By me All photos me too, copyrighted It seems to be a rule of nature that every former Yugoslav airbase still in use today has a few hidden gems with which to tempt the photo finger – even among the locals who were used to seeing them on a regular basis. Croatia’s Zagreb (ZAG/LDZA) has …
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- Though it looks like the result of a three-way between a Gazelle, MD-500 and JetRanger, the Mi-34 does have a certain (if brutish) elegance. Though the rear cabin doors seem small, the interior is pretty spacious – though it does suffer from a lack of glazing compared to most Western helicopters.
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- Though it doesn’t look quite right, the absence of blades at least shows well the construction details of the -34’s main rotor head. While not the most sophisticated or efficient rotor system around, the semi-articulated setup (also used on the Gazelle) combines low weight, simplicity of production and easy maintenance with light, crisp and fast control feel and response – exactly what you need when you don’t plan on doing much flying in a straight line.
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- The MD500-style rear end is pretty conventional as well, with the transmission for the tail rotor running atop the tail boom and enclosed within a protective fairing – a pretty common solution on most helicopters (interestingly, on the R-44 – the most similar machine out there – the transmission is fully enclosed in the boom itself). A detail that can hardly escape the eye is the prong sticking out of the fin, which actually houses the rear navigation light.
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- The most distinctive visual feature of the Mi-34, the engine cowl gives hint at the type of engine hiding behind it. While placing such a large and heavy mass immediately behind the rear seats did wonders for the Hermit’s dynamic behavior, it had made life on board pretty grim, with reports of high noise and vibration levels that were on par with early generation helicopters.
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- A peek under the hood nicely shows the unusual positioning of the engine – sideways and at a slight angle, which must not have been very popular with maintenance staff. Apart from reducing unwanted moments to a minimum, this approach also allowed for better cooling of the engine – especially during aerobatics and hover – by exposing its entire frontal area to the sideways flow of air through the cowl. This was further assisted by a large cooling fan, one of whose blades can be seen between the oil cooler and No. 2 magneto (the two right-most silver cylinders).
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- A small, but significant clue that -3601’s history is not really straightforward… chocked full of stuff (most of it its own), the whole helicopter has been officially sealed until its status in the military can be clarified…
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- Part of this status is reflected even in its military code, with VF standing for “Vojska Federacije” – or the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of several military entities operating in the country following the 90s civil war. All of these entities would merge together in the early 2000s, leading to some… complicated and legally unusual situations, such as this one.
