#1714· ICAO AN12
Antonov An-12
🇷🇺 Soviet Union ·first flew 1957· cargo aircraft / military transport aircraft
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10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Antonov An-12B, Antonov Design Bureau AN0373725: Árpád Gordos· GFDL 1.2
- 2. Shaanxi Y-9: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation· CC BY 4.0
- 3. An-12B: Alan Lebeda· GFDL 1.2
- 4. Shaanxi Y-8: M Radzi Desa· GFDL 1.2
- 5. An-12A: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt· GFDL 1.2
- 6. An-12R: Rob Schleiffert· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 7. 001 An-12, Malmo Airport, Sweden: Marek Ślusarczyk ( Tupungato ) Photo gallery· CC BY 3.0
- 8. Antonov An-12BK, Russia - Air Force AN1879625: Igor Dvurekov· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 9. Antonov An-12BP: Ronidong· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 10. Antonov An-12B P7-AirdropPlatform Krakau-Luftfahrtmuseum 20210907-2wp: User:Zenwort· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The Antonov An-12 (Russian: Антонов Ан-12; NATO reporting name: Cub) is a four-engined turboprop cargo/military transport aircraft designed by Antonov and produced at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant and the Tashkent Mechanical Plant in the Soviet Union. It is a militarised version of the Antonov An-10 transport aircraft and was produced in many variants. Developed during the 1950s and introduced by the Soviet Air Forces in 1959, it remained the standard medium-range cargo and paratroop transport aircraft of the service throughout the rest of the Cold War.
How to recognise it: 4 turboprops · shoulder wing · retractable tricycle gear · 38 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 69 years ago, in 1957.
- Top speed is 5.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 38 m: about 8 cars parked nose to tail.
- Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 10 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Range of 5,700 km: 32× Amsterdam to Brussels.
- Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).
turboprop: A jet-style turbine turning a propeller: efficient on short hops.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1957-12-16
- introduced
- 1959
- status
- still flying
- number built
- 1,248
- role
- cargo aircraft / military transport aircraft
- origin
- 🇷🇺 Soviet Union
- makers
- Voronezh Aircraft Production Association, Antonov, Antonov Serial Production Plant, Tashkent Mechanical Plant, Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation, Irkutsk Aviation Plant
- engines
- 4× Ivchenko AI-20L or AI-20M / AI-20M / AI-20K
- passengers
- 100
- length
- 33.1 m
- wingspan
- 38 m
- height
- 10.5 m
- max take-off weight
- 61 t
- top speed
- 660 km/h
- cruise speed
- 570 km/h
- range
- 5,700 km
- ceiling
- 10,200 m
- wings
- shoulder wing
- landing gear
- retractable tricycle gear
- ICAO code
- AN12
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q271559, Wikipedia: Antonov An-12 (CC BY-SA 4.0), ICAO code from list of aircraft type designators.Updated 2026-10-24.