The performance characteristics of the aircraft an 10. Aviation, travel and all sorts of stories. From idea to layout

The rapid growth in demand for passenger air transportation in the early 50s led to the creation of a number of fundamentally new machines. One of them was the An-10 "Ukraine" - the first domestic wide-body airliner.

It was created to carry a large number of passengers over relatively short distances, mainly from Central Russia to the south. At that time, the airfields of a number of southern cities had unpaved or, at best, metal runways and could not receive the high-speed Tu-104. The long-haul IL-18 was inefficient on such lines. An aircraft was required that could operate on unpaved strips and carry as many passengers, mail and cargo as possible. In parallel, the task was to unify the passenger and cargo versions of the car in order to reduce the cost of their operation.
This is how the An-10 and An-12 were born. The cargo An-12 was destined to have a long life, these aircraft continue to fly to this day, transporting, for example, humanitarian cargo in Africa - in such conditions, they have not found a better alternative. The fate of the An-10 was sad. A little more than 15 years passed between the flight of the first prototype and the removal of the entire fleet from Aeroflot lines.

An-10 was originally designed to carry 85 passengers on lines up to 2000 km long at a speed of 650 km/h. The margin of safety inherent in their design made it possible subsequently to create 100- and 132-seat modifications without major alterations.
In operation, the An-10 was very reliable, and the fuel consumption and cost of transportation were practically the lowest in its class of aircraft, even taking into account foreign models. An-10 was one of the few types of aircraft, the operation of which brought Aeroflot a significant profit.
The first "alarm bell" rang on March 31, 1971, when USSR-11145 crashed near Voroshilovgrad (now Lugansk). The cause of the disaster was never found, everything was attributed to the explosion of fuel vapors in the wing tanks. The entire An-10 fleet flew quietly for another 13 months.

On the afternoon of May 18, 1972, exactly 35 years ago, an An-10A USSR-11215 Kharkov JSC was preparing to fly from Vnukovo Airport on a Moscow-Kharkov flight. During the takeoff run, a strong vibration arose, the crew stopped the takeoff and taxied back to the parking lot to correct the malfunction. The flight was delayed for several hours, which helped several more passengers to get tickets for it. Among these passengers was Viktor Chistyakov, a very famous parodist in those days, who flew to Kharkov on tour.
After the repair, all 114 passengers and 8 crew members again took their places, and the An-10 broke away from the concrete of Vnukovo airport. The first hour of the flight passed relatively calmly, but in the Belgorod area the PIC reported strong vibrations and asked to prepare a route for a direct approach to Kharkov. Shortly before Kharkov, the vibration became so intense that the crew decided to turn off two of the four engines. During this operation, the aircraft structure went into resonance, the power panel in the center section collapsed along fatigue cracks, the half-wings with the engines separated, and the aircraft crashed to the ground near the village of Russkaya Lozovaya, about 15 km short of reaching the airfield.
The commission investigating the causes of the disaster found fatigue cracks in the load-bearing elements of the center section of almost the entire An-10 fleet, which were not detectable due to the sealant layer during routine inspections. The operation of all An-10s in Aeroflot was terminated, they never again carried passengers.
It is noteworthy that on the An-12, due to the specifics of its service, there were reinforced panels. On the passenger side, they preferred to put standard ones. The cracks detected earlier on the An-10 did not alert the design bureau, and it did not insist on correcting the dangerous flaw ...

Photo from the article by V.Zayarin and A.Sovenko. It is noteworthy that the An-10 was filmed on it during a successful flight experiment with 3 out of 4 engines turned off. This plane was so “flying” that before landing, two engines were supposed to be simply turned off to land it on the ground ...

The second experimental and at the same time the first serial An-10 (serial number 01-01) received the USSR tail index - L5723. State tests were carried out by leading test pilots Kuznetsov and Fedorov, engineer Sorokin, test navigators Zhitnik, N.S. Tack, Vasiliev. The pilots of the Air Force Research Institute E.V. Golenkin, I.A. Azbievich, N.Ya. Yakovlev, S.G. Dedukh and GVF Zakharevich. According to the results of state tests, which ended in June 1959, the car was recommended for mass production.

Most of the defects identified during the tests of the An-10 could be quickly eliminated in mass production. But two of them required additional and lengthy research. Quite quickly it was found that when the speed corresponding to the number M = 0.62 was reached, an unsafe shaking of the entire machine occurred. The introduced speed limit somewhat worsened the flight characteristics of the machine, since the power plants had an unused power reserve. The second unpleasant moment was the insufficient margin of longitudinal stability at the stage of pre-landing planning.

What was it expressed in? In the process of landing with flaps extended, with a slight but sharp "dacha" (slang expression for pilots, meaning the deviation of the command controls. - Note. auth.) there was a "peck" from the helm, and the pilot at this critical stage of the flight required additional attention and more accurate calculation.

Meanwhile, testing of the An-10 continued. On January 9, 1958, in flight with a descent with engines operating at nominal mode, at an altitude of 5500 meters, a speed of 790 km / h was reached, which corresponded to the number M = 0.71. At the same time, no deviations were found in the behavior of the machine. This was pleasing, but three months later, on April 18, during a test flight (commander I.E. Davydov), the left flap broke. The plane, which had lost control, began to lose altitude with a large roll, and only at 500 meters was it possible to get out of a dangerous situation and land the plane on the airfield. Apparently, this was not an isolated case, since in August 1961, in order to prevent flight accidents, it was proposed to modify the flaps, eliminating design and manufacturing defects.

April 29, 1958 lost the first An-10 (fourth serial copy No. 02-02). During a test flight in Voronezh, both AI-20 engines failed on the right plane. During a forced landing, the plane crashed and caught fire. Of the five crew members, flight engineer Zakharov died. Pilots Larionov and Shevkunenko received minor injuries. The culprits, as always, were the pilots who sat at the helm of the aircraft without a preliminary flight check and recommendations for piloting the aircraft in special cases related to approach and go-around on two engines.

On April 27, 1959, the An-10 performed its first technical flight, and exactly one month later, an advertising flight took place along the route Kyiv - Moscow - Tbilisi - Adler - Kharkov - Kiev. There was something to advertise. According to calculations, the cost of transporting one passenger turned out to be significantly lower than on the Tu-104A, mainly due to the greater passenger capacity. This gave reason to consider the An-10 one of the most profitable aircraft. But already the Tu-104B, which carried up to 100 people, became more economical than the An. It should be noted that the high efficiency of the Tu-104B took place only when flying at high altitudes. The An-10 turned out to be advantageous when flying both at medium and relatively low altitudes.

On July 22, 1959, the airliner began operating at Aeroflot on the Moscow-Simferopol route. In the same year, the first modification was launched into production - An-10A with an extended fuselage and AI-20A engines, and then AI-20K. The car was produced in two versions. First, for 89 and 100 passenger seats, later their number was increased to 118, then to 132.

The operation of the An-10 on airlines did not last long, as serious design and manufacturing defects were revealed.

Since August 1959, the first major revision began on all An-10s produced. In particular, changes were required in the forward fuselage, which consisted in installing an anti-noise belt on it, moving the kitchen, altering the anti-icing systems of the wing and plumage, as well as the fire-fighting devices of the wing and engines. It was necessary to replace the landing gear, flaps, wing tails. The electrical system has undergone significant improvement. If you delve into the full list of defects, you involuntarily want to ask the question: was it not easier to build new aircraft?

By 1960, 26 An-10 and An-10A GVF aircraft had accumulated at the plant's airfield in Voronezh. For their completion within six months, 1490 people were required, which accounted for 21 percent of the total capacity of the plant! Not only civilian, but also military vehicles were being finalized. For example, the Air Force only in February 1961 began normal operation of the An-10 and An-10A.

In January 1960 O.K. Antonov proposed to develop a modification of the An-10D. On this subject, he wrote: “Experience in operating an An-10 turboprop passenger aircraft on Aeroflot airlines(as of January 1, 1960, Aeroflot operated 26 aircraft out of 58 produced by plant No. 64. - Note. auth.) revealed the presence of significant reserves:

1. Range increase. The use of free wing compartments to accommodate fuel tanks increases the range of the serial An-10 to 3,650 km. This work has already been carried out at the Design Bureau, and the aircraft will be produced by factory No. 64 in the first quarter of 1960. The use of detachable wing parts as caisson tanks further increases the range to 4400 km.

2. Increasing the number of passenger seats. Now the serial An-10 has 100 passenger seats of the 1st class. During flights lasting 2-3 hours, it is advisable to place seats according to the "tourist" option. It can accommodate up to 124 passengers.

3. Speed ​​up. The establishment of serial production at the plant number 64 led to an improvement in the outer surface of the aircraft, which became smoother. Together with some measures taken by the Design Bureau, these improvements in total increased the maximum speed of the serial An-10 from 675 to 705-710 km / h, and the cruising speed increased accordingly. An additional increase in the speed and efficiency of the aircraft can be obtained through the use of fiberglass propeller blades.

4. Increasing comfort, reducing noise are achieved by increasing the span of the center section by about a meter. The large size of the central cabin allows you to arrange movie shows in flight. We have repeatedly carried out such an experiment on the An-10 aircraft No. 11171 and received the unanimous approval of passengers and crews.

In general, the implementation of the above proposals will increase the commercial return of the An- 10 by about 30%.

But the An-10D project remained on paper.

February 26, 1960 lost the second An-10. An aircraft with the identification mark of the USSR - 11180 crashed while landing near Lviv airport. As it turned out later, the cause of the tragedy was stabilizer icing and, as a result, a sharp decrease in the efficiency of the elevator. Flights on the An-10 and An-10A were stopped before they were equipped with reliable anti-icing systems (POS) at the plant in Voronezh.

Air-thermal POS, using warm air from engine compressors, served to heat the wing socks, engine air intakes and glazing of the cockpit lights. To combat icing of the keel, stabilizer, blades, spinners of propellers, air pressure receivers (HPA) and windshields of the cockpit, electrothermal devices were used.

At the same time, in Voronezh, cargo An-10s were also being finalized into passenger versions.

In 1961, on the production An-10A, the ventral fin and horizontal tail washers were replaced with two ventral fins. They were placed in the stern, in the area where the emerging air vortices came off and thereby not only influenced the aerodynamic characteristics, but also caused an unpleasant vibration of the aircraft. The effect of this, in general, insignificant, modernization was not long in coming.

Flight tests conducted at the Air Force Research Institute from September 5 to 30, 1961 showed that the shaking of the aircraft began to appear at a higher flight speed, corresponding to the number M = 0.702. Improved longitudinal stability characteristics for overload during landing approach. At the same time, the disadvantage inherent in previous machines remained, the deviation of the rudder at an angle of 16-18 degrees was accompanied by shaking of the plumage. The aircraft was flown by test pilots of the Air Force Research Institute A.G. Terentiev, A.K. Starikov, A.Ya. Bryksin and State Research Institute of Civil Air Fleet Voznyakov. At the Air Force Research Institute, pilot E.V. Golenkin conducted tests of the An-10 for stall, bringing the car to critical angles of attack.

The high-wing An-10 with a fuselage of a very large diameter at that time was noticeably different from all existing passenger cars. This scheme, as shown by studies conducted in the hydrochannel of the TsAGI branch, ensured the landing of the aircraft on the water surface with stable gliding even in heavy seas. In this case, the propeller blades did not touch the water. But during the operation of the An-10 and even the An-8 and An-12, this property of the machines was never verified. Unfortunately, these qualities did not contribute to improving its reliability.

The first copy of the An-10. 1957

Flight tests of "Ukraine" were accompanied by frequent accidents. The first serious accident occurred on July 22, 1957, shortly after the aircraft was demonstrated at Vnukovo Airport. When landing at the LII airfield, the right landing gear was formed, which did not lock up.

On February 21 next year, at the Svyatoshino factory airfield (Kyiv), pilots Davydov and Kalinin, making an emergency landing with the third engine running at full power, made a mistake in the calculation and crashed the car. The left wing console and engine nacelle were destroyed, the fuselage and the left landing gear were damaged. This time, the An-10 required a longer repair.

Two months later, on April 29, there was another accident, but the crew with honor got out of a difficult situation, which almost ended in disaster. Due to a manufacturing defect, the left flap collapsed, and only the commander's quick reaction made it possible to complete the flight safely.

At the beginning of 1961, they made the first, but unsuccessful attempt to set a world speed record on the An-10. The flight was carried out along the route Moscow - Melitopol - Moscow. At the final stage, it became clear that there was clearly not enough fuel on board, and in order to reach the airfield, the crew began to sequentially turn off the engines. Nevertheless, the world speed record on the An-10, although not immediately, was nevertheless set. On April 22 of the same year, pilot A. Mitronin flew a closed route at an average speed of 730.6 km/h.

In V. Moiseev’s book “The Winged Name”, published by the Dnepr publishing house in 1974, as a merit of the Design Bureau team, it is noted that it took 15 months to create the An-10, and in the USA it took 28 months to create a similar Elektra aircraft. A record achievement, isn't it? The words O.K. are also given there. Antonova: “It is important not to get carried away in order to build a new product as soon as possible - at the expense of quality, test it and report: “This is how we did it quickly and cheaply.” These are words, but how was it in reality?

During the operation of aircraft until 1961, 670 defects were identified and eliminated. Two An-10A aircraft were made in export version for delivery to India in 1960, but foreigners refused them, and after re-equipping the cabin to the Soviet standard, they were released on Aeroflot lines.

In March 1963, the propeller of the second engine was arbitrarily and repeatedly automatically feathered on the An-10 (USSR - 11145). The search for a defect yielded nothing, and the power plant had to be changed.

Downtime of the An-10 due to design and manufacturing defects, including engines, was the largest. For example, in 1960 they amounted to 15,020, in 1961 - 11,367 aircraft days. Only the following year, this figure dropped to 3248 aircraft-days. For comparison, this figure for the IL-18 in 1960 was 5157, and in 1962 - 1438 aircraft-days. I note that in 1960, 107 Il-18s and 77 An-10s were operated. Comments, as they say, are unnecessary.

Impartial statistics show, for example, that from April 1958 to February 1963 there were 23 accidents and crashes of An-10 aircraft, of which over 56% were due to defects in the airframe and engines. By July 1965, 11 vehicles had been lost. Maybe it was worth spending 28 months on development, not 15, and, you see, there would not be such an accident rate and the loss of human lives. But we were in a hurry, as a rule, we were rushed to be in time for the next holiday.

The leader of the An-1 ° CCSR - 11140 (serial number 8400501), released on December 30, 1958, by January 23, 1963 flew 3149 hours 21 minutes and performed 1760 landings. Examination of the machine showed the absence of fatigue cracks, corrosion and destruction of the main structural structural elements. As a result, the resource for other machines was extended to 3650 hours.

By the end of 1963, the Civil Air Fleet operated 81 An-10 aircraft. According to the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, in 1963 the cost of an An-10 flight hour was 750 rubles. For comparison, I’ll say that the Tu-104 had this figure of 820, and the Il-18 had 740 rubles. If we attribute this to a ton-kilometer, then it turns out that the cost of an An-10 flight hour will be 18.8 kopecks, and for an Il-18 - 18.1.

By 1971, the An-10 carried over 35 million passengers and a million tons of cargo. Thus, the aircraft came out on top in the Soviet Union in terms of passenger traffic. Everything seemed to be going well, when suddenly something happened that was least expected. On May 18, 1972, an An-10A crash occurred during landing at Kharkov airport, in which 116 people died. The State Commission for Investigating the Causes of the Tragedy was headed by L. V. Smirnov, Chairman of the Commission for Military-Industrial Issues. A special load during the work of the commission fell on the group of experts on the fatigue strength of aircraft structures, which was headed by the deputy head of TsAGI A.F. Selikhov.

The investigation showed that it was caused by fatigue cracks in the center wing stringers (the so-called multifocal damage), which were later found on other machines. Experts in the field of strength of aircraft structures encountered this phenomenon for the first time. But this did not mean that by studying this phenomenon and developing measures to eliminate it, it would be done away with. Sixteen years later, it again made itself felt. This time abroad. In 1988, a Boeing-737 aircraft of the Aloha airline suffered a fatigue failure of the longitudinal joint of the fuselage with a length of 11 meters in flight. Only miraculously managed to land the plane and avoid disaster.

The occurrence of multifocal fatigue damage on the An-10A aircraft was accompanied by one circumstance. When designing the An-10 and An-12, a new high-strength aluminum alloy V-95 was used for the stringers of the center section of the wing, and its skin was made from a time-tested less durable alloy, but more resistant to corrosion D-16.

Before the operation of the An-10, a number of measures were taken to prevent the occurrence of mechanical damage. The aircraft underwent the established routine maintenance and inspections in accordance with the assigned resources. In parallel, the leader aircraft performed cargo transportation, as mentioned above. These flights made it possible by that time to bring the resource to 12,000 hours. The flight time of the plane that crashed only approached 11,000 hours, which no one doubted.

But there were places on the car where it was extremely difficult to “get” to the human eye, in particular the wing center section, inside of which there was a soft fuel tank. To inspect its insides, it was necessary to remove the panels and remove the tank, a rather time-consuming procedure, and most importantly, not provided for by the regulations.

A subsequent inspection of all aircraft in operation revealed such cracks on most of them, and on some machines they appeared after 8000 flights. The reaction of the leadership of the Ministry of Aviation Industry was stormy and hasty: in order to avoid anything, write off all the machines for scrap.

As a result, in 1973, the operation of the An-10 in Aeroflot was stopped. Machines belonging to the Air Force and enterprises of the Ministry of Aviation Industry continued to fly for some time. Apparently, the last An-10A flying was the USSR aircraft - 11213, which belonged to the civil aviation department of the Komi ASSR, which in 1973 flew to the Moninsky Air Force Museum.

Chapters from the book

In memory of the crews who died

on An-10 aircraft, dedicated to

Instead of a preface

By the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of November 30, 1955, the design bureaus No. 156 Tupolev, No. 240 Ilyushin and No. 473 Antonov were entrusted with the creation of large main passenger liners with gas turbine engines. In February 1956, at the historic XX Congress of the CPSU, in order to systematically improve the standard of living of the Soviet people, the task was set to increase the volume of passenger traffic by 3.8 times as soon as possible with the transition of Aeroflot to new equipment, and they were supposed to supplement the jet first-born Tu- 104.

This decision determined the development of Soviet civil aviation for many years. It was in accordance with it that the liners of the second post-war generation Tu-110, Il-18 "Moscow", as well as the passenger An-10 "Ukraine" and its transport version An-12 were designed. The unification of a passenger aircraft with military and civilian transport was economically feasible, but, as you know, disadvantages are usually a continuation of advantages.

At first, the Tu-110 was considered the main one in this program, but it remained experimental. Ilyushin's plane is still flying all over the world. The Antonovsky liner rapidly ascended to its zenith, but its star just as quickly set. Its design and testing were completed in an unprecedentedly short time, but the rush then went sideways.

The design of the An-10 "Ukraine" aircraft (according to the Design Bureau - product "U") was headed by the Deputy Chief Designer of the State Allied Experimental Design Bureau No. 473 N.S. Trunchenkov, but Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov himself was directly involved in the work, like all the main specialists of the enterprise. TsAGI, VIAM, NIAT and others, developers of engines and equipment, manufacturers of materials and semi-finished products were involved. The young Design Bureau was greatly assisted by other Chief Designers and, above all, by Andrey Nikolaevich Tupolev: the documentation on the aircraft of his Design Bureau Tu-16 and Tu-104 arrived in Kyiv for review.

The An-10 project was presented to the top party leadership of the country and personally to the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. Khrushchev liked "Ukraine" at first sight, and he ordered to stop designing the passenger modification of the twin-engine An-8 ("H" aircraft), and concentrated all his efforts on the "top ten".

An experienced passenger liner "U" was built in Kyiv. The first flight of "Ukraine" took place on March 7, 1957, it was performed by the crew under the command of the most experienced pilot Ya.I. Vernikov.

The main volume of factory tests of the An-10 aircraft was carried out by pilots GSOKB-473 I.E. Davydov and V.A. Kalinin. They positively assessed the aircraft, but at the same time revealed a number of shortcomings. In particular, according to their comments, they changed the angle of the transverse V wing (it was made variable, as on the T plane), additional keel washers were installed on the stabilizer and the forkil area was increased, which was associated with more stringent directional stability requirements that were put forward for passenger aircraft, introduced a number of other important improvements.

The experimental An-10 was equipped with Kuznetsov NK-4 turboprop engines, and the An-12 was powered by AI-20 designed by Ivchenko. The first ones were already in serial production, had less weight and better specific characteristics. But the higher reliability and operational suitability of the AI-20 decided the dispute in its favor, and it was with them that the An-10 went into the series. Not the last role was played by the fact that the NK-4 were developed at the Kuznetsov Design Bureau in Kuibyshev and produced there, the AI-20 was also made in Zaporozhye, and Khrushchev sought to decentralize the national economy of the USSR and support the republican industry, including Ukrainian.

Factory tests of the An-10 were completed in June 1958, but even before that, a decision was made to start State tests and start mass production of both the passenger An-10 and the transport An-12. According to the plan of the Ministry of Aviation Industry for 1957, three serial An-10s with serial numbers from 7400101 to 7400103 were to be built.

The construction of the An-10 was deployed at the plant number 64 in Voronezh. To accompany the series and ensure operational communication between production and product developers, OKB specialists were sent to the plant, endowed with significant powers in resolving constantly arising issues. The representative office of GSOKB-473 at this plant was headed by Leontiev, and then by the future Deputy Chief Designer Goloborodko. The first serial An-10 No. 7400101 (SSSR-L2573), also known as the 2nd prototype, took off for the first time from the runway of the Voronezh aircraft plant on November 5, 1957 under the control of I.E. Davydov. His flight was timed to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

The first experimental An-10 was accepted for State tests in January 1959, and soon the first production aircraft joined it.

State tests are the most important stage in the life of an aircraft. In their course, the Customer not only checks the characteristics of the machine declared by the Developer, but also determines its reliability and safety, checks the Design Bureau recommendations for actions in critical situations and operational restrictions. Since 1941, in the USSR, the State Testing was entrusted to the State Red Banner Scientific and Testing Institute of the Air Force - GK NII VVS. Only after the war were the tests of passenger aircraft transferred to the Civil Air Fleet itself. But by 1959, the State Scientific and Testing Institute of Civil Aviation (GosNII GA) still had a sufficient material base and the State Tests of the An-10 passenger aircraft were carried out by the Air Force Research Institute. There, test pilots Kuznetsov and Fedorov, test navigators Zhitnik, Zatsepa and Vasiliev were appointed to lead the An-10. Sorokin was the lead test engineer. In addition, testers from the Air Force Research Institute Golenkin, Azbievich, Yakovlev, and Dedukh flew on the plane. During the GI, the pilot of Aeroflot, a resident of Kiev, A.N. Zakharevich.

The scope of work performed during the State Tests according to the plan approved and agreed with the MGA was large, but they were carried out at an accelerated pace, and already in June of the same 1959, the Act on their results was signed by a government commission. At the festive tables laid on this occasion, few people thought how much anxiety Antonov's new brainchild would bring.

First An-10

Officially, the release of the An-10 was launched in 1957, which was recorded in the serial numbers of the machines. Their first digit coincided with the last digit of the planned production year, for example, "7" - 1957. The second digit "4" symbolized Plant No. 64, the 3rd digit (zero) carried no information, the 4th and 5th digits indicated the series number, and, finally, the 6th and 7th digits indicated the aircraft number in series.

What was this airship, now almost forgotten, not even included in many authoritative aviation reference books?

He even outwardly did not look like his brothers: a high-lying wing, a powerful, wide fuselage, a squat landing gear and a strange three-keel plumage immediately distinguished her from a number of "air cabs".

The unification of passenger and transport modifications led to an increase in the mass of the structure, a decrease in range and weight return. The passenger An-10 was inherited from the An-12, for example, bomb bays for lighting and orientation-signal bombs, as well as installations for aerial cameras. This was such a peaceful liner.

The first salon was 25-seat. Passengers who bought tickets for seats 1 and 2 sat with their backs to the direction of flight, which created some discomfort for them. The second salon had 46 seats, most of which, like the first, were triple. There were two twin seats in the front row, and folding baby cradles were nearby. In the third compartment there were 5 double armchairs and a four-seater sofa. The salons were striking in their spaciousness, but the height of the ceiling was determined not at all from the calculation of the heroic growth of any passenger, but from the dimensions of typical military cargo.

The salons were separated opposite the engines and propellers by a wardrobe, a luggage room and a buffet-kitchen - passengers were provided with hot meals. There were also two toilets.

The aircraft's cockpits were pressurized and air-conditioned, but just in case, portable oxygen devices were included in the equipment package - for the pilots and several passengers, in case cores appeared in the plane crashing at high altitude.

The number of seats could be increased to one hundred by reducing the pitch of the seats. While the Design Bureau did not allow an increase in takeoff weight, in this case it was supposed to limit refueling. On some routes in the central part of the country, this was quite rational, but the amenities for air travelers became less.

Using the stocks of thrust-to-weight ratio and strength laid down under the An-12, the Design Bureau allowed Aeroflot to increase the take-off weight of the An-10, although the working conditions in military transport and civil aviation were completely different. In the passenger version, the total mass of the paid load (85 passengers with luggage and cargo) reached 14 tons, and the weight return was 42% with a takeoff weight of 54 tons. At the same time, a range of 3080 km was achieved, which was at the world level. True, in order to get them, I had to go to every economy and considerable risk, although a number of security measures were taken.

The first of these was the thrust-to-weight ratio, based on operating conditions from short unpaved runways of provincial airports and advanced air force bases, and would have been excessive under normal conditions.

The aircraft could continue to take off if one engine failed, and in flight even the shutdown of three AI-20s (this happened extremely rarely) during the normal operation of the propeller feathering system did not lead to disaster. Under standard atmospheric conditions (+15°C, 760 mm Hg), on three engines with a mass of 51 tons near the ground, the aircraft climbed at a speed of 8.3 m/s, and on two engines - 1.6 m/s. True, in the heat, these figures decreased markedly: when one engine was turned off at + 35 ° C, the rate of climb near the ground was only 2 m / s.

All major systems were duplicated. Powerful flight and navigation equipment reduced dependence on the weather.

It is interesting that the communication systems for Aeroflot liners of that period provided for the possibility of their use not only by the crew. Each passenger had to have access to them and, if necessary, could use the on-board radio - for example, arriving at the final destination at night, call a taxi to the airport. However, in practice, this did not work for everyone.

An-10 could be used in a combined or cargo version. The seats were removable, and mooring knots for securing cargo were built into the floor and sides of the cabin. There were three options for partial loading of passengers - 71, 50 and 30 people. At the same time, the mass of the rest of the cargo increased to 7200, 8600 and 11300 kg, respectively. In addition to the lower compartments, the cargo was placed in the second and third salons. And, finally, any production aircraft could be operated in a purely cargo version, when all its usable volumes could be used to accommodate 1.45 tons of cargo.

With a paid load of more than 13.8 tons, not only did the range fall to 2100-2350 km, but the alignment also shifted. Usually it was 25%, and in the most inconvenient case of combined loading, the position of the center of mass shifted by 7.5% back, which significantly reduced the static stability margin of the aircraft and made it more difficult to fly.

The government assignment provided for the possibility of completing the construction of the An-10 laid down as a passenger in the military transport version of the An-12. One of the “tens” laid down in Voronezh was remade at the assembly stage according to the An-12 standard, installing a tail section with a ramp and a firing point. More such operations were not carried out, since it was not profitable for economic reasons, but in the event of war, the backlog of unfinished passenger An-10s could be used for defense needs. Most often, the massive, up to several dozen aircraft at the same time, the conversion of passenger An-10s into transport and sanitary aircraft was carried out during demonstration exercises of the civil defense forces.

In 1959, the Air Force Research Institute tested the An-10 aircraft in the transport and sanitary version, which received the name An-10TS. it was designed to carry cargo weighing up to 14 tons, 113 paratroopers for landing landing, 60 paratroopers or 93 wounded and 4 medical workers. Later, based on the results of this work, it was decided to convert 11 serial An-10s for the needs of the Air Force, which were used mainly as ambulance aircraft.

Airborne landing at the exercises of the Airborne Forces from the board of An-10 aircraft:
they could be converted into transport and cargo as a military,
and national economic purpose
Photo: forumrostov.ru

At that time, much attention was paid to the development of the country's civil defense system - the USSR (like the rest of the "civilized" world) then lived in constant expectation of a nuclear cataclysm. In addition, many still remember the terrible natural disasters that shook the whole world then. For example, the Tashkent earthquake claimed the lives of hundreds of people, thousands were injured and needed urgent operations that could not be done on the spot. In such situations, the An-10TS and similar variants of the Il-18, along with military transport aircraft, have proven to be an indispensable first aid tool.

The number of changes made to the design of the An-10, like any other aircraft, was in the thousands. Most of them were minor and did not affect either the appearance or the characteristics of the aircraft. In order for the reader to appreciate the work done to improve the machine by the engineers of the Design Bureau and the factory serial design department, we will give a number of examples of such changes, large and minor.

Compared to the prototype, the first serial An-10 0101 already had a number of differences. The main thing is that a power plant unified with the An-12 with AI-20A engines was introduced on it. Detailed data of all major modifications of the AI-20 are summarized in the table "Data of the TVD AI-20"

Table 1. Characteristics of AI-20 engines

Continuation of Table 1.

Hatches were introduced from the very first car, facilitating access to the REO units. They remained on all aircraft up to No. 2006, and then they were abolished again, saving on the simplification of the cockpit floor. The pipes of the hydraulic system for emergency shutdown of the engines in the cockpit were made of 20A steel, instead of the well-bent, but fragile aluminum alloy AMgM. During operation, according to the factory bulletin, starting from machine 0101 and up to 1101, the beams of the front landing gear niche were reinforced.

According to the results of life tests, the fastening of the glazing of the navigator's cabin to the frame on production aircraft, except for machines 0402 and 0503, was strengthened. But in the future, starting with the machine 1101, the An-10 again began to be produced with lightweight glass fastening. At the same time, the cockpit frame had to be strengthened. Another such refinement that did not justify itself was the introduction of new fuel system drain valves from the first production machine, which, starting from the 1503 aircraft, again became the same as on the prototype aircraft. The same was observed in the use of finishing materials. For example, the beautiful and light lining of the luggage compartment with 1.2 mm fiberglass KAST, introduced in Voronezh from the very beginning of the series, was forced to be replaced by heavy and archaic six-piece plywood with greater wear resistance. The 1603 aircraft was the last aircraft with a plastic luggage compartment floor lining. Even earlier, on the 1401 aircraft, the fiberglass lining of the rear cargo compartment partitions was replaced with 5 mm plywood. Later, both plywood and textolite were replaced with duralumin.

The An-10 aircraft differed from the "conservative" Il-14 by an abundance of automation, electrical and hydraulic mechanisms. Their trouble-free work was given special importance. An-10 had two independent hydraulic systems, and an emergency hand pump was installed, which worked not only on AMG-10 hydraulic fluid, but also on kerosene from fuel tanks. He ensured the release of the chassis even in the event of a leak of the working fluid from both systems. But the hydraulics required improvement. This was first done on a single aircraft 0801, and then starting with an instance of 2101. The general hydraulic scheme was changed on them, and many of the most important units were replaced with more reliable ones.

In addition to the main doors, five side and one bottom escape hatches, the An-10 aircraft also had an upper hatch for evacuation during an emergency landing on water. Moisture accumulated on the skin unprotected by thermal insulation near it, causing corrosion of the panel. Starting with aircraft 1201, the panel at this location was also insulated. True, having barely introduced the revision and reported, the manufacturer managed to hand over the next car 1202 without it. But in the future, the covering of the skin at the upper hatch was regularly installed on all aircraft, and the previously delivered An-10s were gradually finalized.

Photo: Archive of the Kharkov State Aviation Production Enterprise

Antonov stated that the passengers of his An-10 talk to each other without raising their voices, and on the Tu-104 this is prevented by the roar of engines pressed against the sides of the cabin. By themselves, the AI-20 TVDs were not as noisy as the AM-3 turbojet engines, but four AV-68 propellers contributed to the noise spectrum, imparting powerful and extremely unpleasant vibrations to the panels of the front of the passenger compartment. Although the auxiliary premises took the brunt of the blow, the passengers also got it. This was felt by Khrushchev himself, who flew the An-10 during his visit to Kyiv. Without hesitation, he gave the designers a valuable instruction - to install thicker sheets of duralumin in the rotation zone of the screws.

The designers tried to protect the sides from sound waves by placing special three-dimensional panels against the propellers, but the "Khrushchev belt" mounted on An-10 No. 1501 did not solve the problem. On serial aircraft, starting from 1102, reinforcement of the middle part of the fuselage was already introduced, although not due to the thickness of the skin - 8 half-frames were added, and this was considered sufficient. True, it was necessary to introduce an overlay along the skin on parts of the An-10, but for a different reason: during icing, the ice broke off the blades and hit the sides exactly where the finger of the First Secretary of the Central Committee pointed.

Attempts to solve the problem of noise were also made on a scientific basis. A lot of work was done at the LII to study the acoustics of the Tu-104, Il-18 and An-10, for which they bought the latest equipment from Brüel & Kjær. For the first time, an acoustic experiment was carried out on the scheduled Il-18, and then on the An-10. The work was completed with the release in 1963 of the industry standard for noise in the cabins of MGA aircraft, and in 1974 the corresponding GOST was also released. The Antonov Design Bureau began to collect statistics on the topic “what is noise and how to deal with it” and came to disappointing conclusions: the noise in the An-10 cabin reached 122 decibels, worse than any other Aeroflot aircraft. The IL-18, from which all heat and sound insulation (TZI) and decorative trim was removed for the experiment, “buzzed” in the cockpits up to 125 decibels, but a normal aircraft, on which there were 640 kg of various sound-absorbing materials, had a maximum noise level in the cabin already 119 db. For piston Li-2, Il-12 and Il-14, the noise level did not exceed 103 ... 107 dB.

Aeroflot's largest and most powerful aircraft, the turboprop Tu-114, which weighed 1,295 kg for decorative panels and VIZ, had the same maximum noise level as the An-10 - 122 dB, but its engine power was more than twice that.

The jet Tu-104, on which Antonov "rolled a barrel", was modernized. The designers brought the weight of the VBI up to 1100 kg, widely using fiberglass materials, foam plastic, perforated plywood, rubber bands and pavinol. As a result, the noise level in the cockpit of a 70-seat Tu-104A fell to 105 dB, and that of a 100-seat Tu-104B to 110 dB. Approximately the same noise level (105 dB) was in the Tu-124 with a standard version of the VBI, and with a lightweight one - up to 112 dB.

On the new Tu-134 and Il-62 jet airliners, the maximum sound load (in the tail section of the engines) was 104 and 106 dB, respectively. Moreover, this was obtained due to the layout (the power plant in the tail), and the weight of the TZI was small - 300 and 955 kg.

The noise indicators of foreign aircraft also turned out to be better than those of the An-10. So, American piston liners Conver 340 and 440, Lockheed 1649A "Starliner" with engines with a capacity of 2400 ... 3400 hp. had a noise level of the order of 90 ... 110 dB in the cabin, the French piston aircraft Breguet "De Pont" (4 engines of 2400 hp) - up to 104 dB. The comfort of the new jet aircraft was qualitatively higher. The noise in the cockpit of the Boeing 707, the turbojet engine of which had special nozzles, did not exceed 90 dB, the French Caravelle had the same level of acoustic loads, the twin-engine jet Leme of the French concern SNCASO looked only slightly worse - 92 dB. All of them had special sound-absorbing structures made of new synthetic materials, for which a significant mass limit was allocated.

An important direction was to increase the reliability of the power plant. Initially, AI-20A series 01 engines were installed on the An-10. In the course of production, in parallel with the An-12, passenger "dozens" began to receive AI-20 series 02 and 03. Then AI- 20K, products of a more advanced 05 series.

The reliability of these engines was constantly improved, their service life increased. Along with the NK-12, these were the only Soviet aircraft engines whose service life was no worse than that of similar foreign ones. However, the AI-20 had a design feature that turned out to be its main drawback: it did not have a free turbine and the rotor shaft was connected to the propeller shaft. Because of this, when the engine was turned off in flight when the feathering system (installation of the blades downstream) failed, the propeller rotated “tightly” from the oncoming flow, creating huge aerodynamic drag. It was impossible in principle to eradicate this shortcoming on the AI-20, and in the event of an engine failure, one had to rely only on propeller feathering.

The last innovation of the first modification of the An-10 was the refinement of the "crackers" on the rudder and on the elevator rocker, as well as the introduction of a limiter on the RV lock rocker. This was done due to the fact that when there was a lot of wind in the parking lot, there were cases of the rudders breaking off the stoppers, while they hit the limiters and cracked. This innovation was made on the aircraft 1501, and the release of the first modification of the An-10 was completed with copy 9401601.

An-10: evolution and revolution

A significant reserve of thrust-to-weight ratio of the An-10 made it possible to increase the payload, but to accommodate additional passengers and cargo, it was necessary to find volumes. It was unprofitable to radically alter the fuselage, and its dimensions remained the same. At the same time, I did not want to reduce the comfort indicators on board. In the course of comparing various solutions, it was decided to expand the habitable volume, compact the existing salons and use part of the office space to accommodate additional seats.

In the first salon, having removed the passage in front of the bow bathroom, they added one more place. Wardrobes, luggage rooms and a buffet-kitchen were shrunk and two five-seater compartments were made behind them. The number of seats in the second cabin has decreased because of this. In the 1st class version, 36 seats were installed there, and in the tourist one - 42. The front wall of this compartment was moved slightly back, and the back wall forward. The back wall of the 16-seat passenger compartment No. 3 served as pressure bulkhead No. 56. It became leaky on the An-10A, and a tail compartment for six seats was made behind it. The passengers in the compartment sat with their backs to the sides, the portholes were in the ceiling, and only the sky was visible through them. Now the pressurized compartment closed the 60th frame.

The capacity of the An-10A in the 1st class was 94 passengers, and with the second tourist class cabin - 100. Given the shortage of air tickets, the second option turned out to be preferable. Due to the compaction of the seats, the An-10A could be turned into an economy class aircraft capable of taking 132 people on board. There were also intermediate loading options for 112 or 118 seats. Another toilet was made on board, but in general the plane became cramped. This was especially evident in winter, when one of the trunks had to be given away for an additional wardrobe.

The main options for loading the An-10A aircraft are shown in the table below:

Table 2. The main options for loading the An-10A aircraft

It was believed that the total weight of luggage could reach up to 2 tons, 20 kg per passenger, but control weighing was usually not carried out, and often its weight on board was greater. Weighty trunks were stuffed on the shelves above the heads of the owners. Under the floor of the 2nd cabin, another cargo compartment was made, and on the floor of the passenger cabin between frames No. 44 and 50, on all An-10A except cars from 1903 to 2001, additional mooring earrings and sockets were installed for securing cargo in the transport version.

Having taken on board 100 passengers, the An-10A could also carry 4120 kg of cargo. The total mass of the paid load in the normal version reached 14.5 tons or 27% of the takeoff weight. When using the aircraft in the transport version, the value of its payload increased by a ton. The reconfiguration narrowed the "run" of center of gravity to a range of 20.4-26.1%, without moving as far back as on the "clean" An-10.

Innovations increased the mass of the structure and reduced the range. Without a navigation reserve, it amounted to 1900 km in flight at an average altitude of 10000 m. The maximum range of 3000 km, close to the parameters of the "clean" An-10, could only be obtained with a partial load of 11.3 tons.

The power plant of the An-10A aircraft remained at the same level, but the engines themselves were of a new modification - AI-20A of the 3rd series with AB-68I ser. 03.

Serial construction of the An-10A began with the machine 1602, it was commissioned according to the plan of 1959. Already on the next aircraft, 1603, the first small change was introduced: to increase the gap between the fitting of the steering cylinder of the nose landing gear and the small sash, a cutout was introduced into it. Now the danger of their collision, when the aircraft, when turning on taxiing to the maximum angle, hit an unevenness and sagged, was excluded. This change also affected all previously built An-10s. On the next aircraft, 1604, wear-resistant duralumin sheathing of the floors and walls of the lower cargo compartments was routinely introduced, replacing textolite or plywood.

On the head An-10A, the antenna of the GRP-2 glide path receiver of the blind landing system SP-50, which was installed above the cockpit, protruded into the flow, was transferred to the nose glass of the navigator's cockpit and was made in the form of a metal strip glued to the triplex. This improved aerodynamics, but when flying over the timing beacon, its signal was obscured by the fuselage and disappeared for some time, which caused concern to the crew. The same situation was, for example, with long-range bombers Tu-16, M-4 and others: the system was restored with the removal from the timing, the crews gradually got used to the “new tricks” of the equipment and it was believed that the system did not need to be finalized.

However, either the "short and thick" fuselage of the An-10 created more interference, or just civilian pilots were "more prone to unrest" than their military counterparts, but the flow of complaints did its job: the Design Bureau did not "become a pose", and deny the obvious and issued a bulletin that provided for the installation of a backup glide path receiver and a second antenna for it in the old place.

On the machine 1701, new safety valves of both hydraulic systems appeared, which serve to maintain the set pressure from the hydraulic accumulators and prevent the complete discharge of systems in case of an emergency pressure drop. The threshold pressure drop in the new valve was increased, which was supposed to improve the safety of hydraulics and the aircraft as a whole. On the same plane, additional hatches in the center section were introduced to access the hydraulic units.

The improvement of hydraulics continued on the 2101 machine: a combined hydraulic lock for opening the doors of the front chassis niche was removed, designed to connect an emergency hydraulic line from a hand pump. Instead, simplified shut-off valves were installed.

Starting with car 2201, the circuit of the automatic brake of the wheels of the main racks was changed and an electromanometer was installed to control the pressure in the braking system. From the same copy of the An-10A, they were no longer equipped with side ladders for loading the lower cargo compartments. For this purpose, standard devices for all types of aircraft that were stored at airports began to be used.

The composition of the radio equipment on the An-10A remained the same, but only the switching order was new. The first novelty appeared on the machine 2204 - a light and compact semiconductor intercom SPU-7, which replaced the bulky tube SPU-6.

Paying much attention to the improvement of the power plant and equipment, the designers almost did not affect his airframe. The only change that caught my eye was the rejection of keel washers. But this was done not during the production of the aircraft, but after, by improving the operated machines. The "tail decoration" was removed, and the single ventral ridge was replaced with a double one. Alteration of the plumage reduced the weight and aerodynamic drag of the aircraft, and the load on the fuselage and stabilizer decreased while maintaining stability characteristics.

The construction of the An-10A aircraft was to be completed in 1960 with the delivery of the 25th series. The technology for assembling the machine had already been worked out, the number of products in the series increased (for the An-10A it reached six, while for the An-10 it did not exceed four). Nevertheless, as usual, the backlog from the schedule remained. In total, 104 An-10 aircraft of all variants were built, the last of which left the workshops of plant No. 64 in 1961.

For the needs of Aeroflot, the An-10AS version for 16.3 tons of cargo was tested and put into operation, and, unlike the previously used removal of seats and installation of cargo decks, it was also assumed that the partitions in the cabin would be dismantled. The An-10AS was not widely used, although it proved to be quite good.

The designers had to "stuff" the salons more and more tightly, and the operator - to give preference to "economic" options. But it cannot be said that the developers of aircraft did not do anything to correct the situation, Antonov already at the end of the fifties proposed several new modifications of the “tens”.

Back in 1957, the Antonov Design Bureau team proposed a project for an elongated An-16 for 130 passengers with baggage and cargo with a total weight of up to 14 tons. But its implementation was postponed due to other workloads.

In 1962, the An-10B modification project was completed. With the same pressurized cabin dimensions as the An-10A, the maximum number of seats was limited to 118. Radio and instrumentation equipment was replaced: it became possible to get the latest news from the Air Force arsenal, which was at the peak of Khrushchev's "acceleration" and therefore willingly shared with Aeroflot the most secret REO systems.

On the A-10V (1963), the fuselage was completely redone. It was lengthened by 6 meters, which made it possible to carry up to 174 passengers. This aircraft, in its concept, resembled the short-haul airbuses that became so widespread in the 80s, and could unload the overloaded short-haul airlines in the central regions of the USSR.

For flights to an increased range, it was planned to use the An-10D, the fuel supply of which was enough to cover a distance of 4000 km. The passenger cabin of this modification was designed for 124 seats.

Proposals for the development of new modifications of the An-10 aircraft were relevant, but did not find support from the Ministry of Aviation Industry and Aeroflot and were not implemented. However, it must be admitted that there were reasons for this. Quite an objective and, to put it mildly, “unpleasant” property for Kyiv designers. What - you will learn in the second part of the article.

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In addition to An - 8, in the Design Bureau of O.K. Antonov in 1955-1957. two turboprop aircraft were created: the passenger An-10 and the cargo An-12 with maximum unification.

An-10 was the first domestic wide-body passenger aircraft with turboprop engines for carrying 84 passengers on medium-haul airlines, and An-12 was the first four-engine turboprop cargo aircraft with a payload of 20 tons.

Initially, four NK-4 turboprop engines designed by N.D. were installed on the An-10 passenger aircraft. Kuznetsova. The first flight of the An-10 took place on March 7, 1957, it was performed by test pilots Ya.I. Vernikov, I.E. Davydov and navigator P.V. Koshkin. The first prototype of the An-10 aircraft was called "Ukraine", and it was built at an aircraft factory in Kyiv. The An-10 factory test program was completed by test pilots I.E. Davydov and V.A. Kalinin.

The An-10 "Ukraine" aircraft is an all-metal monoplane with a high wing area of ​​121.73 m2.

The aircraft has 84 soft comfortable reclining seats. A light table is inserted into the arm of the chair, on which you can put a book or magazine or put a tray with food, since all passengers will receive hot meals on the way. There are two wardrobes, toilets, a buffet-kitchen on the plane. In the lower part of the fuselage under the floor there are two sealed cargo spaces, which accommodate 4000 kg of cargo and 350 kg of passenger luggage.

Seats for passengers are located in three separate comfortable lounges, illuminated by two rows of ceiling lamps.

The fuselage of the An-10 aircraft is located very low above the ground. The wings with engines are raised very high, so that a gaping passenger can even pass under the rotating propellers without any harm to himself. Cars and tankers pass freely under the propellers.

The pressurized cabin is heated and air-conditioned, and there is little engine noise, so you can talk without raising your voice. A spacious and comfortable pilot's cabin, a well-glazed navigator's workplace reduced crew fatigue and had a positive effect on flight safety.

The crew consisted of five people: two pilots, a flight engineer, a navigator and a radio operator.

The An-10 aircraft is designed for landing on small airfields available everywhere and does not require long concrete runways for takeoff and landing.

The second experimental and at the same time the first serial An-10 with the AI-20 theater was first taken into the air by test pilot of the Design Bureau I.E. Davydov November 5, 1957 in Voronezh. Factory tests took place until June 1958. The An-10 was produced in series until December 1959.

In 1958, at the World Aviation Exhibition in Brussels, An-10 was awarded a large Gold Medal and a Diploma.

Since 1959, a modified An-1 OA aircraft with a fuselage lengthened by 2 meters for 100 passengers with an AI-20A turboprop engine with a power of 4000 hp has entered mass production, and then Aeroflot. and AV-68I screws.

The An-10A aircraft made its first technical flight on April 27, 1959. On June 22, 1959, the car with passengers left for the first flight on the route Moscow - Simferopol. In December 1959, the An-10A flew to the USA.

The first An-YuA aircraft was mastered by the pilots of the Ukrainian Civil Aviation Administration E.V. Balashov, I.I. Boguslavsky, M.I. Dubovik.

An-YuA was equipped with radio navigation and radar equipment perfect for those times, modern flight instruments. Pressurized cabins and air conditioning units made it possible to fly at high altitudes, provide convenience and comfort for the crew. An-YuA aircraft can continue flying if one, two or even three engines fail. The ability to take off from unpaved platforms, unpretentiousness in maintenance and good efficiency helped An-YuA securely gain a foothold in several republican and regional departments of Aeroflot at once.

In addition to the An-10, An-YuA, other modifications were also developed. An-YuB, built in 1962 in a single copy, was distinguished by the latest radio equipment and the layout of the cabin, which accommodated 132 passengers. An-YUV with a fuselage lengthened by 6 meters and a capacity of up to 174 passengers did not go into serial production. The project remained on paper An-1 OD with a capacity of up to 124 passengers and a flight range of up to 4400 km. Back in 1957, the An-16 was being developed - a modification of the An-10 for transporting 130 passengers with luggage, mail and cargo with a total weight of up to 14,000 kg over a distance of 2,000 km. The increase in seats was achieved by 3 m of a cylindrical insert in the fuselage of the base aircraft. This project was not implemented.

During the years of serial production (1957-1960), 108 An-10 and An-YuA aircraft were built at the Voronezh Aviation Plant.

Starting from 1958, all An-10s were equipped with AI-20 engines. In the same year, the plant produced 16, in 1959 - 39 and in 1960 - 46 aircraft. By the end of 1963, Aeroflot operated 81 An-10s.

By 1971, the "tens" carried 35 million passengers and a million tons of cargo. An-10 came out in Aeroflot in first place in terms of passenger traffic.

The "airbus plane", or, as the An-10 was also called, the "dolphin plane", confidently conquered the "fifth ocean", was preparing for new achievements.

In May 1972, a plane crash occurred in the Kharkov region, in which 116 people died. The disaster near Kharkov forever crossed out the fate of the An-10. By a strong-willed decision, all An-10 aircraft are removed from Aeroflot lines. Since 1973, not a single An-10 aircraft with passengers has taken to the skies.

An-10 is the first passenger aircraft with a turboprop engine in the Soviet Union, which began flight tests. It was the first to be launched into a series, the first to reach the airlines and the first to be retired.

MAIN DATA AH-10A

Takeoff weight, kg 54,000

The mass of the equipped aircraft, kg 35 600

Payload weight, kg 14,500

Number of passenger seats, pers. 100

Number of crew members, pers. 5

Flight range, km 1800-3000

Practical ceiling, m 10 200

Cruising speed, km/h 600-650

Landing speed, km/h 190-200

Fuel reserve, kg 11 260

Required runway length, m 1800

Mileage, m 700-800

Takeoff, m - 500-650

Aircraft length, m 34.00

Wingspan, m 38.00

Wing area, m2 121.73

Aircraft height, m ​​9.83

Fuselage diameter, m 4.1

Once upon a time, there was one An-10... So one could begin this story about the unusual fate of one of the sides of the Soviet passenger aircraft An-10. This story has a typical beginning and middle for its time, but a very original ending.

But first things first. An-10 is a Soviet turboprop passenger aircraft, created in the Antonov design bureau in the 50s of the last century. The country then needed equipment capable of taking off from any type of runway, including unpaved ones, and with a flight range of up to 2,000 km. The basis for the creation of the An-10 was its predecessor An-8 - a military transport aircraft with two propellers.

1. In the summer of 1955, Nikita Khrushchev visited the Antonov Design Bureau and became interested in the possibility of creating twin aircraft An-10 and An-12. In the context of the beginning of the Cold War, the possibility of reducing the cost of the project and the option of quickly converting the passenger An-10 into the military An-12 looked very tempting and the go-ahead was given. The Antonov Design Bureau did not yet have experience in creating such large aircraft and he turned to his "senior colleagues" from the Tupolev Design Bureau with a request to familiarize their employees with ready-made projects. A.N. Tupolev treated the request with understanding and provided documentation for the Tu-16 and Tu-104. Thanks to this help, the construction of the An-10 went faster and already on March 7, 1957, the first An-10 model took off. The first board received its own name "Ukraine".

2. The first flights were successful and the liner was put into production. In 1958, 20 aircraft were built, in 1959 - 46, in 1960 - 41. Aircraft were built at the Voronezh Aviation Plant. The hero of our story was built in 1960 and at birth received serial number 0402103 and onboard USSR-11192. Here he is in the photo, handsome.

3. His further fate is similar to that of dozens of his brothers. Until the beginning of the 70s, the liner was successfully operated in the civil fleet of the USSR. But in 1972, one of the An-10s crashed near Kharkov. The reason was recognized as design flaws and on August 27, 1973, the entire An-10 fleet was immediately landed on the ground "due to unsatisfactory technical condition." Most of the An-10s were cut after that, some were installed in parks as monuments and playgrounds. Our hero, USSR-11192, ended up in Krasnodar, in Pervomaiskaya Grove. It organized a children's cinema "Annushka". Photo from Pervomaiskaya grove could not be found, can anyone share? There is only a photograph of his colleague, which was installed in Krasnodar at the other end of the city, in the Solnechny Ostrov park, then the 40th anniversary of October.

4. In the late 80s, both monument ships were scrapped. A common story for today, isn't it? But here comes the most interesting part. The sawn remains were taken by one of the residents of the city. Alexander Ivanovich Uzhva transported all parts of the aircraft to his private house on the river bank, where he still keeps them. That is, they lie right in the garden. The sight is very surreal.

5. Among the huge pile of all kinds of iron, you can find not only the former cockpit of the aircraft. Here are old electric stoves, rusty refrigerators, the remains of some cars.

6. Judging by the fact that young trees have long grown around the fuselage, it has been lying like this for many years. The greenery covered the remnants of the plane so much that from the road you might not even notice that there is such an unusual yard here.

7. Nearby in the grass are the planes of the wings. One on the other. What condition they are in can be seen from this photo. But once they carried a hundred people somewhere in the clouds at an altitude of 8 km.

8. At the moment, there is only one An-10 left in the world. It is located in Monino, in the aviation museum. With proper work, these parts may well become the second surviving An-10. Alexander Ivanovich was repeatedly offered to take or buy out the remaining parts of the aircraft, but each time he refused.

9. The owner himself was not at home. The question why he does not want to part with the plane he failed to ask. The locals reported that Alexander Ivanovich told them about his desire to assemble some kind of ship or catamaran from this for personal needs. I don't know if this is true. In my opinion, if you sell all this, then you can buy a good catamaran with the proceeds without any "file modifications".

10. The USSR inscription is still visible on the shabby case. I would like to take a closer picture of her, but getting close to her is very problematic.

11. Among other things, there is also an old gangway in the yard. To understand what it's all about. The ladder stands on the ground somewhere between the garages and some warehouses of boards. Under it, as well as under the plane itself, a large number of stray dogs live. I talked about this issue with local pensioners. They express restrained dissatisfaction, firstly, with the fact that the remains of the aircraft have become a haven for homeless mongrels, of whom there are really a lot, and, secondly, "it stands here, emits radiation and all sorts of harmful rays." They asked me to deal with this issue so that "this disgrace has already been taken somewhere."

12. And these are the removed screws. In very good condition as far as I can tell. It was not possible to get close again because of stray dogs.

Here is such an unusual fate for this aircraft. And the story isn't over yet. Something will happen to these remains. Will they take it to the color met? Will they continue to rot in the garden for another 15 years? Or maybe they will fall into the caring hands of restorers? Who knows, let's see :)

upd2017: State of the art post for 2017 -