THE Mil prefix in the name of the Mil Mi-17 helicopter is that of Russias top aircraft designer: Mikhail Leontyevich Mil. He was the founder of the Moscow Helicopter Plant, the factory that supplied 95 percent of these aircraft for the Soviet Union and its allies. Mikhail, who was born in 1909, was the head of the factory from 1947 until he died in 1970. From his hands emerged the designs of the transport helicopters of the Mi generation. Initial