Chernobyl Helos and pilots (Merged)

[Daysleeper]

I was having a look at the BBC's current stuff about Chernobyl and there is a picture of a contaminated helicopter with what looks like a pair of wings attached.
Was this an "early" example of the compound helicopter?


http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/in_pictures_chernobyl0s_silent_graveyards_/img/1.jpg

[Ian Corrigible]

This 'glow in the dark' bird is a Mi-6, which usually operated with the detachable wings fitted, esp. for long-range ops (unlike the Mi-10 crane). The 8-bladed Mi-26 successor did away with the need for cruise-lift wings (and the associated hover losses).

I/C

[Daysleeper]

Thanks, I'd never heard of it but aparently only 800 were built.:\

[Hidden Agenda]

Back in 2003 Mike Buckley, who was then on the Editorial Board of “The Log” (the BALPA Publication), was seeking details of those from our community who gave their lives in the aftermath of the events at Chernobyl in 1986.

I noted the following names were recorded on the Chernobyl.info web site:

HELICOPTER PILOTS, perished on October 02, 1986, over unit 4 of the Chornobyl NPP:

VOROBYOV Volodymyr Kostyantynovych (21.03.1956 - 02.10.1986)
YUNHKIND Oleksandr Yevhenovych (15.04.1958 - 02.10.1986)
KHRYSTYCH Leonid Ivanovych (28.02.1953 - 02.10.1986)
HANZHUK Mykola Oleksandrovych (26.06.1960 - 02.10.1986)

I also recall seeing an article in the press many years ago telling the story of a pilot who had spent many hours bombing the power station with concrete as part of the efforts to seal off the exposed radio active core. I posted the cutting over my desk for many months until the paper ‘browned’, and I can’t remember where I put it after I took it down. If my memory is correct he was in Seattle for the treatment of a cancer that was a consequence of his actions. Sadly he died shortly after commencing treatment.

I feel bad that I can’t remember his name (to my great embarrassment I have great difficulty in remembering non-English language names) as I think he does not deserve to be forgotten.

I remember thinking how brave this heli-pilot and his comrades were, and praying that I should never find myself in such a situation.

I would be grateful to anyone who can contribute the names, or links to the names, and perhaps the stories, of these heli-pilots who were at Chernnobyl and to my mind displayed bravery beyond measure.

I think that it would be a fitting tribute to honour their memory twenty years on - Lest They Be Forgotten!

[bellfest]

I found this link. It mentions a Sergie Volodin. I don't think he dumped the loads on them but it may help you out.
http://www.observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/o,,1738134,00.html
As a return favour, how do you post a link?:ugh:

[CARRAZONI]

THE NAME YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS ANATOLY CHERNYENKO HEROE OF THE SOVIET UNION, EFFECTIVELY, HE DIED IN SEATTLE AFTER BEING TREATED OF MULTIPLE CANCERS DUE TO HIS WORK OVER THE BURNT REACTOR; HE HAS A MONUMENT, I THINK THE ONLY ONE OUTSIDE RUSSIA, IN THE MILITARY HELICOPTER SCHOOL OF THE SPANISH AIR FORCE "EJERCITO DEL AIRE" IN ARMILLA AFB , GRANADA, SPAIN. THE MONUMENT WAS ERECTED 10 YEARS AGO AND REMODELED 5 YEARS AFTER THANKS TO THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT.
I HOPE TO HAVE HELPED YOU.

[Hidden Agenda]

Thank you bellfest & CARRAZONI.

The following as an excerpt from the ‘Guardian’ article by Adam Higginbotham:
“(Sergei) Volodin began flying helicopters from the Soviet Air Force base in Kiev in 1976. It was a quiet posting: he spent the years flying bureaucrats and generals around the country in an Mi-8 helicopter specially equipped with lounge chairs, toilet and a bar. Once in a while, he'd pass the Chernobyl plant and, just out of curiosity, turn on the dosimeter that measured radiation inside the cockpit; there was never a flicker.

On the night of 25 April 1986, Captain Volodin and his crew had the emergency rescue shift for the Kiev area. Their helicopter was the first on the scene at Chernobyl. As the government assembled an emergency commission to tackle the disaster, Volodin was instructed to fly around Pripyat with an army major on board to take dosimeter readings; they would use these to map the radioactivity around the town. They set off without protective clothing, dressed only in shirtsleeves; it was another clear, cloudless day. But as Volodin flew toward the plume of smoke and steam rising from Reactor No 4, strange-looking, viscous droplets of liquid began beading on the canopy. Below, he could see a village where people were at work in their gardens; when he looked up at the dosimeter, the reading had gone off the scale. He flicked the device through all its settings - 10, 100, 250, up to 500 roentgen per hour: 'Above 500, the equipment - and human beings - aren't supposed to work.' Yet each time the needle ran off the end of the dial. Suddenly the major burst into the cockpit with his own dosimeter, screaming at Volodin, 'You murderer! You've killed us all!'

'We'd taken such a high dose,' the pilot says now, 'he thought we were already dead.' Later, Volodin discovered that the plume he had flown through was emitting 1,500 roentgen an hour. Having established radiation readings for the map, the pilot then flew technicians from the plant around the reactor, to assess the damage; a photographer shot pictures of the destruction through the open window of the helicopter. Afterwards, Volodin was told he and his crew had been so irradiated they could no longer fly. Hospitalised in a Kiev cardiology ward, the doctors told him to drink as much wine and vodka as he liked; they had no idea how to treat him. Volodin stayed until late May, and returned to fly in and out of the disaster site for another five months.

Volodin retired as a pilot in 1991 to take a desk job. 'I have a strange illness,' he says. 'I'm afraid of flying.' Now 58, he has heart problems; his flight engineer is an invalid. In recognition of his work at Chernobyl, he receives a special liquidators' pension of 26 Ukrainian Hryvna a year. He points sadly at the drinks in front of him: 'The tea costs 35.' ”

[heli1]

There is some work going on to try and list all those who flew during the Chernobyl disaster ,both military and civilian volunteers .If this has already been done ,would like to know.
Going back to the first thread,interesting to see the vandalised damage,bearing in mind the helicopter was abandoned because it was radioactive !!!

[I Build 92's]

Further info and pics of the disaster, also includes more helicopter pics
http://www.elenafilatova.com

[skippo]

Helicopters in radioactiv graveyard. 80 000 people were involved in the cleanup. No studies on how they are doing now..
http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/46/464/464450/spb19555.jpg (http://www.dagbladet.no/magasinet/2005/04/25/464450.html?i=14)

Back to work a few weeks after the disaster.
http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/46/464/464450/spb21668.jpg (http://www.dagbladet.no/magasinet/2005/04/25/464450.html?i=7)

[Thomas coupling]

Where is the latest post from Skippo dated Septemebr 2011?