The An-2 is a multi-purpose aircraft designed in the Oleg Antonov design bureau. The prototype was first flown in 1947. It was manufactured in series in the USSR, China and Poland — at WSK Mielec between 1960 and 2002. A total of 11,954 units were produced there. The most numerous was the agricultural version (7,880 units; together with those produced in the USSR and China, it is the most numerous type of agricultural aircraft in the world).
The main recipient of the An-2 produced in Poland was the USSR (10,628 units), while 464 units were used in Poland. The An-2 is particularly well suited for work in difficult field conditions. The structure is robust — it was designed and tested under extreme positive and negative temperature conditions.
Its large payload capacity and fuselage volume allow the transport of spare engines, replacement parts and crew members. A disadvantage is the lack of de-icing equipment. The strong undercarriage, large tyres and wing high-lift devices enable short take-offs and landings even on rough operational airstrips.
The An-2 is a single-engine biplane of metal construction with a fixed conventional undercarriage. The wings and tail surfaces are fabric-covered. The upper wings have automatic leading-edge slats, and both wings have landing flaps. Metal fuel tanks with a total capacity of 1,200 l are housed in the upper wings. The centre section of the fuselage contains a cargo compartment where, in the agricultural version, the chemical tank is installed. The fuselage doors are double: smaller ones for crew and passengers, and larger ones, opening outward, for cargo loading. The cockpit has dual controls. The wheels can be replaced with skis or floats for the seaplane version. The powerplant is a 9-cylinder radial Asz-62IR engine rated at 1,000 HP (736 kW) with an adjustable metal AW-2 propeller of 3.6 m diameter.
Sometimes I laughed that I was flying an agricultural machine, and a very versatile one at that. The Antonov in its agricultural version performed many functions — it just couldn’t plough. — Stefan Weker*
The basic common component of the agricultural equipment is the chemical tank. It is made of epoxy laminate reinforced with glass fibre and has a capacity of 1,350 l. In the dry-material version, a tunnel spreader was mounted under the aircraft at the tank throat, and above the tank there were 2 loading chutes for fertiliser as well as a windmill-driven agitator inside the tank.
In the liquid-spraying version, a pumping unit equipped with a centrifugal pump driven by a windmill was mounted at the tank throat, along with pneumatically operated valves controlling the flow of liquid to the spray bars suspended under the fuselage and lower wing. Up to 96 spray nozzles of various types and sizes could be installed on the bars. For ultra-low-volume (ULV) spraying, rotary atomisers were mounted on booms under the wings.
The aircraft bearing the registration SP-WMK, produced in 1974, logged 7,465 flight hours in Poland, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, the GDR and Slovakia. It was donated by the Aerial Application Services Plant in Mielec and overhauled by its former employees under the supervision of Andrzej Brzostowski. Next to the aircraft, dry-material spreading equipment can be viewed.
| year of production | 1974 |
| wingspan | 18.18 m |
| length | 12.40 m |
| height | 4.10 m |
| wing area | 71.53 m2 |
| empty weight | 3460 kg |
| take-off weight | 5500 kg |
| cruise speed | 180–200 km/h |
| working speed | 150–160 km/h |
| max speed | x km/h |
| service ceiling | 4400 m |
| range | 1200 km |
| take-off/landing run | 200/200 m |
| spraying working width | approx. 35 m |
| fertilising working width | approx. 20 m |
| powerplant | 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine Asz-62IR rated at 600 HP (441 kW) with an adjustable 4-blade metal propeller AW-2 of 3.6 m diameter |
