Are you able to think about heli-skiing with 200 of your closest buddies in a single plane? Would possibly sound a bit far fetched, however on the top of the Chilly Struggle, the Soviet Union had causes to construct gargantuan whirlybirds out of considerations for nationwide safety, and out of that got here The Mil V-12, given the undertaking quantity Izdeliye 65, aka the most important helicopter ever constructed. They solely ended up constructing two of those monster twin rotor helicopters but when that they had gone into mass manufacturing, the heli-skiing scene of at this time might need regarded a bit totally different. Loopy to consider.
The Soviets constructed among the largest and most technically superior helicopters on the earth. By 1957, the Mil Mi-6 had already emerged as the most important helicopter ever constructed, far out-sizing helicopters constructed within the west. However for the Soviet Union, the necessity to construct a helicopter far bigger than even the Mi-6, quickly turned a matter of nationwide safety.
By 1960, American U-2 spy planes conducting excessive altitude reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union have been starting to uncover the situation of the nation’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) websites. These first era R-7 Semyorka ICBMs have been being deployed all through the Soviet Union as quick as doable, however their huge dimension and weight meant they might solely be delivered to launch websites utilizing trains. The necessity to construct rail strains to launch websites made the ICBM websites straightforward to identify in U.S. reconnaissance images.
Maintaining the missile websites hidden was a matter of nationwide safety. The Soviets devised a daring plan to airlift ICBMs into the huge and distant Soviet wilderness, thereby eliminating the necessity for rail strains and even roads. This might make it just about unattainable for spy planes to trace down missile websites hidden in over twelve million sq. kilometres of forests. However to make the plan work, the Soviets would wish to construct a helicopter with at the least twice the lifting energy of the Mi-6.
Design research for the brand new huge helicopter started in 1959, with the Soviet Council of Ministers formally approving growth in 1962. However growth of such an formidable helicopter would progress slowly, as numerous configurations (single rotor, tandem and transverse) have been examined. Development of testing-rigs, transmission programs and mock-ups started in 1963, and building of the primary prototype began in 1965. The brand new prototype could be designated because the Mil V-12 (with plans to designate the manufacturing model as Mil Mi-12). The primary take a look at flight in 1967 led to failure because the V-12 crashed and sustained minor injury as a result of oscillations brought on by management issues. A second take a look at flight a yr later proved the helicopter’s airworthiness.
The V-12 would go on to interrupt quite a few world data for lifting capability, nevertheless it’s destiny had already been sealed by a quickly altering strategic scenario. The introduction of spy satellites, and the event of latest lighter and cellular ICBMs made hiding nuclear missiles strategically irrelevant.
In 1970, the Soviet Air Power refused to simply accept the V-12 into state acceptance trials, as a result of a scarcity of want. Though a second V-12 prototype could be constructed in 1972, there have been just too few eventualities that may require such a big and sophisticated helicopter. In 1974 growth of the V-12 was cancelled and the Mil Design Bureau shifted efforts to designing the Mil Mi-26, the most important helicopter to enter service.
