Mil Mi-1 (OH-HCR) 

The Mi-1 is a four-seat, single-engine helicopter. It made its first flight in 1948 and was the first helicopter to enter large-scale serial production in the Soviet Union. A pre-production series of 15 Mi-1s was built two years later, but the authorities were unwilling to endorse the manufacture of helicopters at that time.

Seven Mi-1s and SM-1s saw service in Finland in 1960‒1968. Four were operated by the Air Force and three by the Frontier Guard. The SM-1 was the first helicopter type of the Air Force, and it was used to familiarise pilots and maintainers with rotary-wing flight and helicopter systems. The helicopters were assembled at the Air Force Depot in Tampere under the guidance of three Soviet technicians. The type was used for general transport duties, aerial photography, artillery fire spotting and medical evacuation.

The Mi-1 was a reliable helicopter, although it required a lot of maintenance.

The museum’s OH-HRC is the only original Soviet-built Mi-1 used in Finland. Nikita Khrushchev, Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, donated it to President Urho Kekkonen on the latter’s 60th birthday in 1960. The helicopter was entered in the Finnish Civil Aircraft Register the following year and remained in Frontier Guard service until 1968.