Specialty Press Publishers

Antonov's Turboprop Twins

by Yefim Gordon, Dmitry Komissarov, Sergey Komissarov

Reviewed By Mike Reeves, #39908

Red Star Volume 5
MSRP $29.95

The Antonov AN-24 was designed in the late 1950’s as an answer to the Fokker F.27.  It is very similar in both capabilities and appearance.  The aircraft and its counterparts the AN-26, AN-30 and AN-32 has seen service in a host of Nations in both the civil and military roles.  It has served in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas.  It is the best selling aircraft among Soviet commercial designs.  The book covers each of the aircraft in extreme detail.  It covers the operators and variants in a very logical manner coupled with roughly 200 black and white photos.  The book includes some great detail photos and diagrams to aid the modeler.

The book follows the development of each aircraft in sequential order.  The AN-24 is covered first from the prototype to the AN-24T.  A few pages are also covered with details concerning the Chinese versions of the XIAN Y-7, license built version of the AN-24.  The text on the airliner variants is very interesting as well.

The next aircraft covered is the AN-26.  The AN-26 was developed to fill the need for a rear ramp opening paratrooper aircraft.  The Soviets had to compete with the successful C-123 and C-7 Caribou aircraft that the west had.  The aircraft incorporated a new fuselage design with a glazed nose and a navigators station.  It also had a three door cargo door in the aft end of the aircraft to deploy paratroopers.  It was designed to drop combat vehicles as well as self propelled guns.  The AN-26 also saw service in Aeroflot and was modified as a fire bomber as well.  It also doubled as a VIP transport, medical transport, weather research aircraft, avionics and engine test bed.

The AN-30 is the next one in line to be covered.  It is my personal favorite in the book because it just looks cool.  It is called the "Big Head" Antonov for good reason.  It is basically an AN-24 with a new flight deck and forward fuselage.  The pilot actually sits down in the nose glazing .  One of the main purposes of the aircraft is reconnaissance.  It can carry a multitude of cameras and other surveillance equipment in several configurations for reconnaissance or mapping.  The UN even flew this version for peace keeping.

The AN-32 is the last twin covered in the book.  It is distinguished by its high on the wing twin Turbo prop motors and its clean lines.  It was used as a tactical transport were it relied on its speed and range to deliver cargo and paratroops.  It is a natural progression in performance, range and capability over the AN-24.  It has served in many airlines around the world as a mid range commercial carrier and as a cargo aircraft.

Normally I am not big into transport type aircraft but this book really got me interested.  I am always amazed at how the Soviets could design and build an aircraft and modify it throughout its life to perform other missions.  The twin Antonovs are a perfect example of this ability.  There aren’t many aircraft in the world that have been able to do what these aircraft have done.  These aircraft have served as troop carriers, cargo carriers, test beds, reconnaissance platforms, fire bombers, research aircraft and airliners.  That is quite a resume for brisk sales and happy customers.

As a modeler I did a little research on kits that have been produced.  I do not know the availability, quality or pricing on the kits.  I may also be missing some so please forgive me if I have.  Here is a short list for you:

There you have it.  Like I said above, this book is a greatly informative read and provides a great deal of photos and diagrams covering every variant and sub variant of these aircraft.  I highly recommend it for anyone interest in Soviet or transport aircraft.

My thanks to Specialty Press for the review issue.

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