FLYING IN THE MIL HELICOPTER
John Fricker
AMONG the many facilities granted to me while in Moscow for the Third World Parachuting Championship was the privilege, through the courtesy of the Central Aero Club of the U.S.S.R., of making a brief flight in a Russian helicopter. So far as I am aware, this was the first occasion that a person from the West had been accorded such a privilege, which was especially arranged at Tushino on the day before my departure.
At least three helicopter designs are operating in large numbers in Russia, and the Mil Mi 1, in which I flew, is the smallest type. With the NATO code-name Hare, the Mi 1T is similar in general appearance to the Bristol Sycamore, but is smaller, with only three seats. Surprisingly, it has slightly more power than the Sycamore, having a 575 b.h.p. AI-266 seven-cylinder horizontally-mounted radial engine, with fan-assisted cooling, which gives it a useful excess for maintaining performance in tropical or high-altitude conditions.
It is entirely conventional in design and structure with a steel-tube front fuselage, semi-monocoque tail-boom, and three-bladed rotors of mixed construction. The roomy cabin is entered via two large car-type doors, and has a single…
