviation Regiment from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as it saw action over Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury in 1983. After serving with the 7th Infantry Division (Light) at Fort Ord, California, 77-22778 was retired in 1993 and donated to the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
77-22778 is displayed in the museum's atrium, with a full load of eight BGM-71 TOW antitank missiles and two M200 2.75-inch rocket pods. The rotor is attached to a fan, so it turns with the breeze!
Major Stephen V. Long was dedicated to his wife and family. He was a kind and generous man who loved God. He honored his country and his flag. He was a war hero even before September 11th, 2001.
The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Park - 1 Rotary Road on the Pentagon Reservation in Arlington, Virginia - Google Map - additional views
"Abandoned, But Not Forgotten 🚁🔥"
This AN-26 aircraft at Pearls Airport was casualties of Operation Urgent Fury in 1983. Destroyed during the U.S. invasion of Grenada, they remain frozen in time, a testament to the turbulent history of the Caribbean. Exploring this site was like stepping into a time capsule.
#AN26 #LostPlanes #PearlsAirport #AviationHistory #ColdWarEra #Warbirds #CubanAviation #UrbanExploration #HistoryLover #WartimeRemnants #AbandonedPlaces #ForgottenWar #MilitaryAviation #TravelPhotography #ExploreThePast#PearlsAirport
Chancellor Modica converses with retired builder Mr. Victor Benjamin. Mr. Benjamin was the builder of Alumni Hall and invited to a dedication ceremony to rename it in honor of Dr. David Brown.
Officials from the United States Government and the Government of Grenada gather with St. George's University to mark the 32nd anniversary of Operation Urgent Fury.
St. George's University is home to a monument honoring the sacrifices of US soldiers who lost their lives during the intervention. The monument was originally dedicated on the Grand Anse Campus in 1986 by US President Ronald Reagan, but was later moved its current home on the expanded True Blue Campus.
Though the A-4 Skyhawk was by no means outdated by 1962, the US Navy began work on a replacement with better range and heavier payload. The designs submitted would be necessarily heavier than the A-4, but this was not seen as much of a problem, nor was a lack of speed: the Navy was willing to trade subsonic performance for increased range and more bombs. Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) submitted a design based loosely on its successful F-8 Crusader fighter, which was enough to beat out three other designs, and it was ordered into production as the A-7A Corsair II, named for the successful Chance-Vought fighter of World War II.
Though the A-7 was based on the F-8, the two shared very little other than basic configuration: the A-7 was stubby and wide, and definitely subsonic as intended, though it initially used the same powerplant as the F-111 Aardvark. Turn performance was excellent, if acceleration was indifferent, but the centerpiece of the Corsair II was its integrated bomb delivery system. This included the APQ-116 radar, a heads-up display, traveling map display below the radarscope, and a digital computer. Ease of maintenance was also emphasized. With no problems encountered in flight testing, the A-7A entered fleet service in 1967.
It was immediately committed to fighting in Vietnam. Though A-7s would only see action in the tail end of Operation Rolling Thunder, they were to be used extensively in South Vietnam, due to their accuracy: A-7s were capable of putting ordnance within sixty feet of friendly troops, making it well-liked. The Navy liked the USAF's A-7D variant, and subsequently adopted it, with changes for naval operations, as the A-7E. This was to be the definitive model of the Corsair II, and surviving A-7As and A-7Bs were converted to E standard.
It was a mixed batch of A-7 models that finished the war in Vietnam: A-7Bs were mostly used in the suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) Wild Weasel role, and increasingly Corsair IIs were armed with precision weapons such as the AGM-62 Walleye, which proved capable enough to destroy the infamous Thanh Hoa Bridge—albeit temporarily—in 1972. The workhorse A-7 also struck targets in the Hanoi area extensively, making it second only to the B-52 in amount of ordnance dropped on the North Vietnamese capital. Navy A-7s from USS Coral Sea participated in the last combat missions of the Vietnam War, the Mayaguez rescue mission in May 1975. 98 Navy A-7s were shot down during the conflict.
Following the end of the Vietnam War, the A-7 replaced the A-4 in Navy light attack squadrons, standardizing on the A-7E. Aside from minor upgrades, this would remain the type used by Navy units for the duration of the Corsair II’s career. A-7s would go on to participate in every military operation undertaken by the United States in the 1980s—attacks on Lebanon and the invasion of Grenada in 1983, operations against Libya in 1985, during the “Tanker War” in the Persian Gulf in 1987, and finally in the First Gulf War in 1991. In these operations, the A-7 was able to use its pinpoint bombing ability to good use; in Libya and the Persian Gulf, Corsair IIs attacked and sank numerous Libyan and Iranian patrol boats with unguided bombs. It also was the Navy’s Wild Weasel of choice during the 1980s, using the Vietnam-era Shrike before upgrading to the far superior HARM.
In Operation Desert Storm, two A-7 squadrons from John F. Kennedy were used both to attack fixed targets with “iron” bombs and Walleyes in “tank plinking”—knocking out Iraqi tanks with precision weapons. Despite there being less than 30 A-7s in theater, these aircraft were able supplements to the USAF’s A-10s and F-111s.
The First Gulf War was the A-7’s swan song. The last squadrons gave up their Corsair IIs for F/A-18 Hornets by May 1991, ending nearly thirty years of operations. Some ex-Navy A-7s were passed on to Greece, Portugal, and Thailand, and some still remain in service with Thailand and Greece. Of the 1569 A-7s built, about half were Navy types, and today 20 former US Navy A-7s are on display as gate guards and museum pieces.
A-7E Bureau Number 158819 joined the Navy in 1975, first with VA-86 ("Sidewinders") aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN-68); there's a good chance this aircraft appears briefly in the science-fiction movie "The Final Countdown." In 1983, it was transferred to VA-15 ("Valions") aboard USS Independence (CV-62), where it took part in airstrikes against Syrian forces in Lebanon in 1983 and in supporting Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada. 158819 went to VA-72 ("Blue Hawks") aboard the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), and would see action yet again, this time during the First Gulf War/Operation Desert Storm. 158819 would fly 39 combat missions. This would be 158819's last dance, just as it was for the A-7 in general, and after the Kennedy returned from the Gulf, the aircraft was retired. It was placed on display at NAS North Island, California, but by 2012, it had been donated to the Tillamook Air Museum.
These days, 158819 could use a fresh coat of paint: though it has been inside for the past decade, the paint job it has worn since returning home from Desert Storm has faded considerably, though it's still very much legible. Under the cockpit are 39 camel mission markers, along with a description of what ordnance was dropped: 84 general purpose bombs, 105 Rockeye cluster bombs, 15 AGM-88 HARM antiradar missiles, and three AGM-62 Walleye guided missiles. This is its appearance when we visited in May 2024; hopefully it will get some TLC soon.
"War Stories in the Tropics ☀️✈️"
These remnants of war sit under the Caribbean sun at Pearls Airport, where time and nature reclaim what was once part of international conflict. Visiting this site during our Grenada history tour gave us a new perspective on how the past shapes the present.
#HistoryUncovered #WarRelics #GrenadaAdventure #AviationWrecks #CaribbeanHistory #CubaAviation #PearlsAirport #ColdWarTensions #LostWarbirds #AbandonedHistory #ExploreMore #AviationPhotography #HistoricLandmarks #WartimeAviation #UrbanExplorers