CIA Mi-8 Hip

Me too, me too!!

There was a story about the Northern Alliance turned one of these they'd captured into a bus (really)  and ran it up and down the road in Northern Afganistan. Forced out of the valley, it was recaptured by the Soviets, who sent some senior staff out to look at it. Blew up when they opened the door.

Might interest the Auto guys too?

  Wow one more cool pic! Thanks

 Do you think those supressors are modifyed Super Cobra's or something absolutley new?

 Andy

  While trying to find pics of Israeli Hip (which I was not able to find BTW)

I have found another shot of CIA Hip))))))

its on the background here

 Andy

I do have to laugh, at least a little bit.  It seems a little weird, but I can understand the need to blend in.  I guess if it's not an old Soviet helicopter it's a plain white Toyota pickup truck.  I can certainly respect the old Hip. 

GO GO SECRET SQUIRRELS   

Semper Fi,

Chris

Chris:

You are correct. I was in Kuwait in April 2003 and talked to some of those folks. This person said you were less likely to get shot at in this aircraft. They also had a 412 and you could see a few Hughes birds in Baghdad later on. The markings on the side were to help id them to American forces. They wanted to blend in but not too much.

Ed

Thats almost exactly what it says in the article!

   + there are also some other factors

   Hip has a higher operational ceiling (which is very important in montain terrain), twice larger troop copacity and cargo bay volume then Black Hawk.

Andy

ridleusmc wrote:

Huh, Why Hips?  CIA doesn't care to buy American?  Are they fooling anybody?  Weird things are done by the... Secret Squirels. Semper Fi, Chris

The supply route for parts may be easier to maintain in the areas of the world they operate in. The ex-Soviet stuff seems pretty prolific over there, including surplus. Maybe they're trying to avoid the questions and paper trail involved when a box labeled "Sikorsky" is sent to whatever "-stan" they are operating in. Also, I don't know if the intent is to fool anybody, rather than just using an airframe that is somewhat more indigenous to the country. Rumbling along in a blackhawk would just be a dead giveaway. Maybe the Hips are meant to blend in more.

Andy

Huh, Why Hips?  CIA doesn't care to buy American?  Are they fooling anybody?  Weird things are done by the... Secret Squirels.

Semper Fi,

Chris

Hey Empeter, cool pics of the Hip... were they taken at Balad?  The HAS shelters in the background looked familiar, arranged parallel to the other runway in the background of the shot.  I saw several Hips flying around, near the 160th bubbas while I was over there earlier this year.  Also saw one up close when it stopped in at Robert Gray Army Airfield here at Ft. Hood last year... larger than I thought they'd be, but very sturdy-looking.  They would definitely make a nice-looking model in 1/48.

Semper Fi,

Brian

Looks like dual -144s and a bat-wing SATCOM antenna on the top of the tailboom.  Cool stuff indeed!

Jon 

   Yesterday got a new International Air Power Review vol21 and there is a huge article on Mi-8/17 helicopters. Some very interesting info and a lot of photos including some more CIA Hip pics

  Here is the scanned copy of one of the pages.

According to that article IRSignature supressors were installed only in Iraq

Andy

  The only photo I had before Empeter post was this one from Jenuary issue of AFM

 Note that back doors are OFF on these birds! That would look cool on model - full interior is exposed.

Andy

Hi Andy,

Have a look at this pic. Not a close up but might give you ideas of the paint scheme.

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww3/v/40/3/0

Good luck,

Rich

intruder_bass wrote:

According to AFM there are at least 6 Hips with CIA service. This is one of them for sure!

Looks like dual ALQ-144's on the tailboom underside?

Nice..........now if only we had a nice 1/48 kit of the Hip 

--Andy

   Oh wow! Thanks for these pics!

According to AFM there are at least 6 Hips with CIA service. This is one of them for sure!

The most interesting thing about those Hips is the "unknown" design of Infrared Suppression Cool Air Mixers! Thats why I am trying locate some more photos of them.

  Please let me know if you happen to see any other pics of it!

 Thanks a lot!

Andy

I thought I had pictures of it, but they are of N25299.