This Day in Aviation History
August 6th, 1969
A Soviet Mil V-12, the largest helicopter ever built, lifts  40,205.5 kg (88,636 lb.) to a height of 2,255 m (7,400 ft.).
 
The Mil V-12 (NATO reporting name Homer), given the project number Izdeliye 65, is the largest helicopter ever built. The designation “Mi-12” would have been the name for the production helicopter, and was not applied to the V-12 prototypes.
 
Design studies for a giant helicopter were started at the Mil OKB in 1959, receiving official sanction in 1961 by the GKAT (Gosudarstvenny Komitet Po Aviatsionnoy Tekhnike – “state committee on aircraft technology”) instructing Mil to develop a helicopter capable of lifting 20 to 25 t (44,000 to 55,000 lb). The GKAT directive was followed by a more detailed specification for the V-12 with hold dimensions similar to the Antonov An-22, intended to lift major items of combat materiel as well as 8K67, 8K75 and 8K82 inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM).
 
Design limitations forced Mil to adopt a twin rotor system but design studies of a tandem layout, similar to the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, revealed major problems. The single rotor layouts also studied proved to be non-viable, leading to the transverse layout chosen for the finished article….
 
Source:
Wikipedia, Mil V-12:  http://gstv.us/1NaTltL
 
YouTube, Mil V-12/Mi-12 NATO Code: Homer:  http://gstv.us/1NaTk9b
 
Don’t forget to +1, Comment and Share!
For more aviation history posts like this, please follow Gazing Skyward TV’s This Day in Aviation History collection. http://gstv.us/AvHistoryCollection
 
Photo from:  http://gstv.us/1NaTE7T
#avgeek #aviation #history #Soviet #russia #military #helicopter #MilV12 #fb