Antonov an-2, 1978
© TASS
31 August 1947 took place the first flight of the prototype CX-1 (biplane An-2). It lifted into the air on the factory airfield Eltsovka (Novosibirsk) test pilot Pavel Volodin. At an altitude of 1,200 meters he met two large circles and 30 minute flight had landed.
Today the An-2 is listed in the Guinness Book of records as the world’s only plane, which carried more than 60 years.
The story of “foal”
Piston Soviet light multipurpose aircraft an-2 (NATO codification — Colt, translated “foal”) was developed in the 1940-ies by a team of experienced design Bureau No. 53 (OKB-153) at Novosibirsk aircraft plant them. V. P. Chkalov (now the Ukrainian state enterprise “Antonov”) under the leadership of General designer Oleg Antonov.
The car was designed in particular for replacement of the obsolete agricultural aircraft U-2 (Po-2) and originally was called SKH-1 or of art. Among the requirements for the new aircraft was the ability to use short unpaved runways with a length of 550-600 m. As In 2, the An-2 in common parlance is often called “maize”.