Marine Osprey to Lead Helicopter Landing at Eisenhower Park on May 29

The MV22 Osprey will touch down at Eisenhower Park as part of the "Raid New York" program.

A U.S. Marine Corps helicopter squadron will make a dramatic landing at Eisenhower Park’s Kite Field on Saturday, May 29, as part of a daylong schedule of events, announced Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano.

The event, billed “Raid New York” by the U.S. Marine Corps, will be the largest Marine helicopter landing on Long Island and is part of the larger “Fleet Week 2010” program taking place in New York City.

The helicopter landings at Eisenhower Park will begin at 10 a.m.

Among the featured aircraft is the MV22 Osprey, a multi-mission tilt-rotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing and short takeoff and landing capability. The aircraft is designed to combine the functionality of a helicopter with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop.

The Osprey, joined by CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters and AH-1W Cobras, will perform an area sweep and will transport the raid force Marines to the landing zone. Marines will perform an assault demonstration, after which helicopters will land and will be on public display, along with the weapons typically used by a Marine Corps rifle platoon. There will also be free camouflage face-painting for youngsters.

Marines supporting this event are part of a Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C., and have recently returned from Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti.

The event, presented in cooperation with the Nassau County Department of Parks, is free to the public and will take place on the Kite Field, just south of the Veterans Memorial in Eisenhower Park, with parking at fields 6 and 6A. 

Eisenhower Park, at 930 acres the largest park in Nassau County, is centrally located in East Meadow with entrances at Hempstead Turnpike at East Meadow Avenue and Merrick Avenue at Stewart Avenue.