Mil V-12: The Biggest One

How huge can a helicopter actually get? Bigger than you thought, rivaling jet airliners, but barely staying recognisable as a horribly overgrown helicopter to the untrained eye. The pre-Cold War Soviet Union's Mil V-12 project was built as a transporter with a range of 621 miles with a carrying capacity of one 196 passengers, or a massive amount of military goods, and it made its first flight in 1968, right before the entire project was scrapped. The largest helicopter ever built is still unrivaled, weighing well over 76 US tons and capable of flying at 150 mph.

Only 220 feet wide separated each of the rotors. The terrifying twin rotor whirlybird dwarfed many planes, looking like a huge tube with long, airplane-like wings that were each capped with enormous rotor blades. At the Paris Airshow in 1971, the Soviet Union displayed the "monster," which astounded onlookers who saw a helicopter with rotors and vertical takeoff and landing capabilities fused with an airliner's appearance.

The necessity to more effectively transport massive missiles to distant missile launch locations away from the view of Western spy planes was one of the driving forces behind the remarkable Soviet helicopter development work. Huge helicopters might fly over locations that trains were unable to reach due to their slowness.

Role; Heavy lift helicopter
Manufacturer: Mil Design Bureau
First flight: (27 June 1967 – unsuccessful hop)10 July 1968 – first successful flight
Status: Prototypes tested, cancelled
Primary user: Soviet Union
Number built: 2