Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 166 (VMM-166) was a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

tiltrotor A tiltrotor is an aircraft which generates lift and propulsion by way of one or more powered rotors (sometimes called ''proprotors'') mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles usually at the ends of a fixed wing. Almost all tiltrotors use a trans ...

squadron consisting of

MV-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a convention ...

transport aircraft. The squadron, known as the "SeaElk", was last based at

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (MCAS Miramar) , formerly Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Miramar and Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar, is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the av ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Activated in 1985, HMM-166 was the youngest CH-46 helicopter squadron in the Marine Corps. The squadron was redesignated as a tiltrotor squadron on June 23, 2010. The squadron was deactivated on October 1, 2021.

History

The squadron was activated on September 13, 1985 at

Marine Corps Air Station Tustin Marine Corps Air Station Tustin ( IATA: NTK, ICAO: KNTK, FAA LID: NTK) is a former United States Navy and United States Marine Corps air station, located in Tustin, California. History The Air Station was established in 1942 by the U ...

and assigned to

Marine Aircraft Group 16 Marine Aircraft Group 16 is a United States Marine Corps aviation unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar that is currently composed of four V-22 Osprey squadrons, four CH-53 Super Stallion squadrons, one Personnel Support Detachment, and ...

. They relocated during 1995 to

Marine Corps Air Station El Toro Marine Corps Air Station El Toro was a United States Marine Corps Air Station located next to the community of El Toro, near Irvine, California. Before it was decommissioned in 1999, it was the home of Marine Corps Aviation on the West Coast ...

, California and again during 1999 to MCAS Miramar, California. 166 has been active in: * 1990 -

Operation Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

* 1991 -

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

* 1994 -

Operation Support Hope Operation Support Hope was a 1994 United States military effort to provide immediate relief for Great Lakes refugee crisis, the refugees of the Rwandan genocide and allow a smooth transition to a full United Nations humanitarian management program. ...

* 1994 -

Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational force which operated in Somalia from 5 December 1992 until 4 May 1993. A United States initiative (code-named Operation Restore Hope), U ...

* 1998 -

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of mon ...

* 2004 -

Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

In 2004, HMM-166 deployed as the aviation combat element of the

11th Marine Expeditionary Unit The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (11th MEU) is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 pe ...

in support of

. During this deployment they participated in the Battle of Najaf. On November 5, 2007, the squadron deployed to the Western Pacific as the aviation combat element of the

. From December 4 to 6, as part of the 11th MEU, HMM-166 flew 29 humanitarian assistance missions over

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

to transport more than 54,165 pounds of food and supplies and 1875 gallons of water to the people most affected by Tropical Cyclone Sidr. On 5 May 2009, a SuperCobra belonging to the squadron crashed at 1154 hrs PST into the

Cleveland National Forest Cleveland National Forest encompasses 460,000 acres (), mostly of chaparral, with a few riparian areas. A warm dry mediterranean climate prevails over the forest. It is the southernmost U.S. National Forest of California. It is administered by th ...

, California. The crash resulted in the fatalities of the aircraft's two pilots, Jessica Conkling, 27, and Aaron Cox, 26. The SuperCobra had departed

Naval Air Facility El Centro Naval Air Facility El Centro or NAF El Centro is a United States Navy Naval Air Facility located approximately six miles (10 km) northwest of El Centro, in Imperial County, California. NAF El Centro is under the jurisdiction of Navy Regi ...

30–40 minutes earlier for Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The cause of the crash was an improperly secured transmission cover which came off in flight and struck the tail rotor. VMM-166 decommissioning

In September 2009, HMM-166(REIN) again deployed as the aviation combat element of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. They participated in exercises in

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

and

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

. They returned from the deployment in April 2010. The squadron was redesignated as VMM-166 on June 23, 2010 as they transitioned to the

. On October 1, 2021, VMM-166 was decommissioned at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, CA as a result of Marine Corps decisions from Force Design 2030.

Unit awards

A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited. Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the awarded unit citation. HMM-166 has been presented with the following awards:

References

External links

* {{3rdMAW VMM166

History

Unit awards

See also

References

External links