At the very beginning of the development and creation of the legendary "Corn", the possibility of using this maneuverable light aircraft for military purposes was considered. In the spring of 1947, Antonov ANTK (formerly OKB-153) began developing a special three-seater aircraft designed for night reconnaissance and adjusting artillery fire. The minimum take-off run and run of the An-2, its low speed, high maneuverability were fully suitable for these tasks.
The created aircraft was almost a complete analogue of the base model. Only the fuselage and tail have undergone significant changes. An observer's cabin was mounted on the fuselage, which was a glazed truss structure. A stabilizer with spaced keels and a non-retractable tail wheel were attached to it. Also, to repel enemy attacks from the rear hemisphere, a VEU-1 turret with a 20-mm BD-20E cannon was installed behind the upper wing. The engine and crew workplaces were protected by armor. The plans of the creators of the new combat vehicle also included the use of the aircraft as a night bomber, for which it was additionally equipped with two cassettes in the fuselage for vertical suspension of six 50-kg bombs and four underwing holders for 100-kg bombs, as well as one more 20- mm gun (in the lower right plane). The aircraft received the designation "F" ("Fedya").
Suspension of bombs and blocks NURS
In the spring of 1949, the first prototype of the new aircraft took off; it had the designation An-2NAK (night artillery spotter). Pilots V. Didenko and A. Pashkevich carried out the tests of the new machine, they lasted until February 1950 and were considered successful. But at the beginning of the same 1950, it was decided that it would be more expedient to use helicopters to perform such tasks, and this modification of the An-2 was not put into mass production.
The next combat modification of the An-2 was the project of the An-2A high-altitude aircraft, designed to combat automatic reconnaissance balloons. This aircraft was created on the basis of the An-6 weather sounder, an automated sight-seeker was installed on it, as well as a remote installation equipped with an AM-23 cannon and a searchlight for night search of targets. The meteorologist's cabin was removed from the aft fuselage.
Also, simultaneously with the An-2A project, another project was developed with the designation An-3, suggesting a more radical alteration of the An-2. The An-3 was supposed to be a two-seat strut-braced all-metal monoplane with a high aspect ratio wing. But these projects remained only in the drawings.
It seemed that with the closure of these projects, with the attempts to use the An-2 in combat, it was done forever. But the "Kukuruznik" still had to fight, and the peaceful An-2 biplanes, completely unadapted for these purposes, fought.
The first reliably known combat use of the An-2 took place in Hungary in 1956. When suppressing the uprising, the An-2s were used to scatter leaflets over rebel groups, as well as for visual reconnaissance, while they quite often came under enemy fire.
An-2 was used in the war in Indochina. An-2 aircraft of the Air Force of the DRV (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) made their first combat flights to Laos, where in 1960-62. there was a civil war. Vietnamese "Corners" delivered equipment, ammunition and weapons to their allies - the Pathet Lao detachments and the left neutralists. At about the same time, the An-2s were also used to supply the Viet Cong.
There is a known case when an An-2 unit of the Vietnamese Air Force in a night combat mission sank a warship of the South Vietnamese Navy (a corvette or a frigate according to modern classification) and damaged a landing ship, the attack was carried out with the help of NURS. After that, the Vietnamese An-2, at night, tried to attack the warships of the US Navy, shelling the coast. These attempts were unsuccessful, at least one An-2 was shot down by missiles.
An-2 was successfully used to combat sabotage and reconnaissance junks and armed boats.
To do this, they were equipped with one or two machine guns in the doorway ("Ganship" in Vietnamese) and holders for small bombs. The success of the An-2 in this role was repeatedly highlighted in the press of that time.
These aircraft were also used by the Vietnamese for actions against ground targets. But during the bombing of American bases, they were often shot down.
In Cambodia in 1970, An-2 was used by government forces in battles with partisans as transport aircraft. In 1979, again in Cambodia, An-2 took part in the struggle this time with the Khmer Rouge units. In addition to transportation, they were used as advanced aircraft controllers. The crews, having found targets, "processed" them with NURS, bombs or just hand grenades with white phosphorus, when burning, thick white smoke was released, which served as a reference point for strike aircraft. Interestingly, captured F-5s were used for airstrikes and, like no other, American-made A-37 attack aircraft, suitable for these purposes.
After the conclusion of the armistice in the Korean War, it continued on the "invisible front". The North Korean Air Force used the An-2 in covert operations against South Korea. These biplanes could fly low and slow enough to be undetected. On the part of the DPRK, Antonov biplanes of Soviet and Chinese production were actively used to drop and evacuate sabotage and reconnaissance groups. On the territory of South Korea, North Korean agents prepared secret runways, on which the An-2 was supposed to land at night.
An-2 captured by South Korean special services is on display at the Military Museum in Seoul
I had to "smell gunpowder" An-2 and in Nicaragua. According to eyewitnesses, the Sandinistas dismantled agricultural equipment on several vehicles, and instead installed three bomb racks for 100-kg bombs under the lower wing and fuselage. As such, the planes made several sorties against CIA-backed contras.
The former Yugoslavia, and first of all Croatia, became an extensive field of combat activity for the An-2. After the collapse of the SFRY, all combat aircraft went to the Serbs. Wanting to somehow change the situation, the Croats adapted literally everything that could take to the air for military purposes. So, on the basis of the agricultural aviation detachment in Osijek, a unit was created, which was armed with about a dozen An-2. This unit proved itself well in the battles for Vukovar, where the Anas were used for transport and night bombing. The bombs, usually homemade, were loaded into the fuselage and thrown out through an open door. Such blows inflicted rather moral damage on the enemy, but nevertheless a case was noted when such a bomb destroyed the dugout in which the Serbian headquarters was located.
From November 3 to December 2, 1991, Croatian "twos" made 68 night raids. Thanks to their excellent maneuverability, they managed to evade attacks from fighters of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), and because of their low infrared visibility, they avoided being hit by MANPADS missiles. There is a known case when at night before shooting down the Croatian An-2, the Serbs fired 16 (!) Missiles at it. In total, during the battles near Vukovar, the Croatian side admitted the loss on the ground and in the air at least five An-2. The circumstances of the death of two of them are known: one was shot down by an air defense missile system "Kvadrat" (SAM-6 according to the western classification), the other - by anti-aircraft artillery. There is information about other losses of the Croatian An-2: on September 8, a fighter-bomber of the JNA "Orao" air force, storming the airfield in Osijek, destroyed one aircraft with 57-mm NURS. On September 15, Serbian aviation destroyed several more "twos" on the ground.
In addition to actions against military targets, the Croats used the Anas several times in raids on columns of Serb refugees, which is a war crime. And one An-2, repainted for quick identification in red, was used for courier flights, including to Italy, from one of the airfields of the Istrian peninsula.
At the beginning of 1992, the fighting in Croatia stopped, but as a result of them, the unrecognized Republic of Serbian Krajina appeared on its territory. In January-February 1993, Croatian troops carried out an operation trying to eliminate it. During the battles, aviation was used, including the An-2, which bombed enemy positions and important targets. One of them was hit during a raid on an oil field near the village of Dzheletovitsi. The crew managed to make an emergency landing, but trying to escape, the pilots fell into a minefield and died.
In 1992. the fighting unfolded on the territory of the former Federal Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where all the belligerents were actively involved in aviation. The Croats continued to use the An-2 and on July 2 they lost one aircraft to air defense fire. The Bosnian Serbs, having seized all the equipment of the local flying clubs, used the An-2 as scouts and light attack aircraft. During the bombardment of Muslim positions near the town of Srebrenica in March 1993, one of their aircraft was shot down. At the end of 1992, after the ultimatum of the NATO countries, the conflicting parties stopped using
combat aviation. Nevertheless, Croatian Anas continue to fly to Bosnia, carrying various goods, evacuating the wounded, etc.
Unfortunately, the An-2s were "noted" in conflicts on the territory of the former USSR. Thus, during the long-term war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian and Azerbaijani Anas are used to deliver military supplies to the combat zone and to take out the wounded and, at first, refugees from there.
According to press reports, at least one Armenian An was shot down. There were An-2s at the disposal of General Dudaev. They were used for flights to Georgia and in internal showdowns, but they did not take part in the battles with the Russian army, since in early December 1994 Russian aviation destroyed them at their home airfields.
