Operational History
The An-22 was originally built for the Soviet Air Force and Aeroflot, the state airline. The conversion from An-12 in the Air Force began in July 1974. Several Military Transport Aviation units were equipped. The 12th Mginsk Red Banner transport aviation division (airbase Migalovo) was one of the units which had its three regiments entirely equipped with the An-22s. Another unit that operated it was the 566th 'Solnechnogorsk' Military Transport Aviation Regiment, which used the An-22 from 1970 to 1987.
An early use of the An-22 was to deliver aid to Peru following an earthquake in July 1970. One An-22 disappeared on 18 July when carrying out these relief flights. An-22s were also used to deliver military supplies to Egypt and Syria during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, supplies to Angola in 1975 and military aid to Ethiopia in 1977.
The An-22s from Migalovo were used for the initial insertion of the Soviet Airborne Troops (VDV) in to Kabul, Kandahar and Bagram during the 1979 Soviet war in Afghanistan. One An-22 was shot down near Kabul on 28 October 1984. In 1980 one An-22 crashed at Vnukovo International Airport while two crashed at Migalovo (in 1992 and 1994).
In 1984 the military aircraft were used to deliver Mi-8 helicopters to Ethiopia during drought relief operations.
In 1986 the aircraft of the 8th air transport aviation regiment from Migalovo were used to deliver materials for the containment of the Chernobyl disaster effects.
During 1987 the aircraft were used to deliver military equipment to Angola. A year later the military An-22s were used to deliver 15,000 tons and 1,000 personnel in aid of the relief of earthquake disaster in Armenia.
The An-22 aircraft were often seen at the Le Bourget Air Show, and in 1988 delivered an engine from An-124 to the Farnborough Airshow.
An-22s were used to deliver internal security troops to many ethnic regional conflicts during and after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and during the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Germany. In 1995 they delivered the Russian peacekeeping contingent from the 98th Guards Airborne Division to Bosnia – Herzegovina during the Bosnian War.
Approximately 45 remained in service by the mid-1990s, mostly with the Russian Air Force, but these are slowly being replaced by the bigger turbofan-powered Antonov An-124. The remaining An-22s appear to be operated by an independent military transport aviation squadron at Tver (Migalovo). Currently one An-22 is in use for civilian cargo duties with Antonov Airlines.
A proposed civil airliner version capable of seating 724 passengers on upper and lower decks was planned but wasn't constructed. (For comparison, a typical Boeing 747 can carry 400–500 passengers.)
Read more about this topic: Antonov An-22
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