With no official announcement or ceremony, nine ex-Croatian Air Force Mi-8 Hip tactical transport helicopters departed Zagreb Franjo Tudjman Airport at approximately 0600hrs (local time) on May 5, with various social media channels noting that the rotorcraft were heading to an unknown destination ahead of their final delivery to Ukraine.
As previously reported by Key.Aero on March 6, Croatia announced plans to donate 14 Mi-8s to Ukraine and has been quietly preparing their transfer at Zagreb since late March. The Hips involved in this undertaking are serials: 201, 202, 204, 206, 210, 211, 212, 213, 215, 251, 254, 274, 275 and 276.
Of these aircraft, it is believed that the nine departing Zagreb on May 5 were serials 201, 202, 204, 206, 210, 212, 213, 251 and 276, as these helicopters had been previously stored in an airworthy condition, while serials 211, 215, 254, 274 and 275 were all stored without rotors. A check of the main military ramp on May 7 confirmed that only the five rotorless Mi-8s remained at Zagreb. By May 11, this had reduced to just four Hips, with all of them expected to be delivered over land.
Following the departure of the first nine helicopters on May 5, two unidentified Mi-171s were noted arriving back at Zagreb from the direction of Hungary in the evening, which presumably brought back the aircrews after completing the delivery. The previous day had seen a pair of Mi-8s from Split arrive at Zagreb at 1330hrs (‘OCTO21’) and 1400hrs (‘OCTO22’), respectively, followed by a Mil-171 (‘COBRA22’) at 1426hrs. It is assumed these were the last two Mi-8s, along with a supporting Mi-171 that was bringing up crews for the delivery flight on May 5.
On May 4, three short separate test flights were flown all using the callsign ‘OCTO98’. These comprised a take-off, one circuit, landing and taxi back to Zagreb’s military ramp. Again it is assumed these were three different Mi-8s performing final checks before the May 5 delivery flight, as some had been sitting waiting for some time.
