04/30/2010. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The Mi-10 (NATO-name "Harke") was developed from the Mi-6 and the Mi-10 had what is best described as a flattened Mi-6 fuselage with the same twin 5,500 shp engine arrangement and its transmission system, five-bladed main rotor, and four-bladed tail rotor. Design started in February 1958, and the prototype, designated V-10, flew in 1960 and was first displayed to the West at the 1961 Tushino Aviation Day display. Production version was designated Mi-10R and about 60 were built, the initial production line was terminated in the early 1970s, but was reopened in 1977.

It stood high off the ground on four multi-strutted legs that allowed the Mi-10 to straddle loads, which were then winched up to lie under the fuselage. Closed-circuit television monitored the load while in flight and facilitated cargo handling on the ground. Maximum slung payload was 17,635 lb (8,000 kg), while the maximum containerized payload in pods was 33,070 lb (15,000 kg). Although developed primarily as a heavy-lift flying crane, the Mi-10 also had accommodations for 28 troops in its main cabin or could use that space for internal cargo.

The Mi-10K (Korotkonogii, short-legged) variant appeared in 1965, it had a much shorter, simpler landing gear and replaced the television monitoring system with an under-slung, rearward-facing gondola, complete with flying controls. This arrangement reduced the crew requirement from three to two, while the maximum slung payload was increased to 24,251 lb (11,000 kg).

The pictured Mi-10K was one of the 20 built and was registered to Aeroflot as CCCP-04130, after the break-up of the Soviet Union it was registered in Russia as RA-04130. In the early 1990s the aircraft was operated by Skytech and for a number of years based at Ostend, Belgium, where it was subsequently scrapped."