On February 7, 1906, Soviet aircraft designer Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov was born. Since childhood, Antonov, who was fond of aviation, founded an original design school and created 52 types of gliders and 22 types of aircraft, including the largest and most lifting ones in the world. His planes became sensations at international aerospace exhibitions, and the Soviet Union was recognized as the world leader in aircraft construction. On the occasion of the birthday of the outstanding aircraft designer, we decided to recall five of his most successful aircraft.
AN-2
This aircraft entered the Guinness Book of Records as the only aircraft in the world that has been produced for over 60 years. He won the fame of an extremely reliable and safe machine, the design of which saves people even in emergency situations. An-2 can land even on unprepared terrain without the help of ground navigation, is capable of taking off from any relatively flat field, and when the engine stops, the plane begins to glide. Over the years of operation, the An-2 has transported several hundred million passengers, millions of tons of cargo, processed over a billion hectares of fields. It was for agricultural work during the period of mass sowing of fields with corn An-2 and received the popular name "maize". An-2 was an obligatory participant in Soviet research Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. In 1957, he first landed on the top of the iceberg.
The idea of the future An-2 came to Oleg Antonov back in October 1940, at the same time, under his leadership, a draft design of the aircraft was developed. Antonov's idea was for the aircraft to be created to take "in air transport approximately the same place as one and a half in ground transport." The designer himself called the An-2 his greatest success. Production and operation of the aircraft began in 1948. By the early 1960s, the An-2 connected more than half of the regional centers of the USSR with local air lines. By 1977, these aircraft served 3254 settlements. In total, more than 18 thousand An-2s were built, the aircraft was produced in the USSR, Poland and continues to be produced in China. The plane has visited almost all corners of the globe. For the creation of the An-2 Antonov and his associates were awarded the State Prize of the USSR.
AN-6
The An-6 was developed by Antonov in 1948 on the basis of the An-2, from which the An-6 externally differed in the presence of a meteorologist's cabin at the base of the keel. The aircraft was intended for high-altitude meteorological research and for use as transport in high-altitude regions. The aircraft was equipped with an ASh-62R engine with a turbocharger, which allows the engine to maintain its power up to an altitude of 10,000 m. The aircraft was produced until 1958; in total, several aircraft of this modification were built. It was on the An-6 on June 9, 1954 that pilots V. A. Kalinin and V. Baklaikin in Kiev set an altitude record for this class of aircraft - 11,248 m.
AN-10
The development of the An-10 aircraft began in 1955 after a visit to the design bureau by the head of the USSR, N. S. Khrushchev. During a conversation with him, Antonov proposed to create a single four-engine aircraft, but in two versions: passenger and cargo. Khrushchev approved the concept, and the An-10 made its first flight on March 7, 1957. The An-10 was designed so that in case of war it could be quickly converted into a cargo plane. The aircraft became the first airliner in the USSR with a turboprop engine and the first such aircraft was put into mass production. According to calculations, the An-10 at the end of the 50s was among the most profitable aircraft: the cost of transporting one passenger was significantly lower than on the Tu-104A, primarily due to the higher passenger capacity. In addition, in the USSR there were only a few airports capable of receiving jet Tu. The An-10 also possessed a combination of properties rare for a passenger liner: high flight speed and the ability to take off and land on unpaved and snow-covered airfields with a small runway. Considering these features, Aeroflot operated the An-10 on short routes with poorly prepared and unpaved lanes. And the first flight of the Aeroflot An-10 took place on July 22, 1959 on the Moscow-Simferopol route.
Until 1960, 108 aircraft were produced.
AN-14
The development of the An-14 light twin-engine multi-purpose short takeoff and landing aircraft, nicknamed "the bee", began at the end of 1950. On March 14, 1958, the "bee" flew into the sky for the first time. The aircraft had a wing span of 22 m and an area of 39, 72 m2 with automatic and controlled slats, retractable flaps and hovering ailerons. Such a mechanized wing provided the aircraft with a steep take-off and landing trajectory and stable gliding at low speeds. "Pchelka", even with its relatively large size, could take off and land at very small unpaved airfields. For takeoff in calm weather, it was enough for a strip 100-110 m long, with a headwind - even 60-70 m. The plane could reach a maximum speed of up to 200 km / h. With a maximum takeoff weight of 3750 kg, the An-14 lifted up to 720 kg of payload into the air. "Pchelka" was used as a passenger, transport, communications, ambulance, agricultural aircraft. In the passenger version, six seats were placed in its cabin, the seventh passenger took a seat next to the pilot. Serial production of the An-14 began in 1965 in Arsenyev, in total 340 aircraft were built until 1970, mass operation continued until the early 80s.
AN-22
The An-22, nicknamed "Antey", marked a new step in aircraft construction - it became the world's first wide-body aircraft. In size, it surpassed everything that had been created in the world aviation by that time. After the International Paris Air Show on June 15, 1965, the British Times wrote: "Thanks to this aircraft, the Soviet Union was ahead of all other countries in aircraft construction." And the French newspaper Humanite, whose journalists expected to see the largest plane in the world monstrous and shapeless, called the An-22 "elegant and thoroughbred, touching the ground very softly, without the slightest shaking."
"Antey" was created for the transportation of oversized cargo weighing up to 50 thousand kg: intercontinental ballistic missiles, engineering and combat armored and non-armored vehicles to artificial and unpaved runways. With the advent of the An-22 in aviation, the problems of transporting various weapons and equipment in the Soviet Union were almost completely resolved. An-22 could land a full company of paratroopers or 1–4 units of armored vehicles on platforms. In total, "Antey" has set over 40 world records for all the time. So, in 1965, An-22 lifted a load weighing 88, 1 ton into the sky to a height of 6600 m, which set as many as 12 world records. In 1967, Antey lifts a cargo weighing about 100.5 tons into the sky to a height of 7800 m. In 1975, Antey made a 5000-kilometer flight with a cargo weighing 40 tons at a speed of about 600 km / h. In addition, "Antey" is the record holder for airborne cargo.
The An-22 made its first flight on February 27, 1965. Serial production was organized at the Tashkent aircraft plant. The first Antaeus began to enter the Air Force in January 1969. Production of the aircraft continued until January 1976. For 12 years, the Tashkent aircraft plant has built 66 heavy aircraft "Antey", of which 22 - in the An-22A version.
