Mil Mi-2

The Mil Mi-2, NATO reporting name Hoplite, is a light twin-turbine multipurpose helicopter designed by the Mil Design Bureau in the Soviet Union to replace the piston-engined Mi-1. The first prototype flew in September 1961. It is a single-pilot machine with a three-bladed main rotor and a two-bladed tail rotor, and it carries up to eight passengers, light freight, or two stretchers with an attendant, and it can also be fitted with rocket pods, gun pods, mine dispensers or a smoke generator. After a 1964 agreement, development and series production passed to Poland, where the PZL company at Swidnik began building it two years later. Several thousand were produced, and by 2005 more than 1,500 were still flying in many parts of the world.