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I have seen few AN-2 around S.Ontario and every time it had "experimental" written right on it.Anyone knows why?

Someone in CWH Hamilton told me officials don't want to register them here for commercial use.Why not?


Edit:reply to above post.

I think An-2 was designed from the start as a direct replacement for PO-2 and that means agricultural work,air taxi,ambulance,para drop and whatever else PO-2 did.
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I remember a few years back a picture in Oshawa newspaper of an AN-2 delivering emergency supplies (bottled water) to one of the far north native communities (Attawapiskat I believe). Would have been a long "flog" in the old biplane

Did a long trip in an MNR standard otter (on floats) once in my career. Bancroft to Pembroke on to Stonecliffe, refueled in Chapleau and into Thunder Bay before dark. On to Atikokan (Nym Lake) the next morning. Great way to see the country. Piston otters- probably my favourite bush plane.They could be loaded until the floats were nearly awash but the 1340 P&W would drag her up on the step and into the air. Needed a lot of water on a hot calm day. Love the sound of a radial being fired up (and the smell of burnt avgas)

RCAF operated them for awhile and MNR acquired 6 when they were surplused. Heard more than one of our pilots comment that the performance of the ex military A/C was not as good as our commercial machines Two of the ex military machines were written off in flying accidents. One water bombing and the other hit an island in Nym Lake and burned.
 
Saw some Czech surplus AN-2s pass through Iqaluit. Landing, they seemed to go from flying to rolling with a minimal transition - same thing taking off.
 
donor said:
I have seen few AN-2 around S.Ontario and every time it had "experimental" written right on it.Anyone knows why?

Someone in CWH Hamilton told me officials don't want to register them here for commercial use.Why not?
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"Experimental" is a way to fly under limited approval without a Normal Certificate of Airworthiness; nobody has bothered to go through the long and expensive process of getting the aircraft Type certified.
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
Antonov AN-2 is like Beetlejuice. You say name, she appears.

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Only flying object slower than AN-2? AN-2 with big shoes!
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From Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-2

" The An-2 indeed has no stall speed quoted in the operating handbook. Pilots of the An-2 say one can fly the aircraft in full control at 48 km/h (30 mph) (as a contrast, a modern Cessna four-seater light aircraft has a stall speed of around 80 km/h (50 mph)). This slow stall speed makes it possible for the aircraft to fly backwards (if the aircraft is pointed into a headwind of, say, 56 km/h (35 mph), it will travel backwards at 8.0 km/h (5 mph) whilst under full control"

" A note from the pilot's handbook reads: "If the engine quits in instrument conditions or at night, the pilot should pull the control column full aft and keep the wings level. The leading-edge slats will snap out at about 64 km/h (40 mph) and when the airplane slows to a forward speed of about 40 km/h (25 mph), the airplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground."



So... it can fly backwards, it has no stall speed and it can crash land at a parachute decent rate? That's some aircraft.....

Brookwood
 
This is Cpl. Irving Storbing, U.S. Army Signal Corps.

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He made the last broadcast from Corregidor before it fell to the Japanese on May 6, 1942. I heard this years ago when i was a kid. It stuck with me since. Finally found it again today.

[youtube]gPFByDvvLSs[/youtube]

Survived both the Bataan Death March and subsequent captivity, remarkably. Died of cancer in 1997. Tough nut, that one.
 
Terrible to hear the tone of resignation in his voice.

Considering the number of men killed in Japanese captivity, I wonder if it might have been better to fight to the last and die with honour.

However the Brits and Canadians also folded like a cheap shirt under the same conditions.
 
Sharps '74 said:
Terrible to hear the tone of resignation in his voice.

Considering the number of men killed in Japanese captivity, I wonder if it might have been better to fight to the last and die with honour.

However the Brits and Canadians also folded like a cheap shirt under the same conditions.
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The Brits and Canadians in Southeast Asia, at the time, were woefully unprepared for the fight. Under-manned, under-equipped, under-trained.

The only Canadians in the region were in Hong Kong, which in Churchill's own words had “not the slightest chance” of being retained if war with Japan broke out.

Among the over 14,000 Allied soldiers trying to fend off the invaders were two battalions from Canada, the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada, totaling 1,975 men. Many of them were, at that time, deemed unfit for combat because of their lack of training.
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14,000 men, total, to hold off the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. It was a token - a sacrificial lamb. For geopolitical reasons, Churchill had to station "something" in the colony. But he knew they were doomed, so he sent untrained, raw recruits, with bugger all for equipment and ammo, and left them to their fate.

http://time.com/4635638/battle-of-hong-kong-canada-winnipeg-grenadiers-royal-rifles/
 
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Ganderite said:
I recall when our RCAF reserve squadron transitioned from Sabres to Otters. The Otter was a high performance plane, but of a very different nature. I don't think the pilots were very impressed with the Otter.
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I was an Aero Engine Tech in 400 Squadron in the late 70's, and most pilots by then (being Air Canada jet jocks) absolutely loved playing at the opposite end of the performance spectrum.
Back then, I had lots of work to do, chasing leaks, replacing plugs, etc. When the Kiowas came, it was just the occasional compressor wash and taking oil samples for analysis...
 
Bubba Yugga said:
I was an Aero Engine Tech in 400 Squadron in the late 70's, and most pilots by then (being Air Canada jet jocks) absolutely loved playing at the opposite end of the performance spectrum.
Back then, I had lots of work to do, chasing leaks, replacing plugs, etc. When the Kiowas came, it was just the occasional compressor wash and taking oil samples for analysis...
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:) .... I've told this story before but I hitched a ride on an Otter from Downsview to a local airport near Camp Drum (New York)...and the civilians lining the runway treated the landing like Lindbergh's landing in Paris....the crew seemed to enjoy the attention! Lots of Air Canada guys at the controls in those days. During the flight there seemed to be an uncomfortable amount of nut tightening and checking with pursed lips.
 
grelmar said:
The Brits and Canadians in Southeast Asia, at the time, were woefully unprepared for the fight. Under-manned, under-equipped, under-trained.

The only Canadians in the region were in Hong Kong, which in Churchill's own words had “not the slightest chance” of being retained if war with Japan broke out.



14,000 men, total, to hold off the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. It was a token - a sacrificial lamb. For geopolitical reasons, Churchill had to station "something" in the colony. But he knew they were doomed, so he sent untrained, raw recruits, with bugger all for equipment and ammo, and left them to their fate.

http://time.com/4635638/battle-of-hong-kong-canada-winnipeg-grenadiers-royal-rifles/
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Many Canadians cannot understand how terribly poor the state of equipment and paucity of training that was available or conducted by the Canadian Army in 1939. It was criminal. There were three regular infantry units but woefully under strength and 'armour' was just a notional term. But it was also the tail end of the great depression...there simply was no money.
 
Sharps '74 said:
Terrible to hear the tone of resignation in his voice.

Considering the number of men killed in Japanese captivity, I wonder if it might have been better to fight to the last and die with honour.

However the Brits and Canadians also folded like a cheap shirt under the same conditions.
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You can leave us out of that. No disgrace in our part of the defense of Hong Kong. Brigadier Lawson went out of his HQ with a pistol in each hand and went down fighting.
 
Sharps '74 said:
Terrible to hear the tone of resignation in his voice.

Considering the number of men killed in Japanese captivity, I wonder if it might have been better to fight to the last and die with honour.

However the Brits and Canadians also folded like a cheap shirt under the same conditions.
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I knew some very good men that would have knocked you on your senseless ass for those remarks.
 
I served with one at the Jericho Beach Signals unit. Every once in a while, he'd lose it and have to be escorted home. We often wondered why he was not invalided out, but the Army kept him out of a sense of loyalty. He would have been lost on civvy street.

No disrespect to the Hong Kong vets, who, as was stated, were sacrificial lambs on the altar of political expediency. Like the ANZACS at Gallipoli in WWI.

The Allies were steamrollered by the Japanese throughout the Pacific, a battle hardened Navy and Army with years of combat experience in China and Korea.
 
Bubba Yugga said:
I was an Aero Engine Tech in 400 Squadron in the late 70's, and most pilots by then (being Air Canada jet jocks) absolutely loved playing at the opposite end of the performance spectrum.
Back then, I had lots of work to do, chasing leaks, replacing plugs, etc. When the Kiowas came, it was just the occasional compressor wash and taking oil samples for analysis...
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Initially, the pilots were bummed out. A DeHavilland test pilot was brought in and did a demonstration for the pilots. He took off (empty plane) in about 50 feet from the taxiway and proceeded to fly around us, doing knife edges between the hangers. I don't think he got over 100 feet AGL. After that, the pilots realised they had a different kind of plane on their hands. Instead of a Formula 1 (Sabre) they had a Super truck.
 
Ganderite said:
I recall when our RCAF reserve squadron transitioned from Sabres to Otters. The Otter was a high performance plane, but of a very different nature. I don't think the pilots were very impressed with the Otter.
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I can't find any information on "Otters." The only thing that comes up are prop driven overhead wing models from DeHaviland.
 
Sharps '74 said:
Terrible to hear the tone of resignation in his voice.

Considering the number of men killed in Japanese captivity, I wonder if it might have been better to fight to the last and die with honour.

However the Brits and Canadians also folded like a cheap shirt under the same conditions.
Click to expand...

Neither the Americans or the defenders of Hong Kong had food, ammo, and support by the time Corregidor and Hong Kong fell.

It cost the Japanese a lot of men on Guadalcanal to learn that if they haven't been starved and have ammo to fight with, American Marines and soldiers were VERY tough to beat - just like the German Army found out about the Allies in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Northern Europe.
 
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