Antonov An-12

The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop cargo and military transport aircraft designed by Antonov in the Soviet Union and built at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant and the Tashkent Mechanical Plant. It is a militarised version of the earlier An-10 transport. The first prototype made its maiden flight in December 1957, and the first aircraft were accepted by Soviet Air Force units about two years later. It became the standard medium-range cargo and paratroop transport of the Soviet air arm for the rest of the Cold War, with 1,248 built in the Soviet Union before production ended in 1973, and it also served in roles such as electronic warfare, VIP transport and aerial refuelling. Its Chinese licence-built derivative, the Shaanxi Y-8, stayed in production into the twenty-first century. NATO gave the type the reporting name Cub.