question about the HIND gunships:
Is the front cannon controlled by a guy like the nose gunner in an old WWII bomber? It seems like it in the film but I can't find anything about it on the web.
shareNo it is not, I am assuming you mean the Gatling "Yak-B" version which is mounted on the chin of the aircraft and is controlled via wireless remote.
shareOK. It's just, in the movie the pilot says something like, "You ready up there?" And then they show the guy with a toothpick in his mouth like a grunt ready to shoot. I got the impression that the pilot was flying and there was a nose gunner sitting in front who just directed the machine gun at ground targets.
I can't find any detailed info on the Hind layout. But, it seemed like typical soviet practicality back then would have been to have a man simply pointing a gun in front rather than the modern APACHE set up where the front guy is Ops. ( meaning navigation, communication, and weapons)
It seems brutal but, at the same time, a horribly simple and rewarding job in time of war.
No, mostly the only times you'll see something like what you were thinking about is when it's just a standard door mounted PK machine gun on MI-8 or 17's, the MI-24 was and Is a rather modern attack/trooper carrier.
Heres a photo of the inside of the gunners cockpit, who sits in the "lower cockpit"
http://www.asiatradingonline.com/mi24-3.jpg
From that station rocket pods, anti-tank and anti-ground missiles as well as the Yak-B Gatling gun can be fired, while the pilot hands navigation and flying.