@ Madrid, Spain
May 2014
Among the aircraft displayed at the excellent Museo del Aire outside Madrid is this innocuous looking Mi-2 Hoplite. This was the first turbine powered Soviet helicopter, redundancy mandated a second engine which added to the bulk above the cabin. First flown in 1961, the Mi-2 was developed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, and produced exclusively by WSK “PZL-Świdnik” in Poland. PZL-Świdnik would produce a total of 5,497 helicopters (1965-1998), about a third for military customers. The Mi-2 is considered a workhorse, with uses in crop dusting, medevac, military ops & cargo. North Korea still maintains a large active fleet of Mi-2s.
