
Okay folks, I have a real treat for you. Today, I was driving down the road visiting family, and I was passing by the Dallas Air Park airport, which is a private airfield smack-dab in the middle of western Plano, TX. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw an unfamiliar helicopter sitting on the airfield. I kept looking at it as we were driving by, and I was saying to myself that this ain't no US helicopter I've ever seen, particularly a military one. Then I got a length-wise profile view of it, and saw the armament wings on either side, and I KNEW this had to be a Soviet Hind Helicopter! This is (or was) the premiere ground attack helicopter of the Soviet Union, and I believe some variants still in service with the Russian military. It's a phenomenal aircraft, because it carries a ton of armaments AND it can a squad of troops into combat as well. Here are the specs on this helicopter, which they call a Bord 118 (I guess this may be from Bulgaria, it's hard to tell): General characteristics Crew: 3 (pilot, weapons system officer and technician) Capacity: 8 troops or 4 stretchers Length: 17.5 m (57 ft 4 in) Rotor diameter: 17.3 m (56 ft 7 in) Height: 6.5 m (21 ft 3 in) Disc area: 235 m² (2530 ft²) Empty weight: 8500 kg (18740 lb) Max takeoff weight: 12000 kg (26500 lb) Powerplant: 2× Isotov TV3-117 turbines, 1600 kW (2200 hp) each Wingspan: 6.5 m (21 ft 3 in) [edit] Performance Maximum speed: 335 km/h (208 mph) Range: 450 km (280 miles) Service ceiling: 4500 m (14750 <b>...</b>
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