Video From On Board Ukrainian Mi-24 Gunship Helicopter Allegedly Shows Moment It Was Shot Down

David Cenciotti
2 Min Read

Incredibly, the camera survived the crash.

The video in this post was allegedly filmed on Aug. 20, 2014, somewhere near Lugansk where a Ukrainian Mi-24 Hind gunship helicopter was hit and shot down by an anti-aircraft missile while on patrol with another helicopter of the same type.

Both crew members, reportedly Major Oleg Biryukov and Captain Anton Rodionov, died in the crash.

It looks like the Hind was flying at low altitude, when it was hit by a missile: in a matter of seconds the helicopter hit the ground and (probably exploded) with the camera the crew members brought with them in the cockpit among the only surviving things.

The photograph below shows the wreckage of the chopper.

Mi-24 wreckage

Image credit: http://militarizm.livejournal.com/78942.html

According to the information available on the Internet, the helicopter downed by the pro-Russia separatists was Mi-24P “Yellow 15” from the 7th Army Aviation Regiment, a gunship that had been already hit and damaged by Donetsk People Republic fighters near Slavyansk.

Several Mi-24 helicopters and many other Ukrainian aircraft have been shot down by MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) in eastern Ukrainian during clashes with Russia-backed separatists.

H/T to Matt Fanning for the heads-up

 

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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