An-22 Antei - History - First Flights

On August 18, the Day of the USSR Air Fleet, in a solemn ceremony the transfer of machine No. 0101 (USSR-46191) for flight tests took place. It was rolled out of the assembly shop without the GLASSES (detachable part of the wing), because the wingspan exceeded the gate opening by almost 20 m, and wooden pads were installed under the front landing gear to lower the tail - the keels also did not fit through the gate. From that moment on, the new aircraft received the designation An-22 Antey. Since the AB-90 propellers were not yet sufficiently tested, the first aircraft was equipped with NK-12MV engines with AB-60 propellers.

At the beginning of 1964, to ensure the first flight of “product 100”, a special brigade was formed, freed from other work. It included about 100 of the most experienced specialists from among the engineering and flight-lifting personnel. The pilots were selected by a commission chaired by A.N. Gratsiansky, Deputy Chief Designer for Flight Tests, Hero of the Soviet Union. The famous test pilot Gallay M.L. participated in its work on behalf of LII. Four candidates were selected for the first flight: Yu.V. Kurlina. , Davydov I.E., Tersky V.I. and Mitronin A.F. They were sent to the LII, where they made several flights on the Tu-95 under the leadership of I.M. Sukhomlin. - chief pilot of the Tupolev Design Bureau. After this, Yu.V. Kurlin was appointed commander of the first “weaving” crew, and V.I. Tersky, who by that time had 7500 hours and 2500 hours of flight time, respectively, was appointed as the second pilot.

When the engine was first started, a curious incident occurred. “As soon as I,” recalls flight engineer V.M. Vorotnikov, “transferred the throttle from low throttle to takeoff mode, A.P. Eskin (chief of the operations team) ran into the cabin. He said that a powerful jet of gases knocked him off his feet. passing by Belolipetsky, and turned over the booth with the Vokhrovets and threw it to the side.”

The first taxis and runs of the An-22 took place in August. The aircraft was brought into the workshop several times for modifications: titanium was replaced with stainless steel in the design of high-altitude equipment, the hydraulics were redone, etc. The cause of many problems was the multi-post chassis. Subsequently, most of all the troubles during testing of the An-22 were associated with the chassis.

Due to the fact that the airfield of the Kiev aircraft plant No. 473 in Svyatoshino, which is used by the Antonov Design Bureau, has a short runway length (according to documents - 1800 m, and according to Kurlin, who personally took measurements, - 1750 m), for safety in case of interruption after takeoff, sand was poured at the end of the runway. But on February 27, the sand froze, and the safety zone turned into a very dangerous one. However, they decided not to postpone the flight. The crew's confidence in the successful completion of the mission played an important role. The An-22 was lifted into the air by the crew consisting of: commander Yu.V. Kurlin, co-pilot V.I. Tersky, navigator P.V. Koshkin, flight engineer V.M. Vorotnikov, flight radio operator N.F. Drobyshev, flight electrician M. Rachenko. P., leading flight test engineer V.N. Shatalov.

On February 27, an aircraft with a take-off weight of 165 tons, having run 1200 m, easily took off from the runway. Since the unpaved airfield of the OKB flight test base in Gostomel, which had become soggy during the recent thaw, froze that day, the landing was made at a military airfield in the city of Uzin, Kyiv region. The first flight lasted 1 hour 10 minutes. and, according to the crew members, went well. The next time "Antey" took off a month later. In Uzin, the aircraft performed 3 flights to determine takeoff and landing characteristics, and on May 10 it flew to Gostomel, where its tests were continued.

In June, the tests were interrupted - they decided to show the plane at the Paris International Air Show. After the show, the An-22 received the NATO code name "COCK" ("Rooster"). Returning from France, the An-22 continued testing. Soon, one of the NK-12MV engines was replaced on the plane with an NK-12MA, and after a number of test flights it was completely equipped with new propulsion systems.

The tests of the first "Antey" did not go smoothly. One day, during a flight from Boryspil to Gostomel, a prerequisite for a serious flight accident occurred. Immediately after takeoff, two powerful blows were heard in the underground part of the fuselage. After the inspection, flight engineer Vorotnikov reported to Kurlin that the hinge units of the right front main landing gear had been destroyed. Before landing, only the rear support was released on the starboard side - the middle pillar, as was discovered already on the ground, was also torn off, although the cause was a manufacturing defect, however, the KT-109 wheels (weight 530 kg) were replaced with lighter KT-130 (450 kg) ).

Subsequently, during operation in combat units, this defect was repeated on two aircraft. In the early 80s, during scheduled flights in the 566th flight on the USSR-09340 aircraft , after takeoff from the Seshcha airfield, the flight director saw that something had separated from the aircraft while the landing gear was being retracted and gave the command to the crew to inspect the aircraft. According to eyewitnesses, the torn shock absorber with pneumatics, when it hit the ground, jumped to the height of a five-story building. The crew, having examined the chassis, discovered a break in the front right main strut. Having received the flight director’s command to proceed to Ivanovo (at the same time to develop fuel and a repair plant nearby), the crew safely landed the plane at the Severny airfield.

Aircraft RA-08839 (0201) was a transition machine from the first to the second series. The aircraft also underwent factory testing. The Kupol-22 flight and navigation system was tested on it. The aircraft arrived to the regiment in 1976 from Tashkent, where it was undergoing repairs after a rough landing with a heavy overload by test pilot M.L. Popovich. The plane was ferried to Ivanovo by the crew of the deputy regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel V.A. Galyas.

In 1977, the regiment almost lost this aircraft. On December 12, delivering weapons to Angola, the crew of Major L.V. Kalinin. landed in Addis Ababa. After landing, Kalinin, trying to turn 180° on a runway only 40 m wide (the minimum turning radius of the Antey is 30 m), went beyond the width of the runway. The heavy plane got stuck in soft ground. It was not possible to get him out by airfield means. The international airport was blocked for two days. Moscow decided to destroy the plane by shooting off the tail unit from a heavy machine gun. Senior on-board technician for JSC Captain Baranov A.S. suggested removing the main landing gear one by one and placing flooring under the wheels. Fortunately, this proposal was accepted and two hours before the deadline for liquidation, the plane was pulled out by two tanks.

In the fall, due to unstable weather conditions in Kyiv, the first Antey flew to Tashkent, where its testing continued. At that time, the Tashkent Aviation Plant, which had previously participated in cooperation on the construction of the first An-22, in accordance with MAP order No. 119 dated June 10, 1965, launched mass production of these machines.

On November 16, An-22 No. 0103 (USSR-56391) rolled off the plant's stocks . The first Tashkent "Antey" was lifted into the air on January 27, 1966 by a crew led by Kurlin. During 1966-1967, the plant produced another 7 aircraft of the first experimental series. Factory tests of these machines mainly took place at the OKB flight base in Gostomel.

In June 1967, Antey was again presented at the Paris Air Show. Machine No. 0103 (USSR-56391) did not take part in demonstration flights, but after making several flights, it delivered almost the entire Soviet exposition to Le Bourget, including the Vostok spacecraft. Soon the An-22 was publicly shown in the Soviet Union. On July 9, at Domodedovo Airport near Moscow, the first three production vehicles demonstrated the landing of military equipment during an air parade dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. On October 17, the crew led by I.E. Davydov. on machine No. 0103 (USSR-56391) he lifted a load weighing 100444.6 kg to a height of 7848 m. To load the aircraft, concrete blocks weighing from 6 to 12 tons each were specially made. To date, the absolute payload records set by the An-22 have been broken by the S-5A and An-124, however, even today the number of Antey’s world records reaches 41. Twelve of them were set by the crew under the command of Marina Popovich.

State tests of "Antey" began in October 1967. Leading specialists from the Air Force Research Institute took part in them: test pilot A. Timofeev, test navigator M. Kotlyuba, engineer N. Zhukovsky and others. During the tests, 40 flights were carried out to determine stall characteristics. For safety reasons, an anti-spin parachute was installed on the plane, the 100 m long fastening halyard could withstand a force of 50 tf. The flights were carried out over desert terrain in the Tashkent area with a reduced crew: commander - Kurlin, co-pilot - Ketov, flight engineer - Vorotnikov, who also performed the work of navigator and radio operator. As a result of these tests, it was concluded that with correct and timely actions by the pilot, the An-22 recovers from a stall without delay and therefore getting into a spin is unlikely. To recover from a stall, it is enough to deflect the steering wheel “away from you” with neutral ailerons and launch vehicle. However, full deflection of the steering wheel leads to a steep dive and makes it difficult to bring the aircraft into level flight. The anti-spin parachute was never used in the tests, although it was tested in one of the flights: on the horizontal section the parachute was released and fired after 8 seconds. The characteristics of a steady spin in a wide range of alignments (16.6-39.5% MAR) were studied using a dynamically similar model in the TsAGI vertical wind tunnel.

In June 1969, the An-22 for the first time, as part of the Paris Air Show, performed several demonstration flights, including a spectacular low-altitude flight: machine No. 0103 (USSR-56391) , piloted by Kurlin, flew no higher than 20 m with two engines turned off. starboard side (on the spectator side).