Archive for Military Aviation
“Letayushiy tank”, or in English “Flying tank”. That is what the Russians call the Mil Mi-24/35 Hind E. The Mi-35 is the export version of the Mi-24V, a development of the Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter. The Hind is one of the iconic attack helicopters, easily recognizable anywhere in the world. In comparison to other attack helicopters, this mean machine is huge. It can transport troops, carry military equipment with a sling and , of course, eliminate those unwanted rebels with its massive arsenal of guns missiles and so on. And a final word… in Afghanistan the rebels nicknamed this helicopter “Shaitan-Arba”… meaning “Satan’s Chariot”. Quite a nickname!
Skyfighters is the English title given to the French movie “Les chevaliers du ciel”. The film was marketed as the French Top Gun and I don’t think it was a blockbuster mainly due to the ridiculous plot. The film was however very impressive under one aspect and that is the aerial footage, probably some of the best shots of the Dassault Mirage 2000 ever. If you didn’t see this film this is your chance to see the best 12 minutes of it: the planes. The flight sequences from the film were all filmed with actual planes and aerial photography, without the use of CGI. In order to capture the high-speed maneuvers, a specially designed camera was attached to a Mirage 2000 aircraft which then tailed the ‘star planes’ as they flew, for only another Mirage 2000 could actually fly at speeds that matched the planes being filmed.









