Sheer Versatility

The pictures and drawings on this page summarize the amazing diversity of the range of helicopters that have been put into use by Aeroflot, ranging from the diminutive 20- foot-long Kamov Ka-18 to the 108-foot-long Mil Mi-10, They can carry everything, from band-aids to buses, paramedics to pipelines. They have — unlike their opposite numbers in the West — taken their place alongside the fixed-wing aircraft, wherever they are needed, for carrying people from inaccessible villages, where even the Antonov An-2 dares not land (i. e. cliff faces or swamps), and for haul­ing large and ungainly cargoes like transmission towers for electric power lines. With these fine aircraft, the helicopter design bureaux of the Soviet Union have secured their place in aeronautical development history.

(Top right) A Kamov Ka-25K (SSSSR-21110). (J. M.G. Gradidge via John Stroud) (Right) A Mil Mi-10 transports an electricity transmission tower.

A large percentage of the nationwide high-tension electricity powerline grid of the Soviet Union was constructed with the help of flying cranes.

(V. Grebnev) (Top left) The Mil МІ-26Т, developed from the Mi-6, with more powerful engines to drive and eight-bladed rotor, is the champion heavy – lifter, able to lift vertically a load of twenty tons. (R. E.G. Davies) (Bottom left) A Kamov Ka-26 (SSSR-19S29) on ambulance duty. (V. Grebnev)