An-8 became the first aircraft, which in its capabilities approached the best overseas military transport aircraft. Developed in the 1950s, the aircraft became the first swallow of the updated Soviet military transport aviation (VTA). Before the appearance of the An-8, the transport of military cargo in the interests of the Soviet Air Force was carried out by the Li-2 transport aircraft (licensed copy of the American Douglas DC-3) that survived after the end of World War II and converted from passenger aircraft - the Il-12D (transport and landing) and Il- 14T (transport).
These aircraft, created in the second half of the 1940s, no longer met the requirements of the military, not keeping up with the rapid passage of time. At the same time, the main geopolitical enemy of the Soviet Union massively exploited special transport aircraft variants - the C-119 Flying Boxcar, the classic military transport C-123 Provider, and Lockheed had already begun work on one of the most famous and massive transport aircraft in the history of aviation - C-130 "Hercules". In the 1950s, the Lockheed C-130 Hercules four-engine turboprop was a new generation aircraft.
The history of the appearance of the An-8
The Il-12D, Il-12T and Il-14T aircraft available to the Soviet Air Force were a rework of passenger vehicles, which negatively affected their transport capabilities. Like the Li-2, they only had side doors, which were used for loading and unloading cargo into the transport cabin. At the same time, the American C-119 Flying Boxcar and C-123 Provider were specialized military transport aircraft. Wide-body aircraft with a reinforced floor structure for transporting heavy loads and rear-positioned double-leaf transport doors made it easy to place various artillery systems, mortars, cars and other military equipment in the cargo compartment. At the same time, on the C-123 Provider, the lower flap of the rear transport gate was folded down, also acting as a loading and unloading ramp.
Loading process in IL-12D
The accumulated post-war experience in the operation of military transport aircraft, including during the Korean War (1950-1953), clearly demonstrated the demand for the creation of a large transport aircraft that could take off and land from field unpaved airfields, was distinguished by an increased payload and flight range. … Such a machine was necessarily equipped with several engines, but most importantly, the aircraft had to continue flying even in the event of a complete failure of one of the engines. In 1953, Soviet intelligence had information about the work of the Americans on the creation of a new military transport aircraft, on which turboprop engines (TVD) were installed. Dmitry Fedorovich Ustinov knew about the creation of "Hercules", who at that time held the post of Minister of Defense Industry of the Soviet Union. Taken together, this served as the impetus for the start of development work on the creation of the first Soviet specialized military transport aircraft with a theater of operation.
In December 1953, a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR appeared on the creation of a new transport aircraft at the Antonov Design Bureau, equipped with two turboprop engines. The transport and landing version of the future An-8 received the code - product "P", in parallel, work was underway on the project of the passenger version - product "N", but these works were stopped already in 1954, the creation of the passenger version was abandoned in favor of the new project An- ten. The military imposed the following requirements on the future transport aircraft: transportation of anti-aircraft guns and field artillery systems of caliber up to 152 mm inclusive, transportation of 120-mm and 160-mm mortars, new wheeled armored personnel carriers BTR-40 and BTR-152, truck ZIL-157, all-wheel drive a GAZ-63 truck, at least two airborne self-propelled artillery mounts ASU-57 and other military equipment. Also, the Ministry of Defense hoped that the new aircraft would be able to take on board at least 40 soldiers with their own weapons or the same number of paratroopers.
Diagram of the An-8 aircraft
In fact, the new Soviet military transport aircraft was designed to bridge the emerging lag behind the United States in the field of military air cargo transportation. The transport aircraft created in the Antonov Design Bureau had to meet the following requirements: the ability to take off and land from unpaved airfields of short length; the ability to fly in adverse weather conditions and at any time of the day or night; the presence of a spacious cargo compartment and a wide cargo hatch located in the rear of the aircraft. The design bureau, which at that time did not have sufficient experience and skills in this area, had to create a new car for the country from scratch. That is why the chief designer Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov turned to colleagues from the Ilyushin Design Bureau and Tupolev Design Bureau for help with a request to send design documentation and drawings for the Il-28 and Tu-16 aircraft to Kiev. In addition, a group of engineers went from the Antonov Design Bureau to aviation plants in Moscow and Kazan to study these aircraft on the spot. Oleg Konstantinovich also turned to aircraft designer Robert Ludwigovich Bartini for help, who helped with the floor drawings of the cargo compartment of the future military transport aircraft. The Antonov Design Bureau was able to implement Bartini's project, making its own changes to it.
It should be noted that the cargo compartment floor is an important part of any military transport aircraft. The floor is made reinforced and durable to withstand the large weight of transported military equipment and cargo for various purposes, in addition, it serves as an additional protection for the aircraft in the event of an emergency landing. On the An-8, the very idea of the cabin floor construction was of great interest - the longitudinal beams of the truss structure were passed through the frames. Thanks to this decision, the designers ensured that the floor of the cargo compartment turned out to be durable and at the same time light, no claims were ever made to it after the start of the aircraft operation. All the experience gained in other design bureaus helped Antonov and his designers avoid a large number of mistakes at the design stage, which made it possible to create a new military transport aircraft in a short time.
An-8 at taxiing
The first rollout of the new aircraft, which has already received the official name An-8, took place in February 1956. The Antonov Design Bureau timed this event to the 50th anniversary of the talented chief designer. On February 11, the new transporter took to the skies for the first time. Despite the malfunctions in the flap control system that arose during the flight, the aircraft successfully completed its first flight, having flown from the Svyatoshino airfield to Borispol, where a full range of factory tests of the new aircraft began. In the same 1956, the aircraft was first shown to the general public. The debut of the new aircraft fell on the traditional aviation parade in Tushino, where citizens saw another novelty of the Soviet aviation industry - the first jet passenger aircraft Tu-104. State tests of the An-8 were completed at the end of 1959, at the same time the aircraft was officially adopted by the Military Transport Aviation.
Design features of the An-8 aircraft
An-8, like its American counterparts - transport aircraft C-123 and C-130 - was an all-metal high-winged plane. The first An-8 was superior due to modern turboprop engines, on the C-123 Provider, which made its first flight back in 1949, two piston engines were installed. But the C-130 was a larger aircraft, which, with a similar layout and appearance, was a much more cargo-carrying aircraft. The maximum take-off weight of the An-8 did not exceed 41 tons, while that of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules reached 70 tons. In addition, the power plant of the "American" included four turboprop engines. The closest to the "Hercules", which took off two years earlier than the An-8, was the Soviet military transport aircraft An-12, which has similar transport capabilities and the presence of four theaters.
C-123 Provider in flight
The serial production of the new transport aircraft was entrusted to the Tashkent Aviation Plant, which previously assembled Il-14 aircraft. At the same time, the An-8 differed in design from its predecessor assembled in Tashkent in a fundamental way. To release a new transport aircraft at the plant, it was necessary to expand the production facilities of the assembly shops, and in 1957, specifically for the production of the An-8 aircraft, a new workshop was opened, intended for the production of long and large-sized parts. In addition, the workers had to master new technological processes, for example, forging and stamping large-sized parts, which the employees of the enterprise had not previously encountered.
The main distinguishing features of the An-8 design from its predecessors were three things: a transport cabin with a large cargo hatch located in the rear of the aircraft; new turboprop engines; the presence of a modern radar sight RBP-3. Taken together, this brought the first Soviet specialized transport aircraft to a new level, allowing it to compete with the aircraft that entered service with the American Air Force in the same years.
The presence of a large hatch in the rear of the aircraft greatly facilitated the process of loading and unloading military equipment and cargo. Compared to the Li-2, Il-12 and Il-14, this was a real breakthrough. Now the aircraft could carry various military equipment in the cargo compartment, which entered the An-8 on its own through special cargo ramps (transported on board the aircraft) or non-self-propelled, when a cable system and electric winches were used.
The new AI-20D single-shaft forced aviation turboprop engines delivered a maximum power of 5180 hp. This was enough to accelerate the aircraft to 520 km / h, the cruising flight speed was 450 km / h. According to these indicators, the An-8 was superior to the lighter twin-engine C-123 Provider (with weaker piston engines, maximum speed 398 km / h), but predictably lost to the heavy four-engine C-130 Hercules (maximum speed up to 590 km / h). In terms of carrying capacity, the new Soviet transport aircraft was in the middle between its American peers. An-8 took on board a maximum load of about 11 tons, "Hercules" transported up to 20 tons of cargo, and the C-123 Provider - a little less than seven tons.
Lockheed C-130E Hercules
The features of the machine that distinguished the An-8 from Soviet transport aircraft of past years included a radar sight, which allowed the crew to determine the location of the transport aircraft, drift angle, flight speed and wind strength. The RBP-3 sight installed on the aircraft made it possible to detect a large industrial center at a distance of up to 80-120 kilometers (when flying at an altitude of 5-8 thousand meters). For example, marks of cities such as Ivanovo, Yaroslavl appeared on radars in the cockpit 80-110 kilometers away, and large water bodies - 80 kilometers away.
The fate of the An-8
For four years of serial production from 1958 (the first 10 aircraft were built) to 1961, 151 An-8 aircraft were assembled in the USSR. In the part of military transport aviation, the aircraft began to arrive in 1959 and remained in service until 1970. The surviving aircraft were transferred to other units of the armed forces and various ministries. Some of the aircraft continued to operate after the collapse of the USSR, the aircraft worked in private companies, engaged in commercial cargo transportation in Africa and the Middle East.
An-8 became the first aircraft in the line of Soviet military transport aircraft, created in the Antonov Design Bureau. In parallel with it, a more capacious four-engine transport aircraft An-12 was created, and then even larger military-technical cooperation - An-22, An-124 and An-225, which can be safely attributed to man-made aerial whales, followed. The An-26 multipurpose transport aircraft, which could not boast of such dimensions and carrying capacity, turned out to be extremely successful, but to this day it faithfully serves in the armies of many countries of the world, including the Russian one.
Military transport aircraft An-12
The An-8 military transport aircraft, which the Soviet industry mastered in 1958, seriously influenced the fate of the serial production of the An-8, and the new aircraft began to enter the troops in parallel with the An-8. The larger An-12 received four AI-20M turboprop engines, during operation its permitted take-off weight increased to 61 tons, and the maximum load was twice the capacity of the An-8 aircraft. The designers believed that the aircraft could be produced in parallel, and the An-8 would occupy a niche for the transportation of medium-sized military cargo (this was the most rational decision), but the military and top leadership of the country made a decision that was different from the opinions of Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov and the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR Pyotr Vasilyevich Dementyev, leaving only the An-12 in the shops of the aircraft factories.
By the way, the An-12 turned out to be a worthy competitor for its overseas counterpart C-130, not inferior to the American even in terms of production: 1248 aircraft of this type were assembled in the Soviet Union alone.
