Zvezda 1/48 Mi-24 Hind, Croatian Air Force

I was wondering if I could make decent effect of launching flares. For this project I chose well known Mi-24 HIND, and Zvezda was logical choice of manufacturer. I decided to ditch provided decals and go with markings of Croatian Air Force I had in stash. Few more decals are missing and I'll have to wait to get my hands on some decal paper to make my own. A switch with 3V battery is located in cargo area.

Little bit of history;

At the beginning of war in Croatia (1991-1995), newly formed Croatian Air Force lacked any attack capability and consisted of few light/transport helicopters capable of transport/medevac operations. After successfully stalling enemy territorial advances, soon became obvious that Croatian Army will start conducting offensive operations. For that purpose, limited air attack capability was needed.

The first examples of these armored helicopters with high firepower were acquired at the end of 1993 from Ukraine. The acquired helicopters were manufactured between 1978 and 1987. The helicopter shipments to Croatia were delivered by the huge An-124 Ruslan cargo plane. Antonov arrived at the airport on the island of Krk, from where the helicopters would be transported by road to Velika Gorica near Zagreb, where the Aviation Technical Center was located.

Due to ongoing arms embargo, acquired helicopters quickly came under focus of international peace keeping organizations. To avoid any sanctions, Croatian government published statement that helicopters were purchased before 1991, they were stripped of all arms and painted as medevac units. In reality, these weapon stripped helicopters were used for training crews of the future 29th Combat Helicopter Squadron.

Along with the helicopters came several Russian pilots and engeneers with technical documentation, because until then the Croatian experts had no experience of using these armored combat helicopters. In parallel with the delivery of the helicopters, the training of pilots who already had experience flying SA342 Gazelle helicopters took place. The flight training took place in Varaždin, and the shooting matches at the coastal range near Pula.

All these efforts finally resulted in the first operational Hinds in HRZ (Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo/Croatian Air Force) along with the formation of the famous 29th Combat Helicopter Squadron. During the military exercises "Krndija 94", "Poseidon 94", and "Bandira 94", powerful and armed Hinds with Croatian Air Force insignia were shown to Croatia and the world public. Enthusiasm in the Croatian military leadership, shock and disbelief in the Serbian army.

In combat operations, Mi-24s acted as close air support for Croatian soldiers, and as escorts for MiG-21 fighter planes. It was the only aircraft that literally entered the battlefield. It is not necessary to explain the psychological effect of the appearance of this gunboat on the horizon. Croatian Hinds achieved the greatest war successes in the final liberation operations "Flash" and "Storm".

Also, during the Homeland War, these aircrafts were designated for search and rescue operations. One Mi-24 V was equipped with an IR camera, and it is little known that one Mi-24 was adapted by Croatian experts for anti-submarine warfare and carried an American Mk 44 torpedo. All together, Croatia purchased 7 Mi-24 helicopters (3 units Mi-24D and 4 units Mi-24V).

The last operation of the Mi-24 was in 1997, when during the military exercise "Puma's Leap" at the military training ground in Slunj, they fired rockets at ground targets. Unfortunately, by the summer of 1998, these machines were quietly withdrawn from operational use. They were officially written off in 2006, and the 29th Combat Helicopter Squadron was shut down forever.

20 additional images. Click to enlarge.