"Kukuruznik" (An-2 aircraft): engine, speed and photo

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

There is no such person who does not know about this aircraft and does not admire its achievements. In this article we will talk a little about its history, device, characteristics and application. "Kukuruznik" (An-2 aircraft) is a biplane with a braced wing, a light transport aircraft. “Foal”, “Donkey”, Colt - its names according to NATO codification. 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. Takeoff weight - 5250 kilograms.

A bit of history

The idea of creating this machine was put forward in 1940 by O. K. Antonov. We needed a multi-purpose light aircraft with a carrying capacity of 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 without problems from small areas. Soon the war began, because of which the relevancethe creation of such an agricultural machine has faded into the background. But as the territory was liberated and the national economy and the economy were restored, the issue again became a priority. "Kukuruznik" (An-2 aircraft) was developed in Antonov's OKB-153, and the first flight on it was performed in 1947, on August 31st, by Volodin P. N. - test pilot. It got its popular name from Po-2.

Along with other achievements and records, the An-2 is the only aircraft in the world that has been in production for over 60 years. It is currently being made in China. In the Soviet Union itself, serial production was completed in 1960, having built more than 5,000 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 during the same time. 10,440 were delivered to the USSR, then to the CIS. Our long-lived "maize" - the plane, the photo of which you see - was exported to 26 countries.

Operation of An-2

This aircraft was operated in the Soviet Union in many areas. Very widely - on air lines of short length for the purpose of transporting goods and passengers. Also, the "maize" (An-2 aircraft) performed, as it was intended, various national economic tasks, including chemical aerial work. He took the baton from Po-2 for sowing fields with corn.

Being very easy to operate, the biplane is suitable for operation from small unprepared sites with unpavedcoating, as it has low mileage and takeoff. An-2 is indispensable in the underdeveloped territories of Central Asia, Siberia, the Far North, where it was used everywhere. The Ministry of Transport of Russia in 2012 announced the start in 2015 of a deep modernization of about 800 pieces of the aircraft we are considering, during which the aeronautical equipment and engines will be replaced.

Modifications of "maize"

“Kukuruznik” - An-2 - has many modifications. Here are some of them:

1. An-2M is a modernized single-seat agricultural aircraft.
2. An-2PP - fire-fighting, civilian, with a float chassis.
3. An-2SH - civilian agricultural.
4. An-2S - ambulance.
5. An-2TP - passenger transport.
6. An-2T - transport.
7. An-2TD - airborne transport.
8. An-2F - aircraft for aerial photography. With conventional autopilot and fuselage, civil variant.



9. An-2F - night artillery reconnaissance and photo reconnaissance. It has a glazed tail section and two keels. Armed with a UBT machine gun or an NS-23 automatic cannon. Test pilot Pashkevich made its first flight in April 1949. Not mass-produced.
10. An-2 called "interceptor" in the 1960s was produced with a searchlight and a twin machine-gun turret to intercept enemy reconnaissance balloons.
11. An-3 is an aircraft with a TVD-20 turboprop engine.
12. An-4 - waterborne, with float landing gear.
13. An-6 - sounderatmosphere, a weather scout with an additional cabin at the base of the keel.

Some interesting facts

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

1. The first aircraft model, the U-2, made its first flight on January 7, 1928. It was created under the leadership of Nikolay Polikarpov.
2. In the Soviet Union, pilots were trained on the U-2. Thanks to him, the road to heaven was opened to thousands of pilots.
3. In 1932, the U-2VS could carry six eight-kilogram bombs on special holders, and in the rear cockpit there was a gunner's point equipped with a PV-1 machine gun.



4. We already wrote how much the take-off biplane weighs, the empty training one is only 656 kg. The maximum speed of the “maize” is 135-150 km / h, he needs no more than 15 meters for a run and run.
5. During the war of 1941-1945, the Germans were very afraid of the Soviet U-2, called them “sewing machine” and “coffee grinder”. Especially during the night bombings.
6. During the war years, women began to be drafted, who then became biplane pilots. 23 of them were awarded the title of Hero.
7. At ultra-low altitudes, they were completely invisible to air defense systems. This made them very difficult to shoot down.
8. Test pilots from Ukraine on this aircraft conquered the South Pole.

The heart of our aircraft

In the Soviet Union, the construction of everything new was carried out under the slogan "Higher, further, faster." The same can be said about such a component.aircraft, like the engine of the "corncob". At that time, there was a general enthusiasm for gas turbine engines, so in the 50s of the last century, they began to develop gas turbine engines for the An-2. But then nothing came of this venture. And only ten years later they developed TVD-10. They did this under the leadership of Glushenkov V. A. in the Omsk ICD. The next option was already for An-3.

It happened in 1971. And the TV2-117C engine was installed under the cockpit. Then an aircraft appeared with two TVD-850s, which were located in the bow and rotated the propeller through a common gearbox. In 1979, they created a gas turbine TVD-20, under which the An-2 was modernized.

"Kukuruznik" (An-2 aircraft), characteristics

This biplane has the following performance characteristics:

1. 5500 kg - maximum takeoff weight.
2. 3400-3900 kg - the mass of an empty biplane.
3. 5250 kg - maximum landing weight.
4. 1240 liters is the mass of fuel.
5. 155-190 km/h is cruising speed.
6. 990 km - flight range performed with load.
7. 4, 5 km is the flight altitude ceiling.



8. 12, 4 meters is the length of a biplane.
9. 5, 35 meters high.
10. 8, 425 is the span of the upper wing.
11. 5, 795 is the span of the lower wing.
12. 71, 52 square meters - wing area.
13. Two people - the crew.
14. 12 - the number of passengers, the An-2TD modification can accommodate paratroopers - 10.

An-2 equipment

What can you see if you look into the “corncob” today? The aircraft, the photo of the latest models confirms this, is equipped with fairly modern equipment: ARK-9 radio compass, A-037 radio altimeter, GPK-48 gyro-semi-compass, MRP-56P marker receiver, GIK-1 heading combined system.

Communication equipment includes: SPU-7 - intercom, radio stations RS-6102 MW band and R-842 MW band.

Conclusion

Unexplainedly, the blueprint of the “maize” and the intellectual rights to the aircraft ended up in the ownership of the Polish company Airbus Military. In May 2014, it turned out that for more than two years the Ukrainian design bureau of Antonov has not provided a single document to the Russian side that could confirm the rights to the biplane. For this reason, it is not possible to develop a new regional airplane based on the kukuruznik (An-2) aircraft.

After an investigation, it turned out that the rights were sold during the Soviet era. Therefore, today we have to limit ourselves to the modernization of existing models. But there are more than 1,500 of them in Russia at the moment, so the An-2 fleet of various modifications will be restored.