Customer Reviews

Mil Mi-24 Hind Gunship (New Vanguard)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Disappointed with the lack of details in this book. Osprey is usually better than this. Still quite glad I bought it, if you did not know anything about the hind then it would be a good starter.

This book is typical Osprey: easily digestible text with just the right amount of technical details as well as great photos and impressive artwork that will please the modeler and the aviation buff. It does just an OK job covering the HINDs history, however, so check out the somewhat dated but excellent Mil Mi-24 Hind Attack Helicopter if you want the most complete historical detail. Much appreciated in this Osprey volume are very up-to-date sections on the Russian's use of the HIND in Afghanistan, Chechnya 1-2, and Georgia as well as broad-brush anecdotes on their combat use by other countries. This book's only real faults are it's rather abrupt ending (for a second, I thought I was missing some pages at the end!) and lack of a bibliography. I found the latter most disappointing as I usually like to check out any readily available primary sources.

The Mi-24 was a battlefiend helicopter; it was bigger than equivalent American choppers (such as the Huey). This helicopter could carry up to 8 soldiers and had anti-tank capability. Indeed, the Hind apparently is still used by 60, countries and has shown considerable longevity as a weapon.

Its history began in the 1960s, as the Soviet Union looked to develop a "battlefield helicopter." It actually entered service in 1970. The book goes on to describe the variety of Hinds as the helicopter evolved over time. There is also discussion of its use in actual battle, including Afghanistan and elsewhere. Attrition was pretty high in Afghanistan, especially after American-made Stingers (shoulder launched surface to air missiles) were supplied to the Afghan rebels.

Very nice--albeit brief--introduction to this heavy duty battlefield helicopter.

It's a good book, but i didn't like the drawings and profiles. They are too much 3D for me, too dark, and have some details miss.

As a Stinger gunner in the 1980s I was trained to respect this awesome helo. Armor protection, a wide spectrum of weapons and even the possibility of airlanding ground troops... it made for a pretty dangerous aircraft. On top of that, the Soviets experiences with Stinger in Afghanistan meant that you had to plan your shot REALLY carefully.

Now on to this book. I liked that it discussed the background on the design process and looked at a Kamov design as a possible competitor (even though the prototype didn't look nearly as capable) and saw a lot of good material discussing the evolution from the "greenhouse" cockpit to the bubbles. Very good material. However, the book seemed to taper off a little towards the end. Osprey books tend to pack a lot of information in a slim volume but this one seemed to fall short a little bit. Nevertheless, a fine book and one that includes some great photos and artwork.

Alexander Mladenov's MIL MI-24 HIND GUNSHIP provides a fine survey of another Cold War fighting machine: this being the first Soviet helicopter to function as both a gunship and an assault transport. Its experiences in Afghanistan and its use around the world is documented by an expert on the Hind.

Here in Brazil, I read this good book. This book is about the Mi-24. This Soviet/Russian attack helicopter first flew in 1969, many years before the Apache helicopter and is the most produced and used attack helicopter, in human history. Mi-24 has been involved in dozens of wars and guerrillas, and has seen amazing success, in many climates and all situations. Even Brazil, is now using mi-35, just another name for the modern mi-24.
This book has many good things:
1- Its photos are many and all are first class photos. All photos have color.
2- This book has first class shape and paper.
3- The text is very easy to understand.
4- This book was published in 2010 and isn't outdated about the Mi-24.

About the text itself, I think that I wanted more text. This book isn't enough long about this subjet. As an example of this fact, the role of mi-24 in wars isn't well covered and there's nothing about the Mi-28 and Ka-50 attack helicopters designed to replace the mi-24 and why they couldn't replace the mi-24, even in Russian Army. Such as the ak-47, the Mi-24 is a genius' work. More than 60 countries and organizations are now using the mi-24 and this after almost fifty years Mi-24 first flight, in 1969. About Mi-24 mechanics, the pages 18 and 19 have mechanics, but I wanted more mechanical details about the Mi-24.