The Hind Heist - The Secret US Operation to Steal the Soviet's Top Helicopter

[Music] the mi-24 hind probably the meanest looking helicopter of all time certainly one of the most capable coming first appeared on the world stage in 1972 respected and feared the hind is fast agile and heavily armed and armored bullet resistant up to 12 point 7 millimeter caliber from any direction the cockpit is protected by ballistic-resistant wind screens and a titanium armor tub the helicopter is fast still holding the official world speed record of 332 km/h were 206 miles per hour capable of a mixed armaments loadout the hind can be tasked with close air support anti-tank operations or aerial combat even its rotor blades are made of titanium unlike its NATO contemporary the Apache gunship the hind could also carry eight fully equipped troops or twelve partially equipped soldiers so it was basically two helicopters in one gunship and transport and the Soviet Union built thousands of them in the 1980s a new updated export model the mi-25 high-end D was one of the most advanced helicopters in the world and Western intelligence wanted to obtain one to study and compare with NATO gunships but the 1980s were the height of the Cold War and the only way the Americans were going to study an mi-25 was by employing a bit of subterfuge though from 1985 onwards under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev relations between the United States and the Soviet Union had thawed slightly the arms race initiated by President Reagan was still ongoing and neither side fully trusted the other the Soviet still jealously guarded their military secrets both sides still had plenty of nuclear missiles and huge conventional forces ready for any potential conflict between them stealing top-secret Soviet technology could be a risky move by the Americans and they were very careful how they went about this and particularly where they did it but an opportunity finally arose in 1987 the Soviet Union routinely armed and trained friendly third-world patients in Libya led by the colorful dictator Colonel Mahama Gaddafi was a good customer Gaddafi was deeply and vocally hostile to the US government the Libyan Air Force had several of the latest mi-25 Heinz in its inventory and was involved in military operations in neighboring Chad the Civil War was raging in Chad and Gaddafi made numerous incursions hoping to increase the territory of Libya by stealing some of northern Chad Libyan forces deployed some of their best equipment including employing both the mi 25 and the older mi-24 a in March 1987 the US and French backed Armed Forces of the north a Chadian rebel group managed to capture a libyan air force base at wadi Dume in northern chad Libyan forces evacuated the base with almost unseemly haste leaving behind an MI 25 French and rebel forces took over the airbase and the hind was placed in storage on site the CIA requested that the helicopter be turned over to the US and the French agreed the question was how to get the hind out of Chad through airspace still crawling with Libyan MiG's America was not exactly in Gaddafi's good graces since its air raid on Tripoli in 1986 following the bombing of a West Berlin disco frequented by US servicemen President Ronald Reagan believed Libya was behind the atrocity as Gaddafi armed and funded many terrorist groups worldwide and a retaliatory air strike caused extensive damage in the Libyan capital Tripoli and fellow Americans at 7:00 o'clock this evening Eastern time air and naval forces of the United States launched a series of strikes against the headquarters terrorist facilities and military assets that support Muammar Qaddafi's subversive activities the attacks were concentrated and carefully targeted to minimize casualties among the Libyan people with whom we have no quarrel so removing behind from a position close to Libya was a bit of a head-scratcher for the CIA but fortunately the agency had access to some fairly extraordinary resources including a helicopter unit that existed solely for these kind of high-risk operations the Chadians would not be a problem they would be happy for a nice cash payoff of two million dollars plus some Stinger missiles from the CIA but the removal of the helicopter from Chad would be a u.s. responsibility the CIA turned to the one hundred and sixtieth Special Operations Aviation Regiment more popularly known as the night stalkers but such an operation required careful planning in preparation training commenced of the famous White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico where the first atomic bomb had been tested in July 1945 the hind weighed 17 to 18,000 pounds or slightly over eight tons the night stalkers determined that the MH fort seven or Chinook had sufficient power to lift the hind two Chinooks will be used one lifting the aircraft and the other as a backup and carrying personnel and other bits of the aircraft which have been stripped from the hind the mission codenamed Operation Mount Hope 3 was a risky proposition the US had an unhappy recent history in the desert having lost one helicopter and one transport aircraft destroyed and five helicopters abandoned and captured in 1982 in a failed hostage rescue mission in Iran codenamed Operation Eagle Claw eight US servicemen had also died from this operation for Mount Hope two mh-47 Chinook s-- and 75 personnel were loaded aboard the US Air Force c5 galaxy cargo plane the plane landed at another Jimena international airport in southern chad on the 21st of may 1988 a small advanced reconnaissance team was flown in one of the Chinook's to kawari doom airfield they would also begin the process of partly disassembling the hind ready for transit France also assisted the operation by providing some ground troops and Mirage f1 jets to hopefully deter any hostile action by Libyan MiG's if they found out about the extraction of the hind also a c-130 Hercules would act as an refueling aircraft for the Chinook's on the 11th of June 1988 the mission commenced the second chinook took off and flew 500 miles north in darkness planning to collect the hind a daybreak the advance team was already at Ord doom making preparations they were also closely monitoring nearby Libyan forces everyone knew that if the Libyans discovered the u.s. operation they would attack and the extraction force was not equipped for fighting enemy troops or aircraft the advance team had already prepared the Hind for extraction the second Chinook then hovered overhead and the hind in its sling was hooked up restrain the Chinook hold the hind into the air and began to head back to no Jimena the second Chinook then completed loading of other parts of the hind and remaining American personnel then took off and also headed south the Chinook hauling behind had to stop twice to refuel each time landing at a friendly base where the c-130 tanker awaited but after taking off from the second refueling point the Chinook had to race to stay ahead of a 3,000 foot tall sandstorm the Chinook's arrived at Nadja manor in near zero visibility to touch down safely they waited 20 minutes for the storm to clear and then they and their precious cargo were loaded aboard to c5 galaxies for the journey to the United States the mission had taken 67 hours to complete in Chad and was a complete success the Libyans knew nothing of it the Americans had their hands on the latest Soviet attack helicopter as to what became of the craftily obtained hind it's in a secret US government warehouse hangar 51 I believe hit the bell icon to receive notifications of my latest videos and also subscribe and share you can also help support my channel at PayPal and patreon details in the description box below

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 3,742,985

Keywords: The Hind Heist, Operation Mount Hope III, Mi-24 Hind, Colonel Gaddafi, Libya, Chad, CUA, Night Stalkers

Id: dPz7O8JgUhs

Length: 10min 2sec (602 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 25 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/tezoatlipoca]

Holy crap.

In Craig Thomas's Winter Hawk (which is a loose successor to Firefox Down) they steal two Mi-24s from the desert in a similar type move - to be used to infiltrate Khazakstan and exfil a Russian scientist from Baikonur.

I always thought that was fantastically made up.

[u/IAmA_TheOneWhoKnocks]

What's the difference between troops and soldiers? Apparently one is better equipped than the other, but I've always used them interchangeably.

[u/CultistHeadpiece]

You can crosspost in this sub? :o