mainly due to a shortage of serviceable The once mighty fleet of Be-12 amphibians operated by the Russian naval air arm has dwindled to just a handful. Alexander Mladenov provides an overview of the last survivors.
Russian Be-12
The Voyenno-Morskoy Flot Rossiyskoy Federatsii (VMF, Russian Navy) includes a few obsolescent and exotic aircraft types. Without doubt, the twinturboprop Beriev Be-12 Tchaika (seagull) is the most unusual. Still in regular service with the Black Sea Fleet, the veteran aircraft continues its search and rescue (SAR), antisubmarine warfare (ASW), maritime patrol and peacetime fleet-support duties.
This odd-looking high-wing/twin-turboprop amphibian – also known by its NATO reporting name Mail and nicknamed Bekha by the Russian pilots and technicians who fly and maintain it – serves with the 318th Smeshannoy Aviatsionniy Polk (SAP, composite aviation regiment). The unit is stationed at Kacha airfield near the main Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula. On October 12, 2013, Be-12PS ‘Yellow 18’ (c/n 3602903) experienced engine failure and was involved in a fatal crash on go-around at Kacha. Russia’s entire Mail fleet was grounded as a result.
The same year, plan…
