In March, the 67th and 68th anniversaries of the creation of the legendary Antonov Design Bureau airplanes were celebrated: the An-14 'Bee' — a versatile aircraft, and the research and passenger aircraft An-10. The 'TyKyiv' team tells the story of how Antonov airplanes became symbols of the Ukrainian sky.

Antonov State Enterprise is a Ukrainian state aviation company that encompasses a design bureau, a complex of laboratories, an experimental and serial factory, and a testing complex. The enterprise has developed over 100 types of aircraft and their modifications. However, worldwide, Antonov is primarily known as a developer of transport, regional passenger aircraft, and special-purpose aircraft.

Where did it all begin?

At the age of 17, Oleg Antonov began building his own gliders in 1923 while working at the Saratov branch of the "Society of Friends of the Air Fleet." In 1924, he created the OKA-1 "Golub" glider, which was awarded a certificate for original design at the Second All-Union Glider Trials in Crimea.

In 1925, Oleg Antonov became a student in the hydroaviation department of the shipbuilding faculty of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. During his studies, he designed and built training gliders OKA-2, OKA-3, "Standart," and "Standart-2" (OKA-5) in the TSOAVIAKHIM group. Later, he was sent to Moscow to organize the Central Bureau of Glider Designs of TSOAVIAKHIM, where he created training gliders OKA-7, OKA-8 (US-1), OKA-9 (US-2), and the thermal glider "Gorod Lenina."

His career as a designer progressed, and in 1933, Antonov was appointed chief designer of the glider factory in Tushino (Moscow). From 1933 to 1938, he created thermal gliders "Six Conditions" (OKA-13), DiP (OKA-14), "Rot Front," training gliders "Uchebny Standart" "US," "Upa" PS-1 (OKA-11) and PS-2, "Massovy" "M," "Robert Eydemann" RE-3 and RE-4, experimental gliders "Ispytanie Profilya" IP-1, IP-2, BA-1, BS-3, BS-4, BS-5 (OKA-31), OKA-21, and the experimental motor glider LEM-2 (OKA-33).

During the period from 1923 to 1938, Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov created more than 40 types of gliders, and in total, about 50 types of gliders for various purposes.

In 1938, Antonov was appointed as the chief engineer of the OKB of O.S. Yakovlev (Plant No. 115). Later, in 1940–1941, he became the chief designer of Plants No. 23 and No. 380 in Leningrad, where he designed the light multi-purpose aircraft OKA-38 "Stork" (SS). Shortly thereafter, in 1941, he became the chief designer of Plant No. 465 in Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, and in July, the chief designer in Moscow and Tyumen, where he designed and built the A-7 assault glider, the two-seater training glider A-2, and the KT glider, known as the "Winged Tank."

During the period from 1943 to 1945, Antonov held the position of Deputy Chief Designer under O.S. Yakovlev and participated in the creation of the lightest and most maneuverable Soviet fighter of the Second World War, the Yak-3.

Everything changed in May 1946 when Antonov took over his own aircraft design bureau in Novosibirsk (OKB-153), where on August 31, 1947, the first aircraft of the newly formed OKB, the "SKHA," took to the skies. In just 2 years, in 1948, this aircraft went into serial production at the Kyiv Aviation Plant under the brand name An-2 and became the world's only biplane continuously produced and widely used to this day.

Later, the aircraft began to be produced in other countries as well, with serial production launched in China and Poland. It is still used as agricultural equipment. The An-2 was produced in six official modifications and dozens of specialized variants.

In 1952, Oleg Antonov and his team moved to Kyiv. He built a manufacturing base from scratch and assembled a new team. Since then, Antonov State Enterprise has adopted a strategy of building and developing military transport, cargo, passenger, and multi-purpose aircraft. Under Antonov's leadership for 50 years, the following aircraft were created:

  • The transport aircraft An-8 in 1956,
  • The passenger aircraft An-10 "Ukraine";
  • The military transport aircraft An-12 in 1957;
  • The short takeoff and landing multi-purpose aircraft An-14 in 1958;
  • The passenger aircraft An-24 in 1959. The An-24 was the first aircraft in the world to use adhesive bonding in its fuselage construction.

The achievements of the domestic designer did not stop there. From 1960 to 1965, the world's first wide-body heavy transport aircraft, the An-22, known as the "Antei," was created, setting 41 world aviation records. Additionally, based on the An-24, a number of new aircraft were developed:

  • The aerial survey aircraft An-30 in 1967;
  • The transport aircraft An-24T in 1965;
  • The An-26 in 1969;
  • The transport aircraft for high-altitude conditions, the An-32, in 1976.

Aircraft of the "AN" family were serially produced at factories in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Irkutsk, Voronezh, Ulyanovsk, Novosibirsk, Arsenyev, Dolgoprudny, Omsk, Tashkent, Ulan-Ude, Melek (PRC), Shijiazhuang, and Nanchang (China).

The last aircraft developed under the leadership of Oleg Antonov was the world's largest serial military transport aircraft, the An-124 "Ruslan," in 1982.

The legendary aircraft designer Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov passed away at the age of 78 on April 4, 1984, and was buried at the Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv.

In aviation, there is a particularly noticeable connection between technical excellence and beauty.

(Oleg Antonov)

On May 15, 1984, Petro Vasylovych Balabuyev was appointed as the Chief Designer of the Aviation Scientific-Technical Complex. The enterprise team began to create the world's largest aircraft, the An-225 "Mriya," designed for transporting oversized cargo in assembled form with a total weight of up to 250 tons, including the orbital spacecraft of the "Energia-Buran" rocket-space system. Learn more about the world's largest aircraft here. In 1989, Antonov State Enterprise was allowed to organize its own airline.

Antonov State Enterprise in the times of Ukraine's independence

After the collapse of the USSR, since 1991, the design bureau has created:

  • The light multi-purpose aircraft An-38;
  • The regional turboprop passenger aircraft An-140;
  • The An-74;
  • The An-38 aircraft, designed for carrying 27 passengers, mail, and cargo with a total weight of up to 2500 kg on local air routes.

The passenger turboprop aircraft An-140 was developed to replace the veteran An-24 on air routes. The first flight of the aircraft took place on September 17, 1997. In 2001, the An-225 was modernized and commercial operation began. In September 2001, "Mriya" flew with a 250-ton payload along a closed route and set 124 world records. Three years later, the regional next-generation jet passenger aircraft An-148 with two turbofan engines took to the skies for the first time.

In 2009, significant changes took place. In December of the same year, by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Kiev Aircraft Plant "AVIANT" was merged with the Antonov Aircraft Design Bureau. This made it possible to produce aircraft on a serial basis. On May 7, 2015, the new transport aircraft An-178 took to the skies for the first time, and serial production of such aircraft began in 2020.

In May 2015, the company became part of "Ukroboronprom".

Following this, Ukrainian aviation manufacturing once again attracted interest from other countries. For instance, on March 31, 2017, the first prototype of the multi-purpose transport aircraft An-132 took off from Svyatoshyn Airport (Kyiv). It was created under a contract for a customer from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Over the course of several years, in January 2021, Antonov State Enterprise finally received a contract from the state for the production of three military transport aircraft An-178-100R for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). The first aircraft for the AFU was scheduled to be delivered in the first half of 2023, but due to the onset of a full-scale invasion, this did not happen.

On February 24, 2022, the "Kyiv-Antonov-2" airfield, where test flights of the new "An" aircraft were conducted, was targeted by Russian missiles. Unfortunately, the An-26, An-74, and An-225 were destroyed. Additionally, the An-12, An-22, An-28, An-132D, and An-124-100-150 aircraft suffered damage, as did hangars and other infrastructure facilities. Furthermore, on February 27, Russian occupiers destroyed the flagship of Ukrainian aviation—the legendary An-225 "Mriya."

The "Kyiv" team reached out to the Antonov Design Bureau to find out when Ukraine would see the new "Mriya." The bureau's press service informed us that the final decision on the construction of the new giant, "Mriya-2," would be made after the cessation of hostilities.

And we will hope that the legendary concern will continue to amaze the world with its aircraft!