Famous designer of aviation history: who is Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov?

“In the aviation, the interconnection of technical perfection with beauty is especially noticeable.”

“If not for designing, I would like to become a painter”

Antonov

Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov is one of the leading names in Russian aviation and the founder of the Antonov company, which first comes to mind when we think of aviation in Ukraine. Oleg Antonov, who lived during the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), is one of the important designers who contributed greatly to world aviation. He is also considered the founder of Soviet gliding.

He was born on February 7, 1906, in the village of Troitsa, Podolsk region, near Moscow. Born into a family of civil engineers, he became interested in calculations and mechanism designs at a young age. At the age of 20, he gained great fame as a sailing aircraft designer. He designed and produced the OKA-1 Golub (Pigeon) in 1924. With this work, he was awarded a diploma for his original design at the 2nd glider tests event held in Crimea. In the same period, “Why do we need gliders?” and two papers titled “Paper models of the simplest glider” were also published.

A year later, he started to study at the shipbuilding department of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, which also includes the hydraulic aviation department. During his university years, Osoaviakhim (Aviation Public Assistance Organization) produced OKA-2, OKA-3, Standard, and Standard-2 (OKA-5) training gliders. When he graduated from the institute in 1930, he was working as a chief engineer in the design bureau of the glider workshops of factory number 47 in Leningrad. In his graduation year, he went to Moscow to participate in the founding of Tsentralnoye Planyornoye Konstruktivnoye (TsPKB) (Osoaviakhim Glider Center Design Bureau). There the training gliders ОKА-7, ОKА-8 (US-1), ОKА-9 (US-2), and Gorod Lenina (City of Lenin) developed gliding gliders. He drew a very successful chart.

In 1933 he was appointed chief designer of the glider factory in Tushino (Moscow). During his time there, he designed quite a few gliders. Antonov was awarded the Central Executive Committee diploma in 1933 for the development of new glider designs. Between 1923 and 1938 he developed more than 40 models of gliders and more than 50 in total. Antonov in 1938 A.S. He was appointed chief designer of the Yakovlev Design Bureau. He continued to work in different factories.

In May 1946 Oleg Antonov took over the head of his own aircraft construction design bureau. He designed the first aircraft project, the agricultural aircraft, Sel'sko-Hoziaystvenniy samoliot (SHA), and made its maiden flight in August 1947. A year later, this aircraft began to be mass-produced at the aircraft factory in Kyiv under the name AN2. AN code is now used instead of OKA in models. This aircraft is the only biplane that is still in production to this day.

The AN2 aircraft were produced in Russia and under license in China and Poland. There are six official configurations of this aircraft and dozens of special versions have also been produced.

In 1952, Antonov's design office and the team moved to Kyiv. In Kyiv, they started almost everything from scratch. In this process, many new engineers joined Antonov's design team. They continued their work by creating a strong engineering team. Welded extensively in the construction of the AN-8 transport aircraft (1956), the AN-10 Ukrainian passenger aircraft, the AN-12 military aircraft carrier (1957), the AN-14 Pchiolka multipurpose short take-off and landing aircraft (1958), and the world's first and the AN-24 passenger plane (1959) using glued structural parts.

When we examine these projects, we see that Antonov achieved very important successes between 1950 and 1960. Between 1960 and 1965, the world's first super-heavy, wide-body AN-22 Antei (Antheus) transport aircraft was developed. The plane broke the world aviation record 41 times. One of the main principles of the innovative activity of the Antonov Design Bureau is the provision of aircraft structural partnerships. In other words, after a model has been developed, the newly developed model builds on the previous one. Thus, the AN-14М and AN-28 aircraft; It was developed on the basis of the AN-14 (1973) aircraft. The AN-30 aerial photography aircraft was also designed based on the AN-24 (1967).

Similarly, the AN-24Т (1965), AN-26 (1969) transport aircraft, and the AN-32 transport (1976) aircraft developed for hot and high operating conditions were also built on the basis of the AN24 aircraft. This situation accelerated the designers and allowed new models to emerge faster.

planes of the Antonov family; Produced at a number of production facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Irkutsk, Voronezh, Ulyanovsk, Novosibirsk, Arsenyev, Dolgoprudnyi, Omsk, Tashkent, Ulan-Ude, Mieleс (Poland), Shijiazhuang and Nanchang (China). The last aircraft developed in 1982 under the guidance of Oleg Antonov was the AN-124 Ruslan. This aircraft was designed to carry 150 tons of cargo and was the largest military transport aircraft in the world.

In his career, Oleg Antonov has also served as Chairman of the Official Board of Inspectors of the Kharkiv Aviation Institute, Professor, and Head of the Institute Sub-Department. Antonov, who took an active part in the studies of Kiev State University, Kyiv Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers, Department of Mechanics and Mathematics, also participated in activities in the Mechanics and Hydromechanics departments of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Oleg Antonov combined his design career with social, cultural, and socio-economic activities and teaching. He has 72 inventions and 10 internationally registered patents. He is the author of three books and more than 200 scientific and popular science publications devoted to various problems of design, ergonomics, ecology, technical aesthetics, economics, culture, and art.

There are also more than 100 paintings drawn by Antonov. If he had not been a designer, he would have preferred painting. This unforgettable designer; During his lifetime, he made incredible efforts to restore Igor Sikorsky's memory in Ukrainian aviation history. Antonov was deemed worthy of many important awards during his lifetime. These awards are; General Designer of Aircraft (1962), Hero of Socialist Labor (1966), Lenin (1962) and State Prize (1952), Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1967) and USSR (1981), Doctor of Sciences, Eng. (1960), Professorship (1978), Honorary Scientist of the Ukrainian SSR (1976), Deputy of the 5th – 11th convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Order of Lenin (1957, 1975), October Revolution (1971), Worker's Red Banner (1944) , First Class Patriotic War (1945), Polish Revival (1967), Partisan First Class Medal decorated with the Great Patriotic War and AN Tupolev Gold Medal (1984) are some of them.

I also had the chance to see the factories in Kyiv and Kharkiv before the invasion of Russia. I had the opportunity to learn that important aircraft types were developed and produced in huge buildings in a very wide area. Antonov and his works have a very important place in the history of Ukrainian aviation. This legacy continues today.

Antonov, who wrote his name in the history of aviation with golden letters, died on April 4, 1984. He was buried in the Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv. It continues to set an example for the world of aviation with what it does. His name is almost immortalized. In addition, the name Antonov has taken its place in the honor list of the USA San Diego, California Air, and Space Museum. In 2016, the name of the Ukrainian State Aviation Museum was changed to the Oleg Antonov State Aviation Museum. I also visited this museum twice. I had the opportunity to see the Antonov AN-225 Mriya, the world's largest aircraft. I sat in the cockpit. This aircraft has a larger payload than the AN-124.

February 2022

The Antonov-225, known as the world's largest aircraft and waiting in the hangar at the airport near Kyiv, unfortunately, became the victim of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The legendary Ukrainian-made aircraft was destroyed after the Russian forces attacked Hostomel Airport.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba announced that the Antonov AN-225 was destroyed by Russian forces.

The AN-225, which has a very important place in the history of aviation, was first produced to carry the space orbital vehicles of the Soviet Union.

It was designed in Ukraine from 1985-1988 and only one was produced.

The USSR's Buran space shuttle was bigger than anything else. Due to the dimensions, the transfer of the space shuttle from one region to another could not be done by road.

Therefore, Antonov would produce a large cargo plane and carry the Buran space shuttle. However, after production, the space program was disrupted and the plane was left empty. The aircraft was subsequently redesigned and a large cargo door was added to the aircraft. In this way, it was able to carry large loads.

The world records held by the An-225, which made its first flight on December 21, 1988, included 253 tons of cargo transportation, 187.6 tons of mono cargo transportation, and 42.1 meters of cargo transportation.