Cold War to Ukraine Crisis & Beyond: Antonov 2 Biplane, the most practical aircraft ever?

To many people, the Antonov 2 is something that harkens back to the First World War’s biplanes, but it was developed after the Second World War (first flight 31AUG1947), soldiered on through the undeclared Cold War and continues flying for militaries on both sides of the Ukraine Crisis.

A proud Oleg Antonov stands between the crew that flew the An-2 on its first flight. Photo via Antonov Company.

It was Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov’s first aircraft design through his new independent Antonov Design Bureau. It is a utility aircraft, originally meant as a crop duster/agricultural aircraft, and originally known as Sel’sko−Hoziaystvenniy samoliot (literally Agricultural Aircraft). Mass production of the An-2 Maize actually began in a factory in Ukraine, in 1948. In 1952, O.K. Antonov moved his design bureau operations/headquarters from Russia to Ukraine, where it is now known as Antonov Company.

The crop duster was a top loader. Photo via Antonov Company.

Photo via Antonov Company.

Round them doggies up! There’s almost as many ‘Colts’ as there are cows! Photo via Antonov Company.

Silly music video by Antonov Company:

Photo via Antonov Company.

Since 1948, the ‘Maize’ has been produced in several dozens of factories in dozens of countries, with at least six official modifications resulting in dozens of silly-vilian (civilian) and military variants. The NATO reporting name is Colt. Colt = An-2, 3, 4, 6, plus many other variants. In China it is known as Y-5, and they even built a pilotless/robot version called Feihong 98.

An-2CX, photo via Antonov Company.

Even Santa Claus uses the Maize/Colt to transport his reindeer! Photo via Antonov Company.

An-6 fire fighter, photo via Antonov Company.

This odd looking Maize/Colt is the An-6 Meteo, high altitude weather tracker. Notice the cockpit in the tail, and the supercharged radial engine. Photo via Antonov Company.

Mount McCauley, Antarctica, 1973. Photo via John Sheraton.

A Warsaw Pact Polska (Poland) built PZL Maize/Colt floatplane, known as An-2M or An-2W in Poland (in the Soviet Union it is An-2V). What is realy interesting is that the NATO info published with this photo (in 1978) actually stated that the floatplane version was “rather rare”.

Sometime during the Cold War, in Warsaw Pact Deutsche Demokratische Republik (aka East Germany) fighter pilots were required to learn how to jump from a Colt.

In Warsaw Pact Československo (Czech-o-Slovakia), silly-vilian (civilian) parachute clubs were the rage, and the Colt was a major player. Photo made sometime in 1979.

SlovAir operated Colts were used by silly-vilian parachute clubs in Warsaw Pact Czech-o-Slovakia. Photo made sometime in 1980.

Czech-o-Slovaks loved parachuting so much they even jumped during Winter. Photo from Winter of 1979/80.

A Soviet agriculture Maize gets dusted. Photos by V. Jukl, sometime in 1980.

Ready for dusting. Photo by V. Jukl, sometime in 1980.

Antonov Company video, sometime towards the end of the undeclared Cold War, a mini-documentary was made about O. K. Antonov’s love of designing aircraft (in his own words), including his Maize:

Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union). The Western NATO (North Atlantic treaty Organization) must not have considered the Colt a significant aircraft, I have several books concerning Soviet aircraft, published in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1970s, only two slightly mention the An-2 and only one has a photo of it.

Last days of a former Warsaw Pact-East German Colt. In 1990, East & West Germany officially became one, but many East German aircraft continued to carry their Cold War insignia. East German An-2s were quietly retired.

Colt cargo aircraft on display U.S. Air Mobility Command Museum on Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Zachary Cacicia, 15NOV2014.

Video report from 2016, about conversion of old Russian Colt/Maize to U.S. turbo-prop engines (made by Honeywell) and redesigned wings:

The composite winged TVS-2DT, Rostec photo.

Video report from 2016, about the new build TVS-2DT, an attempt to modernize the An-2:

Antonov Company video, An-2-100 turbo-prop sets lift record, April 2017:

Antonov Company video, celebrating 70 years of An-2, September 2017:

This Russian civilian Maize crashed in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, December 2017. It was loaded with 13 crew and passengers, three of which did not survive.

CGTN video report of Feihong-98 (FH-98) cargo UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), October 2018:

In 2018, Russia’s Rostec State Corporation for Assistance to Development, Production and Export of Advanced Technology, announced production of a new ‘An-2’, called the TVS-2DTS. First deliveries were expected in 2021, but oh that darn Pandemic lockdown.

Composite wing and fuselage TVS-2DTS, Rostec photo 2018.

The difference between the TVS-2DT and the TVS-2DTS is that the 2DTS has all composite wings and fuselage, whereas the 2DT has composite wings.

A Colt makes an ‘after hours’ drop to U.S. and Latvian Special Forces units during a wargame. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Garrett L. Dipuma, 22NOV2020.

Latvian Defence Ministry photo by Gatis Dieziņš, 05MAR2021.

Serbian paratroops make their first jump from a Colt, February 2022. Photo via Serbian Defence Ministry.

NATO Latvian An-2, notice the large muffler on the exhaust. Latvian Defence Ministry photo by Gatis Dieziņš, 03MAY2022.

Latvian Defence Ministry photo by Gatis Dieziņš, 03MAY2022.

A privately owned An-2 performs during the Sivrihisar Airshow in NATO Turkey, 17SEP2022. Photo by Mustafa Kaya via Xinhua News.

A child of California seems excited to in the cockpit of an old Colt/Maize, part of the air show on Edwards Air Force Base. USAF photo by Lisa Dixon, 15OCT2022.

On 14NOV2022, a Cold War era Cuban An-2 crashed while taking off from Florida, U.S. It was later discovered that the same Antonov had arrived in Florida the prior month, possibly the pilot was trying to defect to the U.S.: