Mil Mi-12

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Mi-12 Homer

Mil Mi-12
Type	Heavy lift helicopter
Manufacturer	Mil Design Bureau
Maiden flight	10 July 1968
Status	Prototype only
Primary user	Soviet Union
Number built	2
Developed from	Mil Mi-6

Mil Mi-12 (behind a T-10, prototype of Su-27)

The Soviet made Mil Mi-12 (Also known as the W-12, NATO reporting name Homer) is the largest helicopter ever built.

The MI-12 feaures the only two-rotor transverse scheme ever built by Mil eliminating the need for a tail rotor. The twin engines were taken together with the rotors from the Mil Mi-6 and duplicated on the Mi-12.

Production began on the Mi-12 prototype in 1965 with the goal of lifting no less than 30,000kg, and it flew first on July 10, 1968. In February 1969, the Prototype lifted a 31,030kg payload to 2.91m. On August 6th 1969, the Mi-12 lifted 44,205kg (88,636 lb) to a height of 2,255m (7,398 feet), a world record.

Another Mi-12 with the registration number CCCP-21142 / H-833 was built and shown around Europe including at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget in 1971. Despite this, the helicopter did not meet its design specifications and the program was cancelled with only two aircraft built.

Some sources mention a third MI-12 prototype, which crashed during testing, but this has never been confirmed by official sources.

One of the remaining Mi-12 is on display at the Monino Air Force Museum in Russia (50km east of Moscow). The other is reportedly at the Michail Leontjewitsch Mil helicopter plant in Lyubertsy-Panki near Moscow. (as of Aug. 2006)