Antonov An-2 in Bavaria

The airport in Bad Wörishofen is a great little place. I am hoping the AN-2 is open this summer for a flight, there are also several glider clubs and paraglider clubs in the area so plenty of flying in this part of the world!
 
Nicely written, Jeff! It brought back memories of the 90s, when a similar An-2 joined the yearly open house we had at EDLF (Grefrath, my then home base). And last year at AirVenture, I saw a very special An-2 which had been converted into a flying RV by his owner.

BTW, the former East German state airline was Interflug. Lufthansa is alive and kicking - well, a little less so in COVID-19 times, but still...

- Martin
 
Martin Pauly said:
Nicely written, Jeff! It brought back memories of the 90s, when a similar An-2 joined the yearly open house we had at EDLF (Grefrath, my then home base). And last year at AirVenture, I saw a very special An-2 which had been converted into a flying RV by his owner.
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Thanks for the kind words!

BTW, the former East German state airline was Interflug. Lufthansa is alive and kicking - well, a little less so in COVID-19 times, but still...
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The airplane is painted to represent 1957, when the East German state airline was indeed called Deutsche Lufthansa, even appropriating the West German Lufthansa logo. Interflug was not formed until 1958.

From the Wikipedia article on Interflug:

In 1955, Deutsche Lufthansa was founded as rival East German flag carrier. It soon became obvious that the East German airline would likely lose a lawsuit over the use of the Lufthansa branding. As a consequence, Interflug was set up on 18 September 1958 as a "back-up" company, initially intended to complement the East German aviation industry by operating chartered flights. In 1963, the East German Lufthansa was liquidated, officially due to poor profitability (though this step foreclosed the imminent stripping of the Lufthansa name). Its staff, aircraft fleet, and route network was transferred to Interflug, which henceforth served as the East German flag carrier.​
 
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Great write-up!
Cool plane.
Back in the early 80's I was mechanicing with a flight school. One of the regular renters had occasion to visit Russia on a recurring basis and had connected with people in the aviation business' over there. Things were changing economically for them then and several Russian aircraft became available at very attractive prices. AN-2's which had been running on some of their feeder routes were going for cheap. IIRC $30K for a good one. The owner of the school called me in and asked me; if he bought three would I assemble two, and he would give me the third for the job. I was all over that!;-)
Called the FAA and asked what would be involved. They said contact the FSDO (I think?) in Alaska as they handled the import of aircraft from Russia at the time. So called them up, guy answers the phone. I tell him what I want and he says " let me put you on speaker" Then says repeat the question. So I did and about three guys on that end all start laughing and basically say no way......... As far as I understand it the AN-2's in the states now are under a pretty restrictive "exhibition only" category. The feedback I got at the time was that these very capable planes would compete with our aircraft manufacturer's products...........
 
The Big BABINSKI. :) I estimated the fabric and chemicals would be about 10k. yes I tried to import one too. there was 4 at Alburn WA you could buy for $25k all were fly at the time.
 
I was thinking to use it for flying cantaloupes and crabs from the Eastern Shore of Md up to the middle of the state LOL!
 
Pilawt said:
Air Facts Journal just published my article about a flight in an Antonov An-2 in Bavaria.
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Nice story!

So is this a routine thing, at day’s end, to remove lower spark plugs and drain oil from cylinders?

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of doing maintenance like that, just for letting a plane sit overnight.
 
NoHeat said:
So is this a routine thing, at day’s end, to remove lower spark plugs and drain oil from cylinders?

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of doing maintenance like that, just for letting a plane sit overnight.
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As I recall, the An-2 was only flown on the weekends. This was a Sunday, so per the schedule it wouldn't fly for several days hence. In his book Dream Aircraft, Barry Schiff says of the An-2, "If the airplane won't be flown for a while, postflight duties include removing the spark plugs from the bottom cylinders. This allows the oil to drain into a can instead of pooling in the cylinders."

Here's Andreas draining the oil after Sunday's last flight.

IMG_1079.jpg
 
Pilawt said:
As I recall, the An-2 was only flown on the weekends. This was a Sunday, so per the schedule it wouldn't fly for several days hence. In his book Dream Aircraft, Barry Schiff says of the An-2, "If the airplane won't be flown for a while, postflight duties include removing the spark plugs from the bottom cylinders. This allows the oil to drain into a can instead of pooling in the cylinders."

Here's Andreas draining the oil after Sunday's last flight.

View attachment 85240
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there is a dry kit for them, stops the drain down.
 
NoHeat said:
Nice story!

So is this a routine thing, at day’s end, to remove lower spark plugs and drain oil from cylinders?

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of doing maintenance like that, just for letting a plane sit overnight.
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Haven't you seen crews rotating the propeller on radial engines prior to start? They are checking for resistance which would indicate the possibility of hydraulic lock from engine oil pooling in the lower cylinders. If resistance is felt they stop and remove the lower spark plugs to drain the oil from the cylinder. If they didn't and the engine was turned over, the incompressible oil in the lower cylinders would cause damage on the compression stroke.
 
Love it. I've been around soviet aviation as an aerospace technician and passenger in another life, another land. Haven't had a change to actually get my hand on the controls of one just yet. Maybe one day.
 
Thanks for sharing. I’m going to check them once the world gets back to some semblance of normal.
 
Witmo said:
Haven't you seen crews rotating the propeller on radial engines prior to start?
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No, I haven't.

I know little about the operation of radial engines. It's why I was asking a pleasant question.

But thanks anyway for explaining the hydraulic locking issue. I'd never heard of this.
 
NoHeat said:
No, I haven't.

I know little about the operation of radial engines. It's why I was asking a pleasant question.

But thanks anyway for explaining the hydraulic locking issue. I'd never heard of this.
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