Soviet 'B-29' Monino airfield

**paragon man** · 02-26-2012, 12:41 AM

I took this photo in 1994 of one of the Soviet copies of the B-29 at the Monino airfield. Sorry for the poor photo

**Woolgar** · 02-26-2012, 12:43 PM

What is that crazy looking aircraft with the rotar blades??

Nick

**big ned** · 02-26-2012, 01:17 PM

by Stickgrenade

What is that crazy looking aircraft with the rotar blades??

Nick

Hi Nick,

It's the largest helicopter ever built, a massive aircraft developed in the Soviet Union during the 1960s called the Mil V-12. The V-12 was a rather unusual test vehicle that featured two rotors mounted side by side at the ends of a large wing. Each rotor had a diameter of nearly 115 ft. The helicopter was so enormous that the distance from the edge of one rotor disk to the other was almost 220 ft, even wider across than the wingspan of a Boeing 747!

The fully loaded take off weight was 105 tonnes, it could carry 25 tonne in VTOL mode, or 30 tonne in STOL. In 1969 it set the world record for load carried by a helo, 40.2 tonnes!

Only 2 were ever built as the helicopter was deemed too difficult to fly by service personell. Both are still extant, one at Monino and the other at the Kamov factory in Moscow.

Regards, Ned.