Red Star

Red Star 33 - Antonov An-12 The Soviet Hercules

by  Yefim Gordon and Dmitriy Komissarov

Reviewed By  Fred Horky, IPMS# 6390

MSRP: $36.95 ISBN: 1857802551 Web Site: www.specialtypress.com More than any other aircraft, your reviewer's USAF career was spent with the familiar C-130 "Hercules", both as a airlift pilot, then flight test, and later in maintenance management. Therefore the reader will understand why I would be interested in a definitive book about the airplane universally considered "The SOVIET Hercules". In this book, issued as Volume 33 of the publisher's extensive "Red Star" series, the authors do an excellent job of describing the development of this aircraft. The Soviet and American airplanes do have many similarities ..perhaps not really that remarkable on consideration that two different design teams looking at the same design challenge at about the same time had come up with pretty much the same solutions. Of course, there are differences attributable to the military and engineering cultures of their respective homelands; for example, having a manned tail turret (or ANY gun turret, for that matter) was never considered necessary by the USAF or Lockheed, yet military versions of the "Cub" (to use NATO's "C-for cargo" code name for the AN-12) had those menacing cannon from the beginning. At the other end of the airplane, Soviet tradition dictated that their navigators have a really good view, which resulted in a typically-Soviet bombardier-like glazed nose: American designers (and customers) preferred humongous big radomes up front. The basic design originally appeared as the TWIN-engine An-8, which while considered successful had a short production run of little more than 100 examples … a low number by Russian standards. Where two engines would work, four engines would work much better … with attendant performance increases. Curiously, this variant also almost had a C-130 Hercules equivalent, but much later; when in the 1970's Lockheed proposed but could not find a launch customer for a light-weight "Twin Hercules". The book is profusely illustrated throughout, with many photos of numerous client country An-12's in both military and civil markings; as well as the literal "Chinese copy", reverse-engineered Y 8 "Cubs" built in China after the Sino-Soviet political split in the early 1970's. This is an excellent study of a significant military transport: it is highly recommended to enthusiasts. American aero engineers will particularly be interested how problems were solved on "the other side of the hill". The book will also be of great interest to modelers having the 1/72nd Roden An-12 kit, like the real airplane from the Ukraine. As volume 33 in the publishers "Red Star" series, this 8-1/2 " X 11" soft covered book contains 145 pages densely packed with an excellent text and 250 well-selected photos, both color and B&W. It may be currently be ordered directly from the publisher at www.specialtypress.com at $36.95.

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