I was just down in the South Beach area of Staten Island and saw a pair of Ospreys circling overhead. After a few minutes they flew north towards Manhattan along with 2 sets of jets. I couldn’t identify the jets but they looked like delta wings.
The flights obviously can’t be tracked here but does anyone know what type they were?
Probably AV-8B Harriers.
The Harrier doesn’t have delta wings.
Delta wings are triangles.
I say the delta winged aircraft were more likely F-22 Raptors.
N.C. Marines will take part in the commissioning of USS New York
I can’t say for sure whether they were Deltas or not. I only got a glimpse of about 1 second of each pair of jets before they were out of view but I would have known immediately if they were F-18s or F-22s, which they were not.
It’s possible that they were Harriers, since they are from the USMC.
Thanks for the replies.
I suggested the Harrier as it’s a USMC mainstay.
I kind of figured that. Based on WDWMonorail saying it was a delta winged aircraft I thought it might be something else. But if he’s not sure it’s delta winged I tend to go with you suggested, JHEM.
probably F/A-18’s.
Not altogether a bad guess Will, the Marines do fly it, but the 18’s aspect is more cruciform than delta-shaped in planform and the OP stated he would immediately recognize an -18 or a Raptor.
They were, in fact, 4 Harriers.
New York City government actually put out information regarding this beforehand so folks wouldn’t freak out
Never heard “cruciform” used regarding wings? When I flew Junkstreams we learned that the it had a “cruciform tail”, much like it’s cousin the H-125.
I always assumed the term came from “crucifix”, describing the location of the horizontal stab as it resembled a cross… but I’ve never heard of wings being described as such? After searching Google I only saw references to it but it was in all written in Geek, and Google still can’t translate Geek apparently.
What is a Cruciform Wing?
Not altogether a bad guess Will, the Marines do fly it, but the 18’s aspect is more cruciform than delta-shaped in planform and the OP stated he would immediately recognize an -18 or a Raptor.
But the guy said he was not sure if they had delta wings. So that is why I said they might be hornets.
Duh. I tend to over-think things sometimes.
Thanks JHEM!
No problem. Feel free to write any time you’re having difficulty Grokking geek-speak.
Yes, but you completely discounted the fact that the OP stated he’d have no difficulty recognizing a Hornet. Regardless of the fact his user name could stand for Walt Disney World Monorail, that might only denote his enjoyment riding it, not that he drives it. He might be a present or former Zoomie with thousands of hours in the cockpit of an -18, or the gas-passer in the hole of a KC-135 who’s passed untold gallons of JP7 to Habus.
Remember that conversation we had about showing restraint? Your apparent need to attempt to reply to every post made on FA wins you no accolades, as most of your responses consist of little more than “me too”, “imagine that” or “go figure” and add little, if anything, to the thread. Questions = Good. Boisterous shouting out in class = Bad.
Nobody cares that I know they were Harriers??? Waaaaaaaa 
Keep in mind that perceptions of what a “delta wing” (or anything else) is
varies from person to person. The Harrier has a pretty good wing sweep, and depending on the viewing angle, this could give the “delta wing” impression. Personally, I’m always amazed at how much anhedral those things have!!
Thanks for the confirmation, FlyNYC.
As I said, I was roughly 1-2 miles away from the jets. The first two were in level flight, the second two had a slight bank and seemed to have delta wings to me.
You’re right about my username. JHEM. The monorail system is one of my interests just like aviation and aerospace, amongst others. Never been in any military fixed-wing but you’re also right about me being a gas-passer, except not on a KC-135… 
I took a couple of pictures and some video of the CV-22s. The jets were too fast.
