AirSkyBuster : Aircraft and Airplane

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Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 4). Photo wallpaper gallery of Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 4. Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 4. The Mi-24 was the first helicopter to enter service with the Russian Air Force as an assault transport and gunship. Additional missions include direct air support, antitank, armed escort, and air to air combat. The helicopter was used extensively in the Afghanistan War, becoming the "signature" weapon of the conflict. The Russians have deployed significant numbers of HINDs in Europe and have exported the HIND to many third world countries. The Mi-24/25 is primarily an attack helicopter, but may also be outfitted for other missions. As a transport it can carry up to eight passengers. In the transport/cargo role it can not only carry internal loads but is capable of external sling loads up to 3,000 pounds. In the air ambulance role, the Mi-24/25 can carry four stretchers and one attendant. The Mi-24/25 cockpit areas and cargo/passenger areas are sealed, environmentally controlled, over pressurized with the airflow chemically/biologically filtered. Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 4). Photo wallpaper gallery of North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 4. North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 4. The aircraft may be equipped with additional internal fuel tanks to extend the range/endurance of the Hind. The HIND is never employed individually -- always in sections of two and where possible in flights of six. The HIND has been used for air to air training. The Russians use balloons as air to air targets for the HIND. Unlike fixed wing aircraft the HIND lives in the helicopter flight environment and can maintain firing parameters on other helicopters for much longer periods of time than the fixed wing. Clutter from terrain flight background or flares will usually distract portable ground fired SAM-7 missiles and the STRAGGER cannot track a target moving much faster than a tank. However, a transport helicopter with a HIND on its tail is a "dead duck." One of the special features of the Mi-24 is its speed. It was and still remains to this day the fastest combat helicopter. In 1978, a similar helicopter, given the designation A-10, set the absolute, officially recorded world speed record for "clean" helicopters — 368.4 km/h. Such high speed qualities have been achieved thanks to good aerodynamics, in particular, by using retracting landing gear. Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 4). Photo wallpaper gallery of North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 4. North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 4.

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Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 3). Photo wallpaper gallery of Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 3. Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 3. A directive was issued on 6 May 1968 to proceed with development of the twin-engine design. Work proceeded under Mil until his death in 1970. Detailed design work began in August 1968 under the codename Yellow 24. A full scale mock-up of the design was reviewed and approved in February 1969. Flight tests with a prototype began on 15 September 1969 with a tethered hover, and four days later the first free flight was conducted. A second prototype was built, followed by a test batch of ten helicopters. In the middle of the 1960s, while the western countries were looking the helicopter mainly as a transport and rescue machine, the Soviet Army look at them as the air counterpart of the battle tanks. Heavy armed versions of the Mi-8 Hip were in service in those years when the Mil bureau start working in a new prototype called A-10 . This new helicopter, designed primary as an anti tank weapon began tests in 1970 and was seen for first time by NATO in East-Germany in 1972. The A-10 soon reached a speed record of 368 km/h. Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 3). Photo wallpaper gallery of North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 3. North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 3. The first versions uses a standard helo cockpit with pilots side-by-side, but in 1975 would appear the Hind-D with the now traditional attack cockpit in a tandem configuration. Later versions, as the Hind-E , used the more sophisticated AT-6 Spiral missiles instead of the AT-2 Swatter and a 23 mm cannon replacing the 12,7 mm machine gun in the turret. In their better moment, more than 1000 Hinds were in service in the Red Army and they were extensively used in Afghanistan where they teamed with the attack aircraft Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot. Acceptance testing for the design began in June 1970, continuing for 18 months. Changes made in the design addressed structural strength and fatigue problems, and reduced vibration levels. Also, a 12-degree anhedral was introduced to the wings to address the aircraft's tendency to Dutch roll at speeds in excess of 200 km/h, and the Falanga missile pylons were moved from the fuselage to the wingtips. This gave the helicopter its characteristic wings. The tail rotor was moved from the right to the left side of the tail, and the rotation direction reversed. The tail rotor now rotated up on the side towards the front of the aircraft, into the downwash of the rotor, which increased the efficiency of the tail rotor. A number of other design changes were made until the production version Mi-24A (izdeliye 245) entered production in 1970, obtaining its IOC in 1971. It was officially accepted into the state arsenal in 1972. Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 3). Photo wallpaper gallery of North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 3. North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 3.

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Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 2). Photo wallpaper gallery of Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 2. Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 2. Mil engineers prepared two basic designs: a 7-ton single-engine design and a 10.5-ton twin-engine design, both based on the 1,700 hp Izotov TV3-177A turboshaft. Later, three complete mock-ups were produced, along with five cockpit mock-ups to allow the pilot and weapon station operator positions to be fine-tuned. The Kamov bureau suggested an army version of their Ka-25 Hormone ASW helicopter as a low-cost option. This was considered but later dropped in favor of the new Mil twin-engine design. A number of changes were made at the insistence of the military, including the replacement of the 23 mm cannon with a rapid-fire heavy machine gun mounted in a chin turret, and the use of the then-under development 9K114 Shturm (AT-6 Spiral) anti-tank missile. The Russian Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter is a true veteran. It’s seen 18 wars in its lifetime. That’s more than any other NATO helicopter in existence. Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 2). Photo wallpaper gallery of North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 2. North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 2. The Mi-24 Hind or the flying tank as it is called by Russian pilots because of it’s reinforced cockpit, can take hits from all kinds of projectile weapons, including massive .50 caliber machine guns, without the bullets making it into the cockpit. Unfortunately any aircraft is as strong as its weakest part. For the Mi-24 Hind the weakest link is its resistance to shoulder launched rockets. Because it was mass produced in 1976, and designed in the ‘60 it wasn’t planned with countermeasures against that kind of weaponry, making it an easy target in the Afghanistan war, where over 300 helicopters were downed by heat-seeking American rockets. The fact is that with the engine exhaust near its rotor, it has no chance of surviving a hit. Later models have flares and systems that warn the pilot about incoming rockets. The aircraft doesn’t have any counterpart in the Western military forces. Being a heavy attack helicopter, that can also transport soldiers at the same time, makes for a great advantage when you’re on the battlefield. The Mi-24 helicopter is propelled by two ISOTOV TV3-117A with a power of 2000 HP each. It’s crew is composed of one pilot and 1 copilot (in its trademark bubble styled cockpit), and can transport up to 8 soldiers. With a weight of 12000 kg (12 tons) and a max speed of 335km/h it has earned the nick name of Devil’s Chariot! Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 2). Photo wallpaper gallery of North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 2. North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 2.

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Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 1). Photo wallpaper gallery of Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 1. Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 1. The Mil Mi-24 is a large helicopter gunship (and attack helicopter) and low-capacity troop transport (with room for 8 passengers) produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and operated from 1972 by the Soviet Air Force, its successors, and over thirty other nations. In October 2007, the Russian Air Force announced it would replace its 250 Mi-24 helicopter gunships with 300 more modern Mi-28s and possibly Ka-50s by 2015. In NATO circles the export versions, Mi-25 and Mi-35, are simply denoted with a letter suffix as "Hind D" and "Hind E" respectively. Soviet pilots called the aircraft летающий танк (letayushchiy tank, “flying tank”). More common unofficial nicknames were Крокодил (Krokodil, “Crocodile”), due to the helicopter's new camouflage scheme[4] and Стакан (Stakan, “Glass”), because of the flat glass plates which surround the three place cockpit of the Mi-24A. During the early 1960s, it became apparent to Soviet designer Mikhail Leont'yevich Mil that the trend towards ever-increasing battlefield mobility would result in the creation of flying infantry fighting vehicles, which could be used to perform both fire support and infantry transport missions. Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 1). Photo wallpaper gallery of North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 1. North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 1. The first expression of this concept was a mock-up unveiled in 1966 in the experimental shop of the Ministry of Aircraft's factory number 329 where Mil was head designer. The mock-up designated V-24 was based on another project, the V-22 utility helicopter, which itself never flew. The V-24 was similar in layout and configuration to the UH-1A Huey, with a central infantry compartment that could hold eight troops sitting back to back, and a set of small wings positioned to the top rear of the passenger cabin, capable of holding up to six missiles or rockets, with a twin-barreled GSh-23L cannon fixed to the landing skid. Mil proposed the design to the heads of the Soviet armed forces, and while he had the support of a number of strategists in the armed forces, he was opposed by several more senior members of the armed forces who believed that conventional weapons were a better use of resources. Despite the opposition, Mil managed to persuade the defence minister's first deputy, Marshal Andrey A. Grechko, to convene an expert panel to look into the matter. While the panel's opinions were mixed, supporters of the project eventually held sway, and a request for design proposals for a battlefield support helicopter was issued. The development of gunships and attack helicopters by the US Army during the Vietnam War convinced the Soviets of the advantages of armed helicopter ground support doctrine. This had a positive influence on moving forward with the development of the Mi-24. Mil Mi-24 Hind (Wallpaper 1). Photo wallpaper gallery of North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft - 1. North American Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack and gunship aircraft pictures and images collection - 1.