Heaviest helicopter ever flown

What to remember

On 10 July 1968, a Soviet helicopter made its first flight: the Mil V-12, with a maximum take-off mass of 105 t. It is the largest helicopter ever built.

Its layout is distinctive: two 35 m (115 ft) contra-rotating rotors, mounted at the ends of side booms, remove the need for a tail rotor. Its engines, two pairs of turbine engines, came from the Mil Mi-6, already one of the largest transport helicopters with a single rotor of that size.

Only 2 prototypes were built. The project number was Izdeliye 65, and NATO gave it the reporting name Homer. The designation Mi-12 was meant for a production helicopter and did not apply to the V-12 prototypes.