North Korea's MD500s

[Tickle]

Probably old news how they acquired them illegally in the 1980s.

I wonder how do they keep them flying for so long! Maybe they manufacturer all their own parts for the engines and dynamic components, etc.

[krautland]

You might enjoy this, has a pic of one of their MD500:

https://www.nknews.org/2016/10/flying-colors-a-dispatch-from-north-koreas-first-ever-air-show/

There are more, I think Sam Chui photographed them, but I don't have a URL right now.

[TWT]

That article is subscriber only. I found this video though,the 500's appear at 4:06 in :

VtK_OsSXaPE

[tartare]

That's a really interesting story - was totally unaware they'd got away with getting them into the country.

[Encyclo]

Nice MIG-21 tail strike at 9:40 on the video :eek:

Not sure if the pilot survived the airshow debrief :E

Fly Safe, Always

[Fareastdriver]

As they were featuring their only female pilot at the time maybe it was her.

Trying to reverse it in?

[noflynomore]

Those Hughes 500s have a special purpose.
As S Korea uses them too they would well be used to infiltrate special forces teams into S Korea without fear of being challenged or even recognised. AS they have them in some numbers (80+ originally. Thanks Germany!) they could do serious mischief using this scam alone.

Just one example of the clever sneaky way NK plans to do war. They'll use unconventional techniques right left and centre to make up for their lack of technology and I reckon we'll have a job keeping abreast of it all. They're not going to be a pushover.

[noooby]

Two other things.

One is the PAC 750XL from New Zealand. Not sure how that got into North Korea.

And the other thing is that no matter how many aircraft go down that runway, it is still the dirtiest dustiest paved runway I've ever seen!!!

[TWT]

Report: CIA knew about helicopter smuggling - UPI Archives (http://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/09/21/Report-CIA-knew-about-helicopter-smuggling/6322590817600/)

At this year's joint South Korean-U.S. military talks, the defense minister from Seoul said North Korea already had painted South Korean markings on the Hughes helicopters

[Ian Corrigible]

One is the PAC 750XL from New Zealand. Not sure how that got into North Korea.
Reportedly via China (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11721444).

There was a fair bit of coverage on the DPRK's MD 500E fleet in 2013, including in The Aviationist (https://theaviationist.com/2013/07/30/dprk-h500e) and even Business Insider (http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreas-illegal-helicopters-emerge-2013-7), after the aircraft appeared in a military display in July of that year.

Flight was one of the earliest sources to break news of the original sale, back in 1985 (https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1985/1985%20-%200552.html?search=north%20korean%20hughes%20deal%20uncover ed).

I/C

[pants on fire...]

This was all part of a cunning plan to give them a fleet of worthless junk that will always be broken down!

And you can be sure that it worked.