At one time, helicopters literally turned the idea of aviation upside down. They were able to occupy a very special niche in the field of passenger and cargo transportation. Most importantly, helicopters can be used to perform very specific tasks that cannot be done with other vehicles. Every year it becomes more and more difficult to believe, but once the domestic aircraft industry was one of the leading in the world. Our today's hero has become a triumph of engineering thought of Soviet helicopter designers.
In the domestic space, this helicopter is called the Mi-12 or V-12 in the factory classification. The beautiful nickname "Homer" was given to him by overseas partners during the Cold War. This is how NATO experts classified the "twelfth" in the list of equipment of their potential adversary. The history of the B-12 began at the dawn of the 1960s, when it finally became clear that cargo helicopters would occupy an extremely important niche not only in the military, but also in the civilian sector of the economy.
Development of the Mi-12 started in 1959 at the Mil Design Bureau after the corresponding affixing by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. It was based on early projects of domestic-made cargo and cargo-passenger helicopters. Among them were the Yak-24 projects and the unfinished Yak-60. We have developed the car in almost 10 years. In 1971, the Soviet novelty was shown at an exhibition of technology in Le Bourget, where the Mi-12 made a splash, surpassing carrying capacity almost four times the American heavy helicopters CH-53 Sea Stallion from the Sikorsky company and CH-47 Chinook from Boeing.
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The Soviet V-12 was driven by two D-25VF gas turbine units with a total output of 13 thousand horsepower. The helicopter had a cargo compartment with dimensions of 28.15x4.4x4.4 meters with a gangway and a hatch. The latter was supplemented by a system of electric winches, which made it possible to load the Mi-12 directly in the air. With a mass of 69.1 tons, the maximum take-off weight was 105 tons. The cargo compartment made it possible to transport up to 196 troops. The dimensions of the machine together with the screws are 37x35x12.5 meters. The helicopter crew was located in a two-story cockpit and consisted of 6 to 10 people. The maximum flight speed was 260 km / h, the range was 500 km, the static ceiling was 600 meters.
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Despite the success of the engineering project, a sensation at the exhibition and excellent performance, only 2 Mi-12 helicopters were created. At first, the implementation of the project was delayed in every possible way, and in the end it was decided to abandon the serial and even small-scale production of "Homers". This was explained by the fact that the helicopter allegedly does not have all the necessary qualities. In addition, cheaper, albeit less impressive, models appeared with the Mi-6 and Mi-10 helicopters.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should definitely read about how a helicopter platform with a beacon tower of the US Navy became to a hotel for extreme lovers.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/300920/56213/