On 2/28/04 4:09 AM, in article ,
"Guy Alcala" wrote:

SNIP
The USMC's AV-8Bs did this to
very good effect in 1991, for instance.

Using a helicopter airfield with a 6,000 foot runway in very poor repair,
about
half of which was usable. They also operated from poor condition forward
airfields in Iraq this past year, with fuel, weapons and sparesapparently
brought
in mostly by truck.

Guy


Guy, it's obvious you know how to build an airfield.

The AV-8B's worked from forward airfields because they could. It was a way
to use the assets we already have in a way that reduced crowding at existing
airfields and slightly reduced tanker requirements.

It was a "nice to have" not a requirement. The war would have gone just
fine had they been F-16's or F/A-18's operating from fixed runways or
aircraft carriers. Which is why the V/STOL F-35 is unnecessary.

--Woody