Mil Mi-4 - WikiHQ

The Mil Mi-4 (USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 36", NATO reporting name "Hound") is a Soviet transport helicopter that served in both military and civilian roles.

Design and development

The Mi-4 was designed in response to the American H-19 Chickasaw and the deployment of U.S. helicopters during the Korean War. While the Mi-4 strongly resembles the H-19 Chickasaw in general layout, including the innovative engine position in front of the cockpit, it is a larger helicopter, able to lift more weight and built in larger numbers. The first model entered service in 1953. The helicopter was first displayed to the outside world in 1952 at the Soviet Aviation Day in Tushino Airfield.

Operational history

The Mi-4 transport helicopter laid the groundwork of Soviet Army Aviation. It was widely used both in the armed forces and in Soviet civil aviation, and for several decades remained the main type of helicopter in the inventory of the Soviet Armed Forces and of the Civil Air Fleet. The Mi-4 went out of service with the development of the Mi-8. It is no longer used by the Russian Air Force, though it remained in service in some countries as a utility helicopter or as a military transport a while longer. Albania was thought to be the final country using the helicopter, and by 2005 all were out of service. The Mi-4 played a very important role in the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971. The Mi-4 was the workhorse of the Indian Air Force covering the medium lift role at the time. A highly successful heli-borne operation, the Meghna Heli Bridge, using Mi-4s helped the Indian Army's 57 Mountain Division clear the Meghna River. The helilift of a battalion of Indian troops to the outskirts of Sylhet was the first heli-borne operation of the Indian army.

Much like the UH-1 Huey, after it was gradually phased out of military service, it was used in various domestic roles: search and rescue, firefighting, polar expeditioning, construction site cargo helicopter, commercial flights and many others.

An official video of a North Korean Air Force combat flying skills competition released in 2014 shows that the Mi-4 is still in limited service in North Korea.

Variants

;V-12

:Prototype. Designation reused for the Mi-12.

;Mi-4 (NATO – Hound-A)

:Basic production version.

;Mi-4A

:Assault transport helicopter.

;Mi-4AV

:Armed versions based on the Mi-4A. V for Vooruzhenniy (Armed). Mi-4A with additional armament. Modification of 1967 had weapons complex K-4V, included four 9М17М ATGM "Phalanga" and 96 57-mm NAR S-5M in six blocks UB-16-57U (or six 100-kg bombs or four 250-kg bombs or tanks with an incendiary substance); 185 helicopters were converted to Mi-4AV.

;Mi-4GF

:Factory designation for demilitarised Mi-4 for use in the Civil Air Fleet.

;Mi-4L Lyukes

:Six-seat VIP transport version, sometimes converted into an air ambulance helicopter.

;Mi-4VL

:Fire-fighting version of Mi-4L.

;Mi-4M (NATO – Hound-C)

:Anti-submarine warfare helicopter with searching radar station SPRS-1 ("Kurs-M"), hydroacoustic station "Baku", additional fuel tank and rescue boat with operator in under-fuselage gun turret.

;Mi-4ME

:Export modification of Mi-4M.

;Mi-4MR

:Upgraded version of Mi-4VM with the searching radar station "Rubin-V" instead of "Kurs-M".

thumb|right|MI-4 in Riga aviation museum

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Albanian Air Force - Seven Mi-4As were acquired from the Soviet Union between 1957 and 1958. One was lost in an accident. After diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union were severed, the Albanians received the Z-5, an identical model.

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Algerian Air Force

; People's Republic of Bulgaria

Bulgarian Air Force

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Cambodian Air Force

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People's Liberation Army Air Force
Revolutionary Armed Forces
East German Navy
Lufthansa

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Indian Air Force

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Indonesian Air Force

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Iraqi Air Force

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Lao People's Liberation Army Air Force

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Mongolian Air Force

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North Korean Air Force

; Polish People's Republic

Polish Air Force
Polish Navy

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Aeroflot
Soviet Air Force

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Sudanese Air Force

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Vietnam People's Air Force