Mi-4 and its modifications. First domestic military transport helicopter

This helicopter created by M.L. Mile in the early 1950s, became the first domestic military transport rotor car. The first combat mission set before the Mi-4 was the provision of the North Pole military ice stations, which were a kind of airfields of a jump for distant bombers. Having exactly the same layout as the Sikorsky S-55, the Mi-4 exceeded the American car with a carrying capacity by more than doubled: the spacious cargo accommodation accommodated one and a half tons of cargo or 12 fully equipped paratroopers (originally the car was even called VD-12-a landing helicopter for landing Twelve people) In addition, the Mi-4 became the first Soviet helicopter equipped with a cargo hatch in the rear of the fuselage with folding wings and a ladder. On the basis of Mi-4, a search and rescue, anti-submarine, sanitary and passenger options were created. The machine was widely used as a shock helicopter, the command post of the ground forces, the air crane and in exploration. The helicopter left a noticeable mark when servicing the deposits of Siberia, the construction of the BAM, laying the highways and gas pipelines. He could be seen in the sky of the countries of Africa, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Egypt, Cuba, China, Finland. It was the Mi-4 that was the main transport-landing helicopter of the Armed Forces of the Organization of the Warsaw Treaty.
The new book of the leading historian of aviation for the first time in all details talks about the creation, design, production and operation of the legendary Mi-4, which has served almost 35 years-until the beginning of the 1980s.
The publication is illustrated by many photos