Hinds in formation

The Skorpion team was formed in 1999 within the 49th Combat Helicopter Regiment at Pruszcz Gdański, near Gdańsk, the Polish Land Forces’ main base for Mil Mi-24 attack helicopters. Flying four Mi-24s, it was described by the English-language Wikipedia as one of only two aerobatic teams in the world to display the heavy Soviet-designed gunship. Its debut came at an air picnic at Pruszcz Gdański in 1999, followed the same year by an appearance at the international air show at Radom. Displaying a large assault helicopter in formation set the team apart from the jet and propeller teams that filled most European programmes.

Grounded by Afghanistan

The regiment’s Mi-24 crews were committed to the Polish contingent in Afghanistan from 2010, and in 2011 the team was reported to have suspended its flying because of those operational commitments. No later public displays by the team have been traced, and no formal announcement of its disbandment has been found. The Mi-24 itself remains in service at Pruszcz Gdański, where the 49th Air Base was still flying twelve of the type when local historians marked 35 years of Mi-24 operations there.