Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov

	Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov Aircraft Designer and Manufacturer
	Oleg Antonov was born on February 7, 1906, near Moscow, Russia, and had designed his first glider by the time he was 18. During World War II he worked on military aircraft, but dreamed of a time when could build airplanes for peaceful purposes. After the war, he established his own design bureau and in 1947 produced the rugged An-2 agricultural biplane, one of the most vesatile and enduring general-purpose aircraft in the world. In 1952 he moved his bureau to Kiev in the Ukraine and began work on a series of multi-engine turboprop transports. His four-engine An-12 earned him and his design team the coveted Lenin Prize. Antonev excelled at producing durable transports for the harsh weather and primitive operating conditions in the far-flung Soviet Union. His hugh An-22 was the largest aircraft in the world when it was introduced at the 1965 Paris Air Show, and earned him another Lenin Prize. The highly successful An-124, the world's largest production aircraft, first flew in 1982 and was a fitting crown to Oleg Antonov's brilliant career. He died on March 4, 1984.
	Elected to the International Aerospace Hall of Fame 1999