Antonov An-2 Walkaround

The An-2 "Colt" is a rather ungainly looking plane, with slab sides, two wings, and a big radial engine up front. Designed in 1946 and first flown in 1947, it originally was designed for the Ministry of Agriculture, but it quickly found its way into other services, and other countries as well. An exact number of An-2s produced is hard to pin down, as it was license-built in Poland and China, but it is known that over 10,000 of these planes were produced.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the An-2 found its way into the hands of many Western fliers, where its heavy hauling capabilities and rugged structure make it popular for short haul cargo runs.

This particular An-2 is a civilian bird based at Kemble airfield. My thanks to Eagle Aviation for allowing me to traipse around the plane and get these photos. My knowledge of the plane isn't as good as others, so the captions aren't going to be more than just a basic description. With the Bilek kit and the Neomega update, though, these pictures should go a long way to making that model into a masterpiece.

The view from the front.

Interesting colors on this one. Apparently the color of the sky in this plane's world is a bright blue.

Starboard front quarter view.

Starboard wing landing light. Note that there is only one on this wing.

Starboard wing bracing 'wires' and cross brace. Not really wires, as you can see.

Exhaust pipe. Is that intake made of Milliput or what? :-)

Starboard main gear leg mount.

Starboard wings.

Main gear pivot mounts. The red thing in the background is a boarding step.

The front end. Massive radial engine, massive propeller.

Starboard landing gear and wheel. Basic construction here, but very sturdy.

The characteristic canopy of the An-2, bulging out flatly.

Port wheel.

Port wing lights. Note that there are two on this side.

Port upper wing. Note that the wing tip light plastic is colored.

Port wing-to-fuselage joint. Note the gap between the flaps and the wing.

Port fuselage. It's heavily riveted but this is not as noticable as some kits no doubt have it.

Port tailplane. The big brace seems irrelevant, because the attachment points are just bolts. Doesn't seem very strong at all!

Port rear fuselage showing the kicksteps to get to the top of the aircraft.

Tailwheel, showing the canvas boot and splashguard.

View of the upper fuselage, showing the aerial locations. These most likely vary from operator to operator, depending on the date and avionics included.

Red bits are control locks. There is a noticable gap between the fin and rudder. Note the structure of the rear face of the fin.

Starboard tailplane.

Starboard rear fuselage, showing that wonderful rivet detail again.

Starboard fuselage, looking forward. The interior of the cabin can be glimpsed through the windows, showing a sparse structure. The angle and shape of the cockpit glass shows up well, too.

Rear starboard fuselage.

Starboard wing undersurface.

Gear pivots again. These don't take much weight as the wing attachments handle the stress.

Port wing strut holds these two probes; covered one is the pitot, but I don't know about the other.

Under the engine, I presume it's the oil cooler.

Port side of the cowling.

Did Junkers build this bit? :-)