11 Facts About Mikhail Mil

Mikhail Leontyevich Mil was a Soviet and Russian aerospace engineer and scientist.

Mikhail Mil was the founder and general designer of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant.

Mikhail Mil's father was an employee of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and his mother was a dentist.

Mikhail Mil's grandfather was a cantonist who had been drafted from Libava, Latvia, and who settled in Siberia after 25 years in the Imperial Russian Navy.

At age 12 Mikhail Mil won the first prize in a model glider competition.

Mikhail Mil specialised in the design of autogyros, and was an assistant to his future rival, Nikolai Kamov.

Mikhail Mil completed his dissertations and in 1947 headed the Helicopter Lab at TsAGI, which was later turned into the Moscow Helicopter Plant.

Mikhail Mil's creations won many domestic and international awards and set 69 world records.

In 1971, after his death, his Mikhail Mil Mi-12 won the Sikorsky Prize as the most powerful helicopter in the world.

Unlike his Soviet counterpart, Nikolai Kamov, Mikhail Mil enjoyed great prestige due to his single-rotor helicopters, as Kamov used the co-axial rotor layout, which was more controversial.

Mikhail Mil died in 1970 in Moscow and was buried in Yudinskoe Cemetery in the outskirts of Moscow.