Author: Rainbow Kursk
Recently, the Libyan Government of National Unity attacked an air base controlled by the National Army led by General Haftar and seized a large amount of weaponry. And when the soldiers opened one of the large hangars, their eyes were stupid! It turned out that there was a Hangar full of Mi-24A "Hind" helicopter gunships.
The helicopters were purchased from the Soviet Union during the reign of Colonel Gaddafi. What is more interesting is that this Mi-24A is the earliest production type of the "female deer" family, and the nose is not the later famous "fly head compound eye" appearance, but more like the "flower room" type of transport helicopter.
This is the happy expression of the soldiers of the Government of National Unity when they found the helicopter gunships in this entire hangar. The "Essa" helicopter is the world's first special gunship developed on the basis of the Mi-8 "Hippo" transport helicopter. This is the ultimate in the Mi-24A helicopter. The Mi-24A not only has a nose like a transport helicopter, but also retains a huge troop transport cabin in the fuselage. This was mainly due to the fact that the designers at that time did not have a concept of what the helicopter gunship should look like, so it was designed as a transport helicopter equipped with missile weapons.
The hangar appears to contain not only helicopter gunships, but also a large number of auxiliary fuel tanks. However, these old-fashioned helicopter gunships are completely out of service and appear to have been abandoned here for a long time. Otherwise there are so many helicopter gunships, General Haftar's National Army will give the National Unity Government army a greater threat.
The Mi-24A helicopter gunship's iconic "flower room" nose, while the short-winged rockets and missiles have been similarly after the later Mi-24 series. The huge Mi-24A nose has a lot of wind resistance, so the pilot doesn't feel very good in use. Moreover, the firing range of the multi-barrel machine gun embedded in the nose was also limited, so this design never appeared again. However, the appearance of the Mi-24A flying from the front is the most evil of the various gunships at present, and there is no one!
Later Mi-24D helicopter gunships have been changed to "compound eye" nose, the cross-sectional area is smaller, and the streamlined version of the rear fuselage is better. This became the standard design of the "female deer" family in later generations, and the 4-barrel machine gun under the nose also adopted a rotating turret for better firepower maneuverability. So, looking back at the Mi-24A helicopter, it is not an armed helicopter at all, but a strong strike aircraft with a rotor, and this evaluation actually gives a large part to other Mi-24 helicopters.
Mi-24A helicopter, pay attention to the very characteristic nose.
Mi-24A helicopter, multi-barrel machine gun in this way directly protruded from the nose, there is no left or right shooting boundary.
The Mi-24A has not been equipped with troops for a long time, and although it has been exported, there are not many surviving people. So many Mi-24As can be found in libyan hangars, and if they can be sold to major aviation museums, then the Government of National Unity will definitely make a lot of money!
When Stallone was filming the "First Blood 3" movie, in order to be able to simulate the Mi-24A helicopter, he actually used a French "Jaguar" helicopter for modification, and the huge nose was not to mention a little bit of god!