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| Antonov_An-22 Antei, 7 September 2008. (Sulivanmark / Wiki Common) |
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| Antonov An-22 landing at Gostomel Airport, 11 September 2016. (Vasiliy Koba / Wiki Common) |
Powered by four turboprop engines each driving a pair of contra-rotating propellers, the design was the first wide-body transport aircraft and remains the world's largest turboprop-powered aircraft to date.
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| Antonov An-22 Antheus at Tolmachevo Airport in Novosibirsk, 12 April 2013. (Alex Polezhaev / Wiki Common) |
The An-22 is an impressive aircraft with a take-off weight of 225,000 kg, a fuselage diameter of 6 meters, and it has the world’s biggest propellers with a diameter of 6.2 m.
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| Antonov An-22 Antei. (Árpád Gordos / Wiki Common) |
The An-22 first appeared publicly outside the Soviet Union at the 1965 Paris Air Show. Thereafter, the model saw extensive use in major military and humanitarian airlifts for the Soviet Union, and is still in service with the Russian Air Force.
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| (Clemens Vasters / Wiki Common) |
In the late 1950s, the Soviet Union required a large military transport aircraft to supplement the Antonov An-8 and An-12s then entering service. Originally known as the An-20, the model is a conventional multi-engined high-wing design.
In the early 1960s, the Antonov bureau produced a wooden mock up at its Kyiv, Ukraine, workshops of what was designated the Model 100. The prototype, now designated the An-22, was rolled out on 18 August 1964 and first flew on 27 February 1965.
The prototype was given the name Antheus and, after four-months of test flying, was displayed at the 1965 Paris Air Show. All aircraft were built at the Tashkent State Aircraft Factory and the first military delivery was made to the Air Transport Wing at Ivanovo Airbase in 1969.
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| Antonov An-22 navigation. (Galak / Wiki Common) |
The aircraft was designed as a strategic airlifter, designed specifically to expand the Soviet Airborne Troops' capability to land with their then-new BMD-1 armoured vehicles. The An-22 cargo hold can accommodate four BMD-1s compared to only one in the An-12.
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| An-22 Сockpit. (Galak / Wiki Common) |
The propellers and exhaust from the engines produce a slipstream over the wings and large double-slotted flaps. The landing gear is ruggedized for rough airstrips. In early versions tire pressures could be adjusted in flight for optimum landing performance. That feature was removed in later models.
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| Cabin of UR-64460, a Soviet-era Antonov An-22 cargo plane, in the Technik Museum Speyer, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. (Clemens Vasters / Wiki Common) |
The An-22 follows traditional cargo transport design with a high-mounted wing allowing a large cargo space of 33 m in length and a usable volume of 639 m³. The forward fuselage is fully pressurized and provides space for 5 to 8 crew and up to 28 passengers, but the cargo space is pressurized to only 3.55 PSI / 0.245 bar allowing for a lighter airframe.
A door equipped with pressure bulkhead is located at frame 14, separating the cargo attendant's compartment from the main cargo compartment. This allows the rear cargo doors to be opened during flight for paratroops and equipment drop. Like the An-12, the aircraft has a circular fuselage section. The An-22 has set a number of payload and payload-to-height world records.
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| Antonov An-22. (Dmitry Terekhov / Wiki Common) |
Since entering service, the An-22 has set 14 payloads to height records, of which the most impressive was an airlift of metal blocks weighing 100 metric tons (220,500 pounds) to an altitude of 7,848 meters ( 25,748 feet).
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| Antonov An-22. (Dmitry A. Mottl / Wiki Common) |
It is unlikely that a turboprop of this size will be ever built again, and as the aircraft ages, it is only a matter of time before they will be all gone.
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| Antonov An-22 Antei. (Dmitry A. Mottl / Wiki Common) |
Variants
- An-22. Three original prototypes were built at the Antonov facility in Kyiv, Ukraine, with glass nose.
- An-22. Initial production variant with external start system, 37 built at Tashkent.
- An-22A. Improved variant with air-start capability, modified electrical system, and updated radio and navigation equipment, 28 built at Tashkent.
- An-22PZ. Conversion of two An-22s to carry wing centre sections or outer wings of Antonov An-124 or An-225 externally above fuselage. Fitted with third centreline fin.
Several other An-22 variants were projected and constructed by Antonov but never entered serial production, notably a nuclear-powered aircraft and a ballistic missile platform.
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| Antonov An-22 Antei. (Dmitry A. Mottl / Wiki Common) |
Specifications (An-22)
General characteristics
- Crew: 5–6
- Capacity: 28–29 pax / 80,000 kg maximum payload
- Length: 57.92 m approx (dependent on nose config.)
- Wingspan: 64.4 m
- Height: 12.53 m
- Wing area: 345 m2
- Empty weight: 114,000 kg
- Max takeoff weight: 250,000 kg
- Fuel capacity: 43,000 kg maximum
- Powerplant: 4 × Kuznetsov NK-12MA turboprop engines, 11,000 kW (15,000 shp) each (equivalent)
- Propellers: 8-bladed contra-rotating constant-speed reversible-pitch propeller
Performance
- Maximum speed: 740 km/h (460 mph)
- Range: 5,000 km (3,100 mi, 2,700 nmi) with maximum payload
- Wing loading: 724.6 kg/m2 (148.4 lb/sq ft) max
- Take-off run: 1,300 m (4,265 ft)
- Landing run: 800 m (2,625 ft)
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