07297 MIL MI-3 SOVIET AMBULANCE HELICOPTER

The Mil Mi-3 was a prototype, medium, sanitary helicopter designed by the Mil Design Bureau in 1954. The machine had a full metal, half-shell structure with a fixed undercarriage, in a classic arrangement with a main rotor and a tail rotor on the beam. The length of the helicopter was 12.1 meters, and the maximum take-off weight did not exceed 2,500 kilograms. The Mi-3 helicopter was developed on the basis of the Mi-1A machine for the needs of the Soviet Army, which in the mid-1950s aimed at acquiring a specialized sanitary helicopter. Compared to its prototype, it had a different, four-bladed main rotor, a modified cockpit structure and closed capsules on the hull sides for transporting the wounded. Ultimately, however, the new helicopter did not enter production due to the inability to obtain production capacity for the new main rotor. It is worth adding that some design solutions were used in the Mil Mi-1M machine.