"Corn" (An-2): the engine, speed and photo

There is no such person who would not have known about this plane and did not admire his achievements. In this article we will tell you a little about its history, device, characteristics and application. "Corn" (An-2) is a biplane with a wingspan, light transport aircraft. "Foal", "Colt", Colt - its name on the codification of NATO. In the history of world aviation, the AN-24 is the largest single-engine biplane. This changed only after the appearance of its modification - An-3. The aircraft has one Shvetsov engine with a capacity of one thousand horsepower. Weight on take-off - 5250 kg.

A bit of history

The idea of creating this machine was put forward in 1940 by OK Antonov. We needed a multipurpose light aircraft with a carrying capacity from one to one and a half tons for use in agriculture, military transport aviation, hard-to-reach areas of the USSR, capable of taking off from small areas without problems. Soon the war began, because of which the urgency of the creation of such an agricultural machine was put on the back burner. But in process of clearing of territory and restoration of a national economy, economy the question again left in number of prime. "Corn" (An-2 aircraft) developed in OKB-153 Antonova, and the first flight on it was carried out in 1947, August 31, Volodin PN - test pilot. He received his popular name from Po-2. Along with other achievements and records, the An-2 is the only aircraft in the world that produces more than 60 years. Currently, this is done in China. In the Soviet Union itself, its mass production was completed in 1960, having built more than 5000 biplanes. After that, the release continued under license in Poland and China. In the first - 12 000 cars from 1957 to 1992, in the second - 950 for the same time. 10 440 was supplied to the USSR, then to the CIS. Our long-lived "corn-cob" - the aircraft, whose photo you see - was exported to 26 countries.

Operation An-2

This aircraft was operated in the Soviet Union in many ways. Very widely - on long-distance air lines for the purpose of transporting goods and passengers. Also, the "corn" (An-2) carried out, as it was intended, various national economic tasks, including chemical aviation works. He took the baton at Po-2 for sowing fields with corn. Being very simple to operate, the biplane is suitable for working with small unprepared sites with a ground covering, since it has a small run and a take-off. An-2 is indispensable in the underdeveloped territories of Central Asia, Siberia, the Far North, where it was universally applied. The Ministry of Transport of Russia in 2012 announced the beginning in 2015 of a profound modernization of about 800 pieces of aircraft under consideration, under which the air navigation equipment and engines will be replaced.

Modifications of "corn"

"Corn" - An-2 - has many modifications. Here are some of them:

1. An-2M is a single modernized agricultural aircraft.
2. An-2PP - fire, civil, with a float chassis.
3. An-2СХ - civil agricultural.
4. An-2S - sanitary.
5. An-2TP - passenger and transport.
6. An-2T - transport.
7. An-2TD - landing and transport.
8. An-2F is an airplane for aerial photography. With the usual autopilot and fuselage, the civilian version.
9. An-2F - night artillery scout and photo-scout. Has a glazed tail and two keels. In service - a machine gun UBT or automatic cannon NS-23. Pilot-tester Pashkevich performed the first flight in April 1949. Serially not produced.
10. An-2 named "interceptor" in the 1960s was produced with a searchlight and a twin machine gun turret for intercepting enemy reconnaissance balloons.
11. An-3 is an airplane with a TVD-20 turboprop engine.
12. An-4 - water, with a float chassis.
13. An-6 is an atmospheric sounder, a weather scout, which has an additional cabin at the base of the keel.

Some interesting facts

Biplane, distinguished by longevity, has accumulated a lot of interesting things in its history. Here are some facts:

1. The first model of the plane, U-2, made its first flight on January 7, 1928. It was created under the leadership of Polikarpov Nikolai.
2. In the Soviet Union, U-2 pilots were trained. Thanks to him, the road to heaven was opened to thousands of pilots.
3. In 1932 on board U-2BC could accommodate six eight-kilogram bombs on special holders, and in the rear cabin there was a point of the arrow equipped with a machine gun PV-1.
4. How much does the take-off biplane weigh, we already wrote, an empty training one - only 656 kg. Maximum speed "corn" - 135-150 km / h, not more than 15 meters, he needs for running and running.
5. In the war of 1941-1945 the Germans were very afraid of the Soviet U-2, they called them "sewing machine" and "coffee grinder". Especially during night bombing.
6. During the war years, women were called to become pilots for the biplane. 23 of them awarded the title of Hero.
7. At extremely low altitudes, they were completely invisible for air defense. Because of this, it was very difficult to bring down.
8. Test pilots from Ukraine on this aircraft conquered the South Pole.

"Heart" of our aircraft

In the Soviet Union, the construction of everything new was carried out under the slogan "Higher, Farther, Faster". The same can be said about such a component of the aircraft as the "corn mower" engine. At that time, there was a general enthusiasm for gas turbine engines, so in the 50s of the last century they began to develop a GTE for the An-2. But then nothing came of this venture. And only ten years later, TVD-10 was developed. They did it under the leadership of VA Glushenkov in the Omsk ICB. The next option was already for An-3. This happened in 1971. And the TV2-117C engine was installed under the crew cabin. Then there was a plane with two TVD-850, which were located in the bow and a rotor was rotated by means of a common reducer. In 1979, the gas turbine TVD-20 was created, under which the An-2 was modernized.

"Kukuruznik" (An-2 plane), characteristics

This biplane has the following performance characteristics:

1. 5500 kg - Take-off maximum mass.
2. 3400-3900 kg is the mass of an empty biplane.
3. 5250 kg is the maximum landing mass.
4. 1240 liters - the mass of fuel.
5. 155-190 km / h - cruising speed.
6. 990 km is the range of flight performed with the load.
7. 4,5 km - flight altitude.
8. 12.4 meters is the length of the biplane.
9. 5.35 meters is the height.
10. 8, 425 - the swing of the upper wing.
11. 5,795 - swing of the lower wing.
12. 71.52 meters square - the area of the wing.
13. Two people are a crew.
14. 12 - the number of passengers, the modification of the An-2TD can accommodate paratroopers-paratroopers - 10.

Equipment An-2

What can you see if today look into the "corn"? The airplane, photos of the latest models confirm this, it is equipped with modern equipment: ARC-9 radio compass, radio altimeter A-037, gyro-companion GPK-48, marker receiver MPP-56P, exchange combined system GIK-1. Communication equipment includes: SPU-7 - intercom, radio stations RS-6102 MB and R-842 CB range.

Conclusion

Incomprehensibly, the drawing of the "corn" and the intellectual rights to the plane were owned by the Polish company Airbus Military. In May 2014 it became clear that for more than two years, the Ukrainian design bureau Antonova did not provide a single document to the Russian side, which could confirm the rights to the biplane. For this reason, it is not possible to develop a new regional airplane on the basis of an airplane "kukuruznik" (An-2). After the investigation, it turned out that the rights were sold under the Soviet regime. So today we have to limit ourselves to the modernization of existing models. But there are more than 1500 of them in Russia at the moment, so the An-2 fleet of various modifications will be restored.