Russian helicopter shot down (1 Viewer)

[McM]

DH do you know what brought the chopper down? That particular one is armored like a tank.

Mi-8? The Mi-24 'Hind' is known for its armor, but that's a attack helicopter with some transport capacity.
Mi-8 is a transporter, sometimes used as a light/medium attack unit (MGuns, rockets). Late models got some cockpit armor.

 

[DeathHand]

DH do you know what brought the chopper down? That particular one is armored like a tank.

The Russians don't know, but the rebel militants have indicated that it was brought down by 'ground gunfire': which could mean assault rifles or anti-aircraft guns or a combination of both.

In the 2nd Gulf War we saw US Black Hawks brought down by bolt action rifles and we know that those puppies are armoured to the tits. Small arms fire, or anti-aircraft guns can bring these Mi-8's down no problem...they just have to hit the weak spots which is probably in the rear tail section, rear rotors, and/or cockpit windows, etc. To me it seems that the tail rotor and stabilizers took major damage, although that could have been from impacting the ground. Sparing that - a direct hit/hits to the cockpit taking out the pilots.

What is known is that the chopper didn't break up in the air (like it would have if hit by a missle, heat-seeking tow, etc) but that it broke up once it hit the ground.

 

[DeathHand]

Mi-8? The Mi-24 'Hind' is known for its armor, but that's a attack helicopter with some transport capacity.
Mi-8 is a tansporter, sometimes used as a light/medium attack unit (MGuns, rockets). Late models got some cockpit armor.

From the photos and video, this Mi-8 seems to have been equipped with side missile pods. So now 'some' are wondering if the helicopter was actually returning from delivering aid to the people in Aleppo. I think it was, just that this one was outfitted more as a combat helicopter, which is probably what the rebels saw.

 

[DxC]

Video taken as the Russian crew member's body was turned over and dragged away.

The vid will open in a new window.

Set 4.
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What do you think is going on with the arms? Contraction from burns or rigor mortis? Seems too fresh for the latter (plus the shoulder movement), but I'm not sure about the time frame.

 

[McM]

From the photos and video, this Mi-8 seems to have been equipped with side missile pods. So now 'some' are wondering if the helicopter was actually returning from delivering aid to the people in Aleppo. I think it was, just that this one was outfitted more as a combat helicopter, which is probably what the rebels saw.

Mi-8 was armed like hell at times. Up to ~180 rockets in up to 6 launcher pods, lol. One version had a 12.5mm gunner between the pilots seats, even anti-tank equipment was used. Many variants.

 

[DeathHand]

What do you think is going on with the arms? Contraction from burns or rigor mortis? Seems too fresh for the latter (plus the shoulder movement), but I'm not sure about the time frame.

I might call it loose rigor mortis or rigor mortis just starting to settle in. I'm not sure about the time frame either - I don't think it was very long, a 20 mins to an hour tops, before the rebels got there. The body was more like a big piece of Play-Doh.

 

[DeathHand]

Mi-8 was armed like hell at times. Up to ~180 rockets in up to 6 launcher pods, lol. One version had a 12.5mm gunner between the pilots seats, even anti-tank equipment was used. Many variants.

Even on an aid mission - I wouldn't venture out in an unarmed, non-armoured helicopter in that region: ya know that someone has you scoped. But it seems that the missile pods (just one on each side of this heli) were empty...otherwise they probably would have exploded upon impact or from the burning fuel.

Like I was saying earlier, someone got lucky and hit a soft spot.

 

[McM]

Even on an aid mission - I wouldn't venture out in an unarmed, non-armoured helicopter in that region: ya know that someone has you scoped. But it seems that the missile pods (just one on each side of this heli) were empty...otherwise they probably would have exploded upon impact or from the burning fuel.

Usually they have two/three defensive medium MG gunners in the Mi-8. But who knows. If the rocket launcher was empty, maybe the gunners weren't present as well.

 

[OneSickOne]

Mi-8? The Mi-24 'Hind' is known for its armor, but that's a attack helicopter with some transport capacity.
Mi-8 is a transporter, sometimes used as a light/medium attack unit (MGuns, rockets). Late models got some cockpit armor.

The Russians don't know, but the rebel militants have indicated that it was brought down by 'ground gunfire': which could mean assault rifles or anti-aircraft guns or a combination of both.

In the 2nd Gulf War we saw US Black Hawks brought down by bolt action rifles and we know that those puppies are armoured to the tits. Small arms fire, or anti-aircraft guns can bring these Mi-8's down no problem...they just have to hit the weak spots which is probably in the rear tail section, rear rotors, and/or cockpit windows, etc. To me it seems that the tail rotor and stabilizers took major damage, although that could have been from impacting the ground. Sparing that - a direct hit/hits to the cockpit taking out the pilots.

What is known is that the chopper didn't break up in the air (like it would have if hit by a missle, heat-seeking tow, etc) but that it broke up once it hit the ground.

McM corrected me. I was thinking of the Hind. That thing is like a flying tank and I doubt a rifle is going to bring it down.

 

[DeathHand]

McM corrected me. I was thinking of the Hind. That thing is like a flying tank and I doubt a rifle is going to bring it down.

Perhaps not by a rifle...the one Blackhawk I remember was in Iraq and it was a few farmers that brought it down. Concentrated AK-47 fire could have done the trick as it did when rebels in Syria shot 2 pilots that had ejected from their disabled bomber and were parachuting to the ground: the rebels could barely even see the parachutes.

Failing that, probably an RPG, heat-guided missile (like what brought down the aforementioned Russian bomber) or good ol' anti-air craft guns. I'm kinda surprised that the rebels haven't stated what weapon/s they used and I haven't seen anything about how low the heli was flying or how close to the ground-fire it was.

As for the Russian Mi-24 Hind helicopter: they've got the armor as an attack gunship should but the right RPG shot or heat-seeker just has to hit a weak spot. This video is of a Hind that was brought down early last month over Palmya, Syria as it and another Hind were strafing ISIS positions. The Hind's rear rotor was blown off. Both pilots died in the crash.

 

[DeathHand]

Usually they have two/three defensive medium MG gunners in the Mi-8. But who knows. If the rocket launcher was empty, maybe the gunners weren't present as well.

I don't think they had any gunners on board. There were 2 pilots, only 1 other crew member (who was probably responsible for dumping out the aid crates or what they had) and 2 military officers who were probably observers.

 

[McM]

Perhaps not by a rifle...the one Blackhawk I remember was in Iraq and it was a few farmers that brought it down. Concentrated AK-47 fire could have done the trick as it did when rebels in Syria shot 2 pilots that had ejected from their disabled bomber and were parachuting to the ground: the rebels could barely even see the parachutes.

Failing that, probably an RPG, heat-guided missile (like what brought down the aforementioned Russian bomber) or good ol' anti-air craft guns. I'm kinda surprised that the rebels haven't stated what weapon/s they used and I haven't seen anything about how low the heli was flying or how close to the ground-fire it was.

As for the Russian Mi-24 Hind helicopter: they've got the armor as an attack gunship should but the right RPG shot or heat-seeker just has to hit a weak spot. This video is of a Hind that was brought down early last month over Palmya, Syria as it and another Hind were strafing ISIS positions. The Hind's rear rotor was blown off. Both pilots died in the crash.

'Hind' has a good armor, most at the cockpits. The front glass plate could withstand a 23mm cannon shot.
I had a maintenance job at the German airforce in '91 for half a year., they got the 'Hinds' and other Russian aircrafts from the East German Army at this time. Just for testing and exercises, they all got scrapped afterwards. Was very interesting there.
My job was only removing all the toxic stuff from the helis before the test pilots had their first flights. They were dirty like hell.

 

[DeathHand]

'Hind' has a good armor, most at the cockpits. The front glass plate could withstand a 23mm cannon shot.
I had a maintenance job at the German airforce in '91 for half a year., they got the 'Hinds' and other Russian aircrafts from the East German Army at this time. Just for testing and exercises, they all got scrapped afterwards. Was very interesting there.
My job was only removing all the toxic stuff from the helis before the test pilots had their first flights. They were dirty like hell.

My brother-in-law was in Germany around the same time. He was a a CF-18 mechanic and soon was moved to working on the Blackhawks that were stationed there.

 

[DeathHand]

'Hind' has a good armor, most at the cockpits. The front glass plate could withstand a 23mm cannon shot.
I had a maintenance job at the German airforce in '91 for half a year., they got the 'Hinds' and other Russian aircrafts from the East German Army at this time. Just for testing and exercises, they all got scrapped afterwards. Was very interesting there.
My job was only removing all the toxic stuff from the helis before the test pilots had their first flights. They were dirty like hell.

Armored or not, it seems that the Hind in the video I posted didn't stand a chance. It appears that it was hit twice before the third round (of whatever was being fired at it) found a weak spot and that was the rotor blade.

 

[McM]

Armored or not, it seems that the Hind in the video I posted didn't stand a chance. It appears that it was hit twice before the third round (of whatever was being fired at it) found a weak spot and that was the rotor blade.

Armor on aircrafts is always a 'relative armor' due the heavy weight, and rotor blades, propellers ad the air entrances from the jet-engines are the weakest spots, I think.
I remember reading about the Iljuschin IL-2 ground-attack aircraft in WW2, the German pilots called them 'concrete plane' due it's incredible steel armor. They had to attack this plane from a very short distance to get results, once they had their planes equipped with 30mm it became much better.

 

[DeathHand]

It was like the impenetrable German Tigers tanks of WW2...until that beast's soft spot became known.

My uncle fought in Normandy with the British during the D-Day phase and his squad was faced with a Tiger tank. They had taken out the several German troopers that accompanied the tank but weren't sure how to deal with this solid rolling piece of steel.

The tank had stopped, probably to check if any of their infantry were still alive and also to inspect the area for Brit or US fighters.

As my uncle said, they had seconds to decide their plan and it came down to one member of the squad mentioning a sticky bomb. The Tiger was still scanning the woods in front of it. One of the Brits gave up a sock, another guy reached the Tiger tank and scooped up a handful of grease from it's wheels/tracks/sprockets.

I don't know what explosive the sticky bomb contained but as 2 other squad members with a bazooka positioned themselves behind the Tiger, the same grease guy approached the tank again and slammed the stick bomb onto it.

It was a short fuse and my uncle said it made a "thud" sound when the sticky went off. He said they could hear the driver trying to shift gears, perhaps to reverse, but the Tiger was disabled. The bazooka team behind the tank then shot a round to the back of the Tiger, just below the mufflers. My uncle said that one made a loud "boom" as the round entered the tank, ignited the shells inside it and blew off the turret.

Everything has it's weak spot.