This latest edition of the New Vanguard series is #171. For those that may be unaware, this series is one of my favorites in the Osprey catalogue as it covers the machinery of warfare. Those of us who like to model things find books like this to be excellent references.

The Mi-24 is a helo well known by all aviation enthusiasts. It is the most produced attack helicopter in the world with a total production of over 2,300 aircraft and more slowly coming off the production line. Unlike US and other NATO attack helos, the Hind was designed to be sort of a flying sturmovik, going in with the troops, guns blazing. It also is a troop carrying helo with room in the cabin for eight fully equipped soldiers.

Developed rather quickly as it used many of the components of the Mi-8 transport helo, the original Hind had the crew sitting side by side in a large forward greenhouse. This was the Hind A and in many ways a learning stage for developing the later variants. Crews were less than happy with the cockpit set up as much due to the lack of good armor as much as anything.

This quickly changed as Mil developed a new nose for the Mi-24 that had a heavily armored tub with the gunner in the nose and the pilot right behind up but elevated above him to provide better visibility. This is pretty much how the Hind is today. There have been improvements in much of the aircraft over the years with better armament and more reliable and accurate systems.

But much of the story of the Hind is the huge number of air forces with which it is and has been serving. The list is quite long and includes countries from Abkhazia to Zimbabwe. The aircraft has probably been involved in more wars and conflicts that just about any other in the last 30 years. In fact, much of the book covers these various regional conflicts.

Author Alexander Mladenov goes over the development and production of the Hind as well as the different variants. He also covers all the action in which the helo has been involved and I have to admit, it was more than I'd originally thought. Illustrator Ian Palmer adds his own art work and profiles to the goodly number of photos of the aircraft in both black and white and in color.

It all makes for an excellent look at this big Russian helo. A book I found particularly interesting and I know you will as well.

September 2010

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