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Antonov An-22 Antey (Антей in Russian; NATO reporting name Cock) was the world's largest aircraft, until the advent of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Powered by 4 contrarotating turboprops, the design remains the world's largest turboprop-powered airplane. It was first introduced to Westerners at the 1965 Paris Air Show.
Design features
The An-22 is basically an enlarged version of the earlier Antonov An-12 except that it is fitted with a twin tail. This gives the An-22 better engine-out performance, and reduces height restrictions for hangars. Also of note are large anti-flutter masses on the top of each tail.
Being designed as a strategic airlifter, it has the capability to takeoff from austere, unpaved and short airstrips. This is achieved by four pairs of contra-rotating propellers, similar to those on the Tupolev Tu-114. The engines generate significant thrust, and produce a slipstream over the wings and large double-slotted flaps. The landing gear is ruggedized for rough airstrips, and tire pressures can be adjusted in flight for optimum landing performance.
The An-22 follows traditional cargo transport design with a high-mounted wing allowing a cavernous cargo space of 108 ft (33 m) in length and a usable volume of 22,500 cubic feet (639 m³). The forward fuselage is pressurized and provides space for 5 to 8 crew and up to 28 passengers, but the cargo space is unpressurized allowing 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.
Only one production variant was built, the standard An-22. Prototypes, such as the one first featured at the 1965 Paris Air Show had fully-glazed noses that lacked the radar of production models.
Operational History
The An-22 was originally built for the Soviet Air Force and Aeroflot, the state airline. Approximately 45 remained in service by the mid-1990s, mostly with the Russian Air Force, but these are slowly being replaced by the bigger turbofan-powered Antonov An-124. Currently one An-22 is in use for civilian cargo duties by Antonov Airlines.
A proposed civil airliner version capable of seating 724 passengers on upper and lower decks was not built. (For comparison, a typical Boeing 747 can carry 400-500 passengers.)
As of 2004 there had been 8 accidents with a total of 83 fatalities.
As a side note, Antaeus is an odd name for an airplane. Its namesake in Greek mythology was extremely strong only while his feet touched the ground, and was easily defeated when Heracles lifted him in the air.
Operators
Civil
Military
- Soviet Union/Russia
Specifications (An-22)
Notes
References
External links
Related content
Soviet cargo aircraft 1960-1969 | Soviet military transport aircraft 1960-1969
"Antonov An-22"