Mil Mi-24A Krokodil

[Pathetic_Berserker]

Thanks to the generous kickstart from EricM and Rock I finaly gathered the courage to stop trawling for references and start working on the first incarnation of what we know as the Hind.

Already there has bee a great deal of swearing and spitting as I try to deal with nothing but photos and badly drawn schematics, but finaly think I have something to show.

Almost finished roughing in the cockpit, just the ATM optical and cabling around the glass house canopy to do



After that its a few (easier) tweaks to the fuselage, and then textures. I was suprised to find the 'A' variant had actualy seen fair bit of combat action with a number of operators so I'm yet to decide on whether to go for full retextures or a roundel system.

[topas]

Haha, Red Dawn comes immediately to my mind seeing this.
At the same time I'm very happy to see someone finally took it up, this will make a great addition to the game!

btw; what's the official number on A-operators? I could list no more than few if someone asked me.. Etiopia/Kambodia... hmm..

[namman2]

you are talking about this wierd looking hind http://www.aviastar.org/foto/gallery/mil/mi-24a-s.gif ?
i cant wait to see it finished
keep up the good work

[topas]

Yes, and what i was referring to was a redressed Puma helicopter I believe -> Red Dawn caption

[RobertHammer]

OMG - finally i see someone is making this "beast" hind - its really cool
(i like it from MGS 3 or MGS PW )
http://media.photobucket.com/image/M...g?t=1257554772

[Dr. Horrible]

ROFL. Back in OFP days I once kitbashed the wings of some Hind addon with a Puma addon to get the "Rambo" helicopter

More pictures:

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircra...pters/Mi24.jpg

http://www.red-stars.org/IMG/jpg/Mi-24_Hind-A.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...i-24A_Hind.jpg

These thing were actually deployed quite often by the Vietnamese.

[Pathetic_Berserker]

btw; what's the official number on A-operators? I could list no more than few if someone asked me.. Etiopia/Kambodia... hmm..

Damn good question, I havn't even been able to find an official date for the Hind-D, its successor, entering service only a vague reference circa 1980. To say that the Hind-A was in production for almost 10 years (1970-1980) seems a bit of a stretch, but then again the Hind was a little known beast before the Afgan conflict started in 1979. Hopfully there may someone out there who can shed a bit more light.

However I read and/or have pictorial evidence that it served with North Vietnam vs Cambodia, with Ethiopia vs Somalia, and with Libya vs Chad, I havn't found anything conclusive but I expect that it also served in the early days of the Afgan conflict and quite possibly in the Rhodesian Bush Wars conflict as Cuban aid for Angola.

[Soul_Assassin]

First test Mi24A lifted off in september '69.
First serial Mi24A in service by 71~72.
Work on the 24D variant with new cabin began in '71.
First five serial helicopters made in Arsen'jevo in 1973.
Full production by 1974.
Mi24V testing finished by november 1975.

Source: Bojevoj Vertoljet Mi-24, S. Moroz and I. Prihodchenko, Exprint publishing, Moscow, 2005

[wolfbite]

Nice to see this being made :P Apparantly they quickly moved on from this cockpit set up because of the poor field of view for the pilots and copg's and because the flat glass created lots of reflections making it awkward to fly.. There were a few other reasons (Something with the gun) but I cannay remember them off the top of my head :P Any chance of doing an a with the flat wings and the falanga's on the hull? Great stuff man hope to see more soon.

[IceBreakr]

I've heard Molatia is using Hind-A *wink,wink*