In December 1951, OKB-153 initiated the design of a twin-engined assault transport aircraft, designated DT-5/8, to be powered by two Kuznetsov TV-2turboprop engines, and fitted with a large rear cargo door to allow vehicles to be driven straight into the hold. On 11 December 1953, the Soviet Council of Ministers issued directive No.2922-1251 to the Antonov OKB, requiring them to build a twin-turboprop transport aircraft derived from the DT-5/8. Bearing the in-house designation Izdeliye P the resulting aircraft followed state-of-the-art practice with a high wing carrying two propeller engines, atop a rectangular-section fuselage, tricycle undercarriage with main gear units housed in pods on either side of the fuselage, and an upswept rear fuselage providing clearance of the tail unit for loading and unloading. Following State acceptance trials, production was not recommended due to poor spin characteristics, directional stability and control issues, nosewheel shimmy, poor controllability when landing in crosswinds above 6 m/s and also phugoid oscillations in all three axes which were difficult to control and made piloting the prototype tiring. As well as the aerodynamic faults, the TV-2 engines proved difficult to start with unstable gas dynamics at altitudes above 6,000 m. The Antonov OKB set about rectifying these faults with increased-area vertical and horizontal tail surfaces, anti-spin strakes on the upper rear fuselage sides, deleting the wing LE slats, local structural reinforcements and replacing the TV-2 engines with Ivchenko AI-20D turboprop engines, which had the added benefit of reducing the empty weight by three tonnes. The new design required the use of new production techniques, such as stamping and forging of large high-strength parts, extrusion of long sections, chemical milling of large skin panels and other new techniques. Given the service designation An-8, the new transport was built in the GAZ-34 factory in Tashkent from 1957 to 1961, as a larger-capacity replacement for the earlier Lisunov Li-2, with a large unpressurized hold, a manned tail gun position, chin radome for navigation/mapping radar and a glazed nose for the navigator.
Operational history
The first production aircraft was rolled out in December 1958 incorporating de-rated AI-20D engines,, modified undercarriage control systems, fuel vents, pressurization and de-icing systems, as well as thicker gauge skin in the propeller plane of rotation and increased rudder range of movement. The majority of An-8s built served in the Soviet Air Forces, with two An-8s being used to land special forces to seize Plzeň airport during the Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Others were used as electronic reconnaissance aircraft, and one aircraft was used for air sampling following Chinese nuclear testing in 1966. They continued in large-scale use on frontline military duties in the Soviet Air Force until the 1970s, when many were later transferred to Aeroflot for use as freighters. Following a series of accidents in the early 1990s, the An-8 was withdrawn from use in Russia. This did not mean the end of the An-8, however, as a number were sold overseas with a few aircraft observed flying in the Middle East, and until recently, in Africa,, DR Congo and Angola,, despite Antonov having withdrawn the airworthiness certificate and support for the type in 2004, ending legal use of the aircraft.
Variants
;Izdeliye P ;Izdeliye N ;An-8 ;An-8M ;An-8T ;An-8RU ;An-8Sh ;An-8PS ;An-8??
