The Flying Building

The Cold War threatened the world with nuclear annihilation. Amid escalating tensions, the Soviet Union faced an espionage nightmare that could cost them the atomic race.

American spy planes, soaring at extreme altitudes, were unveiling their nuclear secrets, capturing images of their hidden silos—even those tucked away in Siberia’s remote, frozen expanses. American pilots had learned a pattern: lone railroads and desolate roads apparently headed nowhere often led into Soviet Nuclear facilities.

The Soviets were pressed against the clock. They needed a clandestine method to transport 25-ton nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles across their sprawling landscapes without leaving the faintest trail for their American adversaries to find.

Their solution was nothing short of spectacular. Enter the Mil Mi-12, a colossal contraption with the size of an airliner fused with the versatility of an airlift helicopter.

When unveiled at the Paris Air Convention in 1971, it shocked the world; there had never been anything like it. The alarm bells rang in the US as strategists tried to unveil the purpose of such a staggering machine…

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Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.

As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.

All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.

[DaBlazesUSay]

It is unfortunate that the airframe was not used to develop the Hotelicopter!

[Tuberuser]

Insane when you think the engine output was pretty close to the output normally seen in Gas Turbine powered Destroyers.

[Pete-]

You can still see the upper side of one of the two from a suburban train when passing near Panki station from behind the fence of the helicopter factory where it was built.

[Vatharian]

Although no more than a mockup model, same design team came with even larger, and even more insane transport helicopter. Mi-32 was to be built on a basis of a triangle, with 3 giant rotors (potentially even larger than these featured on V-12), each powered by either two or TWO PAIRS of turbines, and with maximum load of 150 tons.

[envitech]

Russian helicopters are in a class of their own. They are super humongous.!!! Even as a cessna pilot I just wonder how they can even fly at all.

[rudolfkrebs]

Eine total beeindruckende Doku!💪💪💪
👍😎🇦🇹

[TeddyBear-iiyc]

Looking at that makes the aircraft made for "Thunderbirds" not seem so outlandish!

[sinjisdf]

So sad to see it die so young... Great engineering...

[Steven-ndpz]

Power is also perception, which is why they unveiled it.

[bbb]

The engineers must have been a) immensely proud of their design and b) glad to have not been executed for failing.

[tonydowell]

My absolute favorite rotorcraft, bought the 1/72 Amodel kit of the v-12 shame it did t make production series.would make a great flying crane with a front gondola, but I digress…

[marcomcdowell]

Soviets: We need something to hide our nukes from the Americans.
Also Soviets: Lets unveil it at an airshow.

[Nitramrec]

My wish: Please add data in SI-units to these in imperial-units, because the most part of the world uses them.

[tomlevier]

USSR - We need a massive, powerful aircraft that will haul top secret cargo so the Americans won't suspect anything
Also USSR - Let's show off this massive, powerful aircraft at public air shows all over Europe!

[PhlyBoy_]

And it just sits there, outside at a museum without a purpose 😔

[tacticplanner]

It is absolutely excellent as usual. Bravo best Docu-Channels on the Tube.

[atomicskull]

The opposing rotor rotation results in neutral torque but yaw was actually performed by opposing cyclic same as the CH-47 i.e. one rotor applies forward cyclic and the other applies rearward cyclic at the same time turning the aircraft one way or the other. (on the CH-47 yaw is performed by left/right cyclic due to the longitudinal configuration of the rotors). This is transparent to the pilot, the controls work exactly the same as a single rotor helicopter.

[TRUMPZ]

This chopper still holds a few world records this many years later… WOWOWOWOWOw😮😮😮😮😮

[kevindelaney]

Informative as always. Great video. As per usual.

[pucarasetenta]

Primera vez que escucho un video de Uds en español, bastante bueno!. Felicitaciones!. First time I hear one of your videos in Spanish. Thank you very much!