Turboprop transporters - the top three

It may seem to some that aircraft with propellers are a thing of the past and today they are hopelessly outdated. But no! Some of them, developed in the 60s, are still flying, there are many projects and real aircraft produced at the end of the XNUMXth and beginning of the XNUMXst century and are used today. Some samples went into the series, something exists in the form of concepts, prototypes. Of greatest interest are the largest turboprop aircraft flying today in terms of dimensions and carrying capacity.

Airbus A400M

For the first time this transporter was demonstrated on 26.06.2008/11.09.2011/174 in Seville, and the plane took off into the sky on 1982/21/XNUMX. The tests of the vessel, in the construction of which several states participated, were successful, as evidenced by the portfolio of orders, which at that time amounted to XNUMX vehicles. The development of the aircraft started in XNUMX. But due to disagreements between the countries participating in the project, its implementation was carried out after XNUMX years.



At first, the transporter was conceived solely for the needs of military paratroopers, but later there were proposals to use it as a civilian “truck” and a flying refueling tanker.

Design

The aircraft used a scheme of a wide-body monoplane with a T-tail and a high wing. The body of the machine is made using modern composites. Individual components and parts were manufactured in Europe, South Africa, and the USA.



The huge volume of the cargo compartment of 340 cubic meters. m allows you to freely place inside the "carrier" unassembled helicopters type A.129, HNH-90, armored personnel carriers, MLRS, howitzers 203 mm. Main characteristics:

✅ wingspan - 42,4 m
✅ empty weight (maximum) - 70 t (141 t)
✅ payload - up to 37 tons
✅ engines - four Europrop International TP400-D6 (collective product!) 11 thousand "horses" each
✅ average speed - 780 km / h
✅ maximum height - 11,28 km
✅ range - 7220 km with load (empty - 9260 km)

An-70 could become a competitor of this machine, but due to the rupture of relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the project was first slowed down and then closed. They made only one copy, which remained in Ukraine (Air Force). The Airbus A400M is still in service today.

B-377 Super Guppy

It is worth making a reservation here: officially, the aircraft was decommissioned after the start of the "activity" of its jet "descendant" - Airbus Beluga. In total, five Super Guppy were released (the very first was called without the prefix "super"), which are "live" to this day. One of them is owned by NASA and is used to transport bulky cargo. Four more aircraft are in mothballed condition (USA, England, Germany, France).

Creation and start of operation

The full name of the aircraft is Aero Spacelines Super Guppy. In fact, this is a military transporter from the Boeing C-97 converted in an original and unusual way. And he, in turn, was developed on the basis of the civilian Boeing 377. Therefore, the ship was abbreviated as B-377 Guppy.





Initially, the machine was designed to transport sections of space launch vehicles. It was extremely inconvenient to transport them by rail because of their oversized dimensions (acceptable weight), and on a regular road it was long, troublesome, and dangerous, because the cargo would take up the entire width of the highway. Another way - by sea, took up to 20 days and was also not easy: in the event of a storm, the sections were damaged.

Design

The developers decided that the best option for transportation was by air using a converted existing aircraft to make it cheaper. Coincidentally, by this time, many airlines were getting rid of the Boeing 377, which, although powerful, was overly voracious. Chief designer John Conroy lengthened the fuselage by means of an insert and made a superstructure. At first it was fake and was attached for testing, but then a real one was also installed. The car received new T-34-P-7 engines.



After the success and the signing of contracts for the delivery of missile parts, an unexpected problem arose. There was a need to transport steps for the Saturn 4B, which, in terms of dimensions, did not fit into the Pregnant Guppy. Conroy was not at all embarrassed by this, and he enthusiastically set to building the Super Guppy. The giant again lengthened and expanded the fuselage, put other engines - Allison T56. Super Guppy main parameters:

✅ wingspan - 47,625 m
✅ empty weight (maximum) - 46,039 tons (77,11 tons)
✅ weight of the transported cargo - 24,72 tons
✅ power of 4 engines - Allison 501-D22C - 18 thousand 720 "horses"
✅ average speed - 407 km / h
✅ maximum height - 7,62 km
✅ range - 3219 km

Aircraft No. 941NA is currently the only one used by NASA to transport bulky cargo delivered to the ISS.

An-22

The second and more famous name is "Antey". It is the largest turboprop transport aircraft in operation today. The first model made of wood appeared in 1961, and in 1964 a prototype car was rolled out of the hangar. The ship was prepared for test flights at the beginning of next year, and on February 27.02.1965, 12, the transporter took to the skies. In November, the aircraft has already set 6,6 records, having lifted a cargo weighing 88,103 tons to a height of XNUMX km.



At the air show in Le Bourget (1965), the aircraft amazed the imagination with its unimaginable carrying capacity. When correspondents asked how many passengers the An-22 would carry, the design bureau answered that it was at least 720. An order was immediately given to develop a passenger aircraft (it was not created). By the way, the transporter conditionally managed to visit them in 1972, when Soviet citizens were taken out of Egypt during the Arab-Israeli war. True, the flight took place without amenities, but 700 people, as Antonov promised at the air show, returned safely to their homeland. Characteristics of the An-22:

✅ wingspan - 64,4 m
✅ empty weight (fully loaded) - 114 t (250 t)
✅ useful transported weight - up to 80 tons
✅ engines - four NK-12MA, 15 thousand liters each With. each
✅ average speed - 560 km / h
✅ maximum height - 7,5 km

After the success in France, NATO gave its name to the An-22 - "Rooster", apparently because of the characteristic tail. Aircraft have been manufactured at the Tashkent Aviation Plant since 1966 and mainly entered the army. But civilians also willingly used the aircraft. For example, they transported Mi-8 helicopters, components of the An-124 and An-225 (Mriya) aircraft then under construction. An-22 was often used for various tests. It was planned to create aircraft flying on nuclear fuel. It was assumed that the reactor would provide a flight range of 27,5 thousand km. In theory, the takeoff was carried out on conventional engines, and then the nuclear installation was turned on.



An aircraft variant was also worked out to search for the crews of aircraft and ships in distress in the seas and oceans.



Today, there are not many Anteevs left: some of them “serve” in the Russian Air Force and take part in a special operation in Ukraine, others are mothballed in the hangars of the repair plant in Ivanovo. Test pilot Yu. V. Kurlin, who flew almost 22 thousand hours on the AN-3, spoke indicatively about the legendary transport aircraft. The pilot compared the aircraft to a "large barge" slowly sailing through the air ocean, hinting at unpretentiousness, ease of operation, ease of maintenance and low speed.