Antonov An-22 Antei

Updated: October 2026 – Anyone standing under an An-22 for the first time involuntarily tilts their head back. A fuselage as thick as a tunnel, wings above it spanning over 64 meters, and on each of the four engines not one but two propellers one behind the other. The Antonov An-22 Antei is the largest propeller aircraft ever built in series. When it landed in Paris in 1965, the Western aviation world was amazed. Today it is a piece of history: it has practically disappeared from flying service, but is all the more impressive in museums. Here you will learn how to recognize it, what makes it technically special and where you can still see it.

What is the Antonov An-22?

The An-22 is a heavy four-engine turboprop transport from the Antonov design bureau in Kyiv. In the early 1960s, the Soviet Air Force needed an aircraft that could carry heavy equipment such as tanks, missiles and radar systems over long distances and also land on simple field airstrips. The An-12 used until then was too small for that.

The first flight took place on February 27, 1965. Only a few months later, in June 1965, the aircraft stood at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget – a deliberate appearance in front of an international audience. Antonov even held out the prospect of a passenger version for several hundred passengers there, which was never built, however. In 1967, the An-22 entered service with the Soviet Air Force.

The three prototypes were built in Kyiv, and the series ran at the Tashkent aircraft factory in present-day Uzbekistan. By 1976, a total of 68 aircraft were built: first the basic version, then 28 examples of the improved An-22A with modernized systems. For a transport of this size, that is a small number – the An-22 was correspondingly rare even in its heyday.

The name fits the mission: Antei is the Russian form of Antaeus, a giant from Greek mythology who drew his strength from contact with the earth. NATO gave the type the sober reporting name “Cock.”

Tech: propeller power in XXL format

The most striking component of the An-22 is its engines. Four Kuznetsov NK-12MA each deliver around 15,000 hp – they are descendants of the same engine family that also powers the Tupolev Tu-95 long-range bomber. Each engine turns two contra-rotating four-blade propellers around 6.2 meters in diameter. Contra-rotating means: the front propeller turns in one direction, the rear one in the other. This way the engine puts its power into the air without needing a single, even larger propeller.

In addition come details that made the An-22 a versatile workhorse:

• Large cargo hold: Around 33 meters long and 4.4 meters wide and high. That was enough for tracked vehicles, missiles or large industrial components.
• Rear ramp: The fuselage opens at the back with a large ramp that can also be opened in flight – important for dropping loads.
• Onboard cranes: Cranes run under the ceiling of the cargo hold, letting the crew move heavy parts without outside help.
• Landing gear for poor runways: 14 wheels distribute the weight so that the An-22 could land on unpaved airfields too.
• Passengers: Behind the cockpit there is a separate cabin for accompanying personnel.

At most, the An-22 carries 80 tons of payload, and with a full load it travels around 5,000 kilometers. In the years after its introduction, it set around 40 world records for payload and altitude. Two aircraft were later converted into the An-22PZ: they carried large components such as wing segments of the An-124 and the An-225 between factories on top of the fuselage.

How to recognize the An-22

A large high-wing aircraft with four propellers – that applies to several transports. On the An-22, though, two features make the identification practically unambiguous.

Also pay attention to the nose: the production aircraft carry a radar fairing at the tip of the nose. Only the prototypes had a fully glazed nose. On historic photos from the test period, the An-22 can therefore look somewhat different from the example in the museum.

In the end, the registration helps. Soviet aircraft wore CCCP registrations, Russian ones later RA- or RF- registrations, Ukrainian ones UR-. What lies behind such prefixes is explained in the article on country prefixes of aircraft. How landing gear layouts help with type identification is shown in the guide Landing gear as a recognition feature.

An-22 or An-12, Tu-95 or An-124?

The An-22 has relatives that resemble it in individual points. The table sets the most important ones side by side.

Feature	An-22	An-12	Tu-95	An-124
Propulsion	4 turboprops, contra-rotating twin propellers	4 turboprops, single propellers	4 turboprops, contra-rotating twin propellers	4 jet engines
Wing	High-wing	High-wing	Mid-wing, strongly swept	High-wing, anhedral
Vertical stabilizer	twin	single	single	single
Role	Heavy transport	Transport	Bomber	Heavy transport
Status	retired, museums	occasionally in service	in service	in service

You can find more on the relatives on the pages for the Antonov An-12, the Tupolev Tu-95 and the An-124 Ruslan. Among Western transports, none shares the combination of twin propellers and a twin tail: the Lockheed C-130 Hercules and the Airbus A400M have a single fin, while the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and the Ilyushin Il-76 are jets with a T-tail. A broader overview is given in the article How to recognize military transports.

In service: from relief flights to factory transport

The An-22 spent most of its life with the Soviet and later Russian air forces. It flew troops and equipment, but also brought relief supplies to disaster areas, for example after the earthquake in Peru in 1970, after the Chernobyl reactor accident in 1986 and after the earthquake in Armenia in 1988. It was also important for Soviet aircraft manufacturing itself: the converted An-22PZ carried oversized components from factory to factory.

In civil use, the An-22 played only a minor role. Antonov Airlines, the manufacturer’s cargo division, operated a single An-22A with the registration UR-09307 for years. With it, Antonov flew oversized cargo on a charter basis, and each of its visits was an event for spotters. It was in service until shortly before the war; during the Russian attack on the Antonov airport Hostomel in February 2022, it was damaged. Today Antonov Airlines flies the An-124 out of Leipzig/Halle – more on this on the page about Antonov Airlines.

The Russian fleet shrank over the years to a few aircraft. On December 9, 2025, an An-22 of the Russian armed forces crashed on a test flight after repair work over a reservoir in the Ivanovo region, and all on board were killed. According to consistent reports, it was the last aircraft still able to fly.

Where to see the An-22 today

For spotters, the An-22 is therefore a museum aircraft. That has an advantage: you can take a calm look at all the details that would be gone in seconds on a flyover.

Technik Museum Speyer

The most important destination in Germany is the Technik Museum Speyer. The An-22 there landed under its own power on the small Speyer airfield on December 29, 1999 – a remarkable feat for a transport of this size, and one that shows what the rugged landing gear was designed for. Since then it has stood on the museum’s outdoor grounds. Because it stands outside, your photos depend on weather and sun position.

Central Air Force Museum Monino

The Central Air Force Museum Monino near Moscow also shows an An-22 in its large open-air collection of Soviet military aircraft. For travelers from Germany, though, a visit is hardly realistic at present.

Other examples stand or stood as exhibits in Russia and Ukraine; which of them are open to the public changes and is hard to say reliably from afar. You will find more on the traces of the Antonov family on the page about the manufacturer Antonov.

Photo tips for the An-22

Photographing a museum exhibit is a different task from an approach shot: the aircraft stands still, but surroundings, fences and visitors make clean pictures difficult.

When the light suits your destination is something you work out in advance; how that works is explained in the guide Planning the sun position for your photo spot. If you ever catch a flying propeller aircraft of this size, the article on shutter speed for propeller aircraft helps you – too-short speeds freeze the propellers and make the picture look static.

Perspective: giant of a transitional era

The An-22 came about at a time when turboprops were still the obvious choice for heavy transport tasks. They use less fuel than early jet engines and manage with shorter runways. Only a few years later, jets took over for large transports – in the West with the C-5 Galaxy, in the Soviet Union with the Il-76 and finally with Antonov’s own An-124. That left the An-22 a loner: the largest propeller aircraft built in significant numbers, and a direct ancestor of the later Antonov heavy transports.

How the Antei stacks up against other giants is shown by the overview The largest aircraft in the world. The historical background of Soviet aircraft manufacturing is covered in the article Soviet airliners, and tips for identifying older types can be found under Recognizing vintage aircraft in the sky. If rare types appeal to you in general, take a look at Spotting rare aircraft.

Conclusion

The An-22 Antei is an aircraft of superlatives: the largest production propeller aircraft in the world, 80 tons of payload, 32 propeller blades and a cargo hold with room for whole missiles. With only 68 built, it was always rare, and as of October 2026 it no longer flies regularly. If you want to see it, you go to Speyer – and there you recognize it at first glance by the contra-rotating twin propellers and the twin tail.