Antonov An-22 Antei

Antonov · Soviet Union · first flew 1965 · transport aircraft

A colossal Soviet heavy-lift transport, the world's largest turboprop aircraft and the first wide-body ever built.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	High-mounted, straight
E — Engines	4 × turboprop, wing-mounted
F — Fuselage	High wing over a deep cargo fuselage with twin tail fins
T — Tail	Twin fin

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Four big turboprops each turning contra-rotating propellers (eight blades visible per engine)
High wing over a deep cargo fuselage with twin tail fins
Enormous size with a twin-finned tail unlike most Western transports

Look for four turboprops each with twin contra-rotating propellers, a high straight wing and a distinctive twin-fin tail on a vast fuselage — a combination no Western transport shares.

Specifications

The Antonov An-22 Antei has a length of 57.9 m (190 ft).
It has a wingspan of 64.4 m (211 ft).
Its maximum speed is 740 km/h (460 mph).
Typical crew: 5-6 flight crew.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown on 27 February 1965, the An-22 stunned the West when shown at the 1965 Paris Air Show. Four Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprops, each driving huge contra-rotating propellers, gave it the power to lift outsized military and industrial loads, and it set numerous payload-to-altitude records.

Variants

Built in the basic An-22 and the improved An-22A; a handful were operated commercially by Antonov Airlines into the 21st century.

Where you'll see it

A Soviet and Russian military and outsize-cargo workhorse. None are preserved in the UK, though An-22s and the later An-124 were familiar visitors to British airports on heavy-charter work for decades.

Related aircraft

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