Mil Mi-1 - WikiHQ

The Mil Mi-1 (USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 32", NATO reporting name "Hare") is a Soviet three- or four-seat light utility helicopter. It was the first Soviet helicopter to enter serial production. It is powered by one Ivchenko AI-26V radial piston engine. It entered service in 1950 and was first seen on the 1951 Soviet Aviation Day, Tushino and was produced for 16 years. More than 1,000 were built in the USSR and 1,594 in Poland, as SM-1.

Development

Mikhail Mil began work on rotary-winged aircraft before 1930, but the Mi-1, his first production helicopter, was begun in 1946, under a designation EG-1. In 1947 Mil became a head of OKB-4 design bureau in Tushino, and works were intensified. A final design was named GM-1 (for Gyelikopter Mila, Mil's Helicopter). Soviet engineers tried to create a completely original design. So, they made a rotor hub with spaced vertical and horizontal hinges. This design increased the efficiency of helicopter control and was much simpler than that used on American helicopters. The prototype completed first free flight on 20 September 1948 (pilot Mikhail Baikalov). the design was an overall success, and after further work, was ordered for a production, under a new designation Mi-1, for Mil initials. The production was initially limited — the first series of only 15 machines was ordered on 21 February 1950, in factory No.3 in Moscow. Only after presentation to Joseph Stalin in 1951, the authorities decided to increase production. In 1952–1953, 30 Mi-1 were manufactured in Kazan, and from 1954 a mass production started in Orenburg and from 1956 in Rostov (current Rostvertol). The first production variant was Mi-1, quickly replaced by improved Mi-1T, that carried extra operational equipment including full radio and blind-flying instruments, and had a more reliable engine, the AI-26V. The next basic variant was the Mi-1A of 1957, with further increased reliability and provisions for one 160 L external fuel tank.

A new major variant, Mi-1M in 1957 introduced an enlarged cabin and the more powerful AI-26VF engine, which allowed the accommodation of three passengers on a bench behind the pilot. Cabin height increased from 1.22 to 1.26 m and width from 1.01 to 1.2 m. A noticeable difference was horizontal bottom windows line instead of slanted, with bigger rear side windows, and a less pointed fuselage nose. It could also be fitted with two external side capsules for the injured or mail. There were trials of an armed anti-tank variant Mi-1MU carried in 1961, being the first Soviet attack helicopter, but it did not enter production due to having a small payload and the cessation of production of the basic variant.

Well over 1,000 of all variants were built in the USSR, including a proportion of dual-control trainers (with U suffix): Mi-1U, TU, AU, MU, with the instructor seated behind a trainee. 15 were produced in Moscow in 1950, 30 in Kazan in 1952–1953, 597 in Orenburg in 1954–1958 and 370 in Rostov in 1956–1960. Several new versions were developed at Świdnik, including the SM-2 five-seater, with a new fuselage.

Several international records in its class were broken with the Mi-1 or SM-2.

Variants

thumb|Soviet Mil Mi-1M

;GM-1

:The original designation of the Mil Mi-1 prototypes, powered by a AI-26GR radial engine (later AI-26GRF).

;Mi-1

:Three-seat light general-purpose helicopter, seating a pilot and two passengers, powered by a AI-26GRF radial piston engine. Initial production model.

;Mi-1T

right|thumb|SM-1W (Polish produced Mi-1M)

:Three-seat general-purpose transport helicopter, seating a pilot and two passengers, powered by a AI-26V radial piston engine.

;Mi-1KR (TKR)

:Light reconnaissance and liaison helicopter of 1956, basing on Mi-1T.

Operators

; Afghanistan

Afghan Air Force

;

Albanian Air Force

;

Algerian Air Force

; Bulgaria

Bulgarian Air Force

;

Cuban Air Force

;

Czechoslovak Air Force

;

East German Air Force

;

Egyptian Air Force

;

Indonesian Air Force

;

Iraqi Air Force

;

Mongolian Air Force

thumb|Mi-1M with side capsules for the injured

;

North Korean Air Force

; Poland

Polish Air Force

; Socialist Republic of Romania

Romanian Air Force

;

Aeroflot
Soviet Air Force

;

UAR Air Force

;

Yemeni Air Force

Specifications (SM-1W)

400px|right|3-view line drawing of the Mil Mi-1

References

Grzegorzewski, Jerzy: Śmigłowiec Mi-1, Typy Broni i Uzbrojenia nr.38, MON, Warsaw, 1975
Mil

External links

Drawings of Mi-1 variants
Walkaround Mi-1 (Kiev's Aviation Museum, Ukraine)