Antonov Aircrafts - Largest Biplane Ever
News | December 3, 2010The Antonov Aircrafts is a Russian nickname which means maize worker. Antonov An-2 was a biplane with single engine that was manufactured from 1946. Antonoy Aircrafts were used for utility purposes and was mainly used in agriculture.
This Antonov Aircrafts can also be tagged as the largest biplane aircraft. The AN-2 is still today used as a parachute drop aircraft, for light utility transport, for agricultural activities and for many other activities that involves slow flying. The aircraft is used for sparing pesticides and other spraying work. The biplane flies slow and is with good field performance. The aircraft has its name in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest production run aircraft that counts 45 years. Very recent the record of An-2 was broken by Lockheed C 130 Hercules.
The design of the Antonov An-2 was a Soviet requirement that was replaced by Polikarpov Po-2. The redesigned aircraft was used as a utility and agricultural aircraft. For the Soviet requirement the Antonov Aircrafts designed an biplane aircraft that was with an enclosed cockpit and a cabin that could accommodate twelve passengers. The early Antonov An-2 was fitted with a Shvetsov ASh-62 engine that could carry 4,720 lb. out of all the aircraft manufactured 90 percent of the aircraft were meant to serve the USSR. Since 1960, 10,000 An-2 were produced and out of it 5500 were for agricultural use.
The Antonov Aircrafts had many variants each serving many purpose. The AN2 was a single engine biplane for special purposes. The An-2P was a passenger aircraft with 12 passenger capacity. The An-2PK was an executive aircraft with a seating capacity of five.
Below I have discussed about the passenger version of the An-2 aircraft.
The power plant on the aircraft was the single PZL ASz-62IR engine that drives 4 blade variable pitch propeller. The plane was with 6 fuel tanks that could drink 1200 liters of fuel and 120 liters of oil.
Let me take you trough the technical specification
Max level speed : 1500 m 253 km/h
Economy cruising speed : 185 km/h
Stalling speed : 90 km/h
Max rate of climb : S/L 3 m/s
Service ceiling : 4400 m
Landing run (grass) : 185 m
Hard runway : 170m
Range : 1000 m with 700 kg payload 1370 km
Empty Weight : 3450 kg; Max T-O weight 5500 kg; Useful load 2050 kg
Maximum fuel weight : 900 kg
Max wing : loading 78.82 kg/m2
Max power loading : 5.5 kg/hp
Propeller diameter : 3.60 m; ground clearance 0.69 m
Wing area : 71.6 m2
Cargo door height : 1.55 m
Cargo door width : 1.39 m
Equipment on the aircraft included blind flying instruments and dual controls, Radio transceivers Becker AR400, ARK-9 radio compass, Beacon MRP-5EP receiver, gyroscopic direction indicator, gyro compass and intercom.
Flyers all over the world still enjoy the flight of the An-2. It has been over 50 years and with more than 15,000 units built there is almost nothing that can match to the flying experience of the single engine biplane.
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