V-22 Osprey

V-22-Osprey, Ocotillo Wells, California.

I have heard plenty about this unique aircraft in the news over the years, but had never seen one in action.  This winter, as we were driving to a location to photograph the burrowing Owls, we were surprised to see one of these planes fly in and land at a remote dirt airstrip near Ocotillo Wells.  It was fascinating to see an airplane take off straight up into the air!  Then, as you can see in this photo, the engines slowly began to rotate forward until they were eventually facing straight ahead like a typical aircraft, and it flew off into the distance.  It was definitely one of those unexpected events I had to stop to photograph.