Antonov An-12 Totally Explained

Everything about the Antonov An-12 totally explained

The Antonov An-12 (NATO reporting name: Cub) is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10.

Design and development

The first prototype flew in March 1957. Over 900 had been built, in both military and civilian versions, before production finally ended in 1973. The An-12BP entered Soviet military service in 1959. In terms of configuration, size and capability, the aircraft is very similar to the United States built Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Military Soviet planes have a defensive tail gun turret.

Chinese production

In the 1960s, China purchased several An-12 aircraft from the Soviet Union, along with license to assemble the aircraft locally. However, due to the Sino-Soviet split, the Soviet Union withdrew its technical assistance. It wasn't until 1974, when the first Chinese-assembled An-12 had its maiden flight. The Xi'an Aircraft Company and Xi'an Aircraft Design Institute worked to reverse engineer the An-12 for local production. (External Link

) By 1981, the Chinese copy version of An-12, named Yun-8 (Y-8) entered serial production. Since then, the Y-8 has become one of China's most popular military and civilian transport/cargo aircraft, with many variants produced and exported. Although the An-12 is no longer made in Russia or Ukraine, the Chinese Y-8 continues to be upgraded and produced. The latest Y-8-F600 is a joint venture between Shaanxi Aircraft Company, Antonov Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex (ASTC), and Pratt & Whitney Canada. The Y-8-F600 has redesigned fuselage, western avionics, PW150B turboprop engine with an R-408 propeller system, and 2-man glass cockpit. (External Link

)

In popular culture

In the 2005 movie Lord of War, the main character Yuri Orlov, played by Nicolas Cage, commonly uses an Antonov An-12 to transport weapons, and is later said to have "a fleet" of such planes. Andrew Niccol, the director of Lord of War, stated that they actually used one of Viktor Bout's An-12 aircraft in the movie.
In November 2006, Antonov AN-12s were used in the CBS series Jericho, episode "RED FLAG" to air drop Chinese food and supplies to the residents of Jericho Kansas following a series of nuclear terrorist attacks across America.
The An-12 is featured in Andy McNab's 2006 book entitled Recoil, where it's used to Transport the fictional character Nick Stone to and from The Democratic Republic of the Congo to save his girlfriend, Silky, from the LRA, a Rebel Group.

Variants

An-12B : Civilian transport version.
An-12BP : Military transport version.
An-12 Cub-A : Electronic intelligence version.
An-12 Cub-B : Electronic intelligence version.
An-12 Cub-C : Electronic countermeasures version.

Operators

Currently the An-12 is very popular with cargo operators, especially those in the CIS, Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Civil operators

In August 2006 a total of 179 Antonov An-12 aircraft remain in airline service. Major operators include: Air Guinee (4), Alada (5), British Gulf International Airlines (7), Avial Aviation (4), Heli Air Service (4), Scorpion Air (4), Tiramavia (4), Aerovis Airlines (5), Veteran Airlines (4), KNAAPO (5), Vega Airlines (6) ATRAN Cargo Airlines (4) and Volare Airlines (6). Some 77 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the type.

Alada

Balkan Bulgarian Airlines

Scorpion Air

Civil Aviation Administration of China; see also Shaanxi Y-8

Egyptair

Air Guinee

Ghana Airways The sole An-12 was delivered in October 1961, registered as 9G-AZZ. Withdrawn from use in 1962 and returned to Soviet Union in 1963.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Antonov An-12'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://antonov_an-12.totallyexplained.com">Antonov An-12 Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.