Military helicopter Mi-8MT/Mi-18 1/144 Eastern Express 14501

Military helicopter Mi-8MT/Mi-18 
1/144 scale plastic model kit
Eastern Express 14501

Manufacturer: Eastern Express (Russia)
Scale: 1/144
Material: Plastic
Paint: Unpainted, Unassembled, Kit do not contain paints and glue.
Condition: New in Box

The Mil Mi-8 (Russian: ÐœÐ¸-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed medium twin-turbine Transport helicopter. There are also armed gunshipversions. The Mi-8 is among the world's most-produced helicopters, used by over 50 countries. Russia is the main producer and the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter.Mikhail Mil originally approached the Soviet government with a proposal to design an all new two engined turbine helicopter after the success of the Mil Mi-4 and the emergence and effectiveness of turbines used in the Mil Mi-6 but the military argued against a new helicopter as they were content with the current Mil Mi-4. To counter this Mikhail Mil proposed the new helicopter was more of an update to new turbine engines rather than an entirely new helicopter which the council of ministers decreed shall be built. Due to the position of the engine, this enabled Mikhail Mil to justify redesigning the entire front half of the aircraft around the single engine (designed by Alexander Ivchenko originally made for fixed wing aircraft as all other soviet helicopter turbines had been up to that point).

The prototype named V-8 was designed in 1958 based on the Mil Mi-4 with a larger cabin. Powered by an AI-24 2,010 kW (2,700 shp) Soloviev turboshaft engine, the single engined V-8 prototype had its maiden flight in June 1961 and was first shown on Soviet Aviation Day parade (Tushino Air Parade) in July 1961.

During an official visit to the United States in September 1959 Nikita Khrushchev took a flight in the S-58 presidential helicopter for the first time and was reportedly extremely impressed. Upon Khrushchev's return he orders the creation of a similar helicopter and wishes it be ready in time for the return visit of the American president to save face. A luxury version of the Mi-4 was quickly created and Khrushchev took an inspection flight where Mikhail Mil proposed that his helicopter in development was more suitable for this role. However, it would be necessary to have a second engine for reliability. This gave Mikhail Mil the power under the orders of Khrushchev to build the original two-engined helicopter which would need purpose built turbine engines created for the first time in Soviet history, rather than those adapted from fixed wing aircraft (as in Mi-6 and the first prototype V-8) and an entirely new main rotor gear box that would be designed in-house for the first time. In May 1960 the order is given for Mikhail Mil to create his twin engine helicopter. The Sergei Isotov Design Bureau accepted the task of creating the engines.

The second prototype (still equipped with the one turbine engine as the Isotov engines were still under development) flew in September 1961.The Yugoslav Air Force bought 24 Mi-8T (Hip C) transport helicopters from May 1968 to May 1969 to equip two squadrons of the newly formed 119th transport regiment from NiÅ¡ military airport, each squadron with 12 helicopters. Subsequently, from 1973 to the early 1980s, Yugoslavia purchased more Mi-8T helicopters to re-equip two squadrons of 111th regiment from Pleso military airport near Zagreb and the 790th squadron from Divulje military airport near Split, which was under the command of the Yugoslav Navy. In total, the Yugoslav Air Force received 92 Mi-8T transport helicopters from Soviet Union, known formally to themilitary as the HT-40, while local modification of several helicopters into electronic warfare variants produced the HT-40E. Some 40 helicopters were equipped for firefighting operations.

The Yugoslav Mi-8s' first combat operations were transport of army troops and federal police forces to border crossings in Slovenia on 27 June 1991. The members of Slovenian Territorial Defence fired Strela 2 MANPAD, and shot one helicopter down, killing all crew and passengers.

Mi-8
Mi-8 of Baltic Airlines taking off at Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg
Role	Transport helicopter (also, severalarmed versions)
Design group	Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant
Built by	Kazan Helicopter Plant Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant
First flight	7 July 1961
Introduction	1967
Status	In service
Primary users	Soviet Union (historical) ca. 80 other countries, see Operatorsbelow
Produced	1961–present
Number built	>17,000
Variants	Mil Mi-8T/Mi-17
Developed into	Mil Mi-14