Mil Mi-8 ‘Hip’: A Helicopter that should be as Famous as the UH-1 Huey
A Biography of the World’s Second Most Produced Helicopter. Paywall free link below!
Although tougher to master and less graceful in bearing than fixed wing airplanes, helicopters comfortably hold their own in the public perception and popular culture. The Bell H-13 Sioux scout won recognition as an aerial ambulance in the Korean War drama MASH. The brutish Mi-24 attack helicopter has played both the villain and saviour aircraft in films and video games like 9th Company, Blood Diamond, Charlie Wilson’s War and Metal Gear Solid. Utility helicopters — aerial buses employed for infantry transport, supply and medevac are exemplified by the Bell UH-1 Huey and Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk owing to their participation in the Vietnam War and the USA’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is another utility helicopter that has somehow been overlooked by the Average Joe despite its worldwide acceptance in military and civilian applications: the Soviet designed Mil Mi-8 ‘Hip’.
