FD Scale Aircraft 5

@Darth Panda, Naixoterk
Great work!

@Hood
These materials would be very useful, esp. those from outside Secretprojects.
Unfortunately neither in Lance Cole's VC.10 monograph from Crowood Aviation Series, nor in Tony Buttler's "British Secret Projects. Jet Bombers since 1950" is much info about never-were military VC.10's (actually, practically zero), and I don't have any access to Chris Gibson's "Vickers VC10: AEW, Pofflers and Other Unbuilt Variants".

And finally the stuff promised for yesterday (but I didn't wanted to put it in the last post on the page

).

Antonov An-10 - passenger twin brother of An-12 military transport, first flown in 1957. Initially it was possible to convert An-10 to An-12 and reverse by switching the tail - it was one of the main "selling points" of the design: peacetime passenger aircraft easily convertible to military transport - but over time, due to various changes included in An-12's during their production run, this capability was becoming more and more theoretical (and actually it was never used other than for trials). These aircraft quickly entered service in Aeroflot where they were praised for their spacious cabin and capabilty to operate from unpaved runways. By 1971, despite limited number (total production run of 104 planes) they were one of the most important planes in the Aeroflot's fleet, and up to that time they carrierd 35 million passengers and over a million tons of cargo, but their career was cut short by string of crashes caused by cracks in the wing structure, that led to their early retirement from airline service in 1972-73 and few years later from the air force.

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Antonov An-12 - like An-10 was first flown in 1957, but unlike his passenger brother, it enjoyed long service with many operators, both military and civilian in many countries, with over 1200 being produced in Soviet Union between 1959 and 1973. It was produced in several basic variants (An-12/A/B/P/AP/BP/BK/TA/TB/TBP/UD), although differences between most of them are minimal (P and AP differed only with fuel tanks arrangement, origin TA/TB/TBP designations is unclear but it's possible that it's related to different manufacturer than most of the series) - most easily recognizable are variations in the layout of antennas on the upper side of the fuselage, modified cargo door in late-series-BP and BK and larger radar radome under nose in BK.

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An-12 was used as a base for many specialized variants, some of which can be seen below:
An-12PL/TP-2 - polar version with non-retractable skis (although at least one of these planes was convertible to wheeled gear cofiguration). TP-2 was modification used for geophysical research on Antarctica.
An-12PS - military SAR version derived (in 1969) from An-12B. Lifeboat was carried in the cargo cabin, smaller inflatable life rafts were jettisoned from the (heavily modernized) tail gunner station and additional rescue equipment could be mounted on 4 underfuselage pylons (fore and aft main gear).
An-12PP (An-12BK-PP) - Electronic Warfare version (first one was An-12I or An-12B-I, but only 7 were made) introduced in 1970, with tail gunner's station replaced by large fairing housing chaff dispensers. It's main equipment were three Buket (Bouquet) jamming systems installed in two (2+1) large fairings under fuselage. 27 aircraft were converted to that standard, and although never exported, several were seen with false Egyptian markings in early 1970s.
An-12IS (An-12BK-IS) - another Electronic Warfare version, but with 4 Fasol and Siren (Bean/Lilac) EW pods - 2 under the fuselage and 2 on the sides of the lower part of vertical stabilizer. Total of 145-150 An-12's were converted to this standard, mainly being attached to transport regiments.
An-12PPS (An-12BK-PPS) - ultimate Electronic Warfare version, combining capabilities of two mentioned before by having both Buket and Fasol/Siren pods, but built in two different standards: 1971 standard had chaff dispensers in tail fairing (like An-12PP), while 1974 standard had normal tail gunner's station and chaff were dispersed by special stations in cargo doors. Total of 19 planes were converted.
An-12R - ELINT version introduced in early 1970s.
An-12RR - NBC reconnaissance version.

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Also, An-12 was often used as testbed for various specialized equipment or as flying laboratory, however only some of these could be drawn here.
An-12LL '08256' (very non-standard registration) - an ELINT and EW equipment testbed used from 1964 to 1998, here shown with SLAR pannels on the sides of the fuselage and tail fairing with unspecified equipment.
An-12LL 'CCCP-11790' - an ELINT and EW equipment testbed used in 1980s at Yermolino flight test centre.
An-12LL 'CCCP-11819' - an ELINT and EW equipment testbed, details of the tested equipment unknown.
An-12LL 'CCCP-11916' - an ELINT and EW equipment testbed used in 1980s at Yermolino flight test centre.
An-12LL 'CCCP-11417' - an ASW equipment testbed used by Vsesouzny Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Institut Radioelektroniki "Leninets" (All-Union Electronics Research Institute "Leninist") in Leningrad.
An-12VKP Zebra - initially a prototype of the airborne command and control post, it lost to a Il-18 derivative, later used as testbed for the equipment of the Tu-142 aircraft until finally being used in it's intended role in the 16th Air Army in East Germany until it was written-off after landing accident.
An-12LL 'CCCP-48974', dubbed "Tanker" - a flying laboratory for the icing/de-icing research - initially it was equipped with a water tank in the cargo hold and a sprinkler at the end of the retractable hose (all resembling air-refuelling tanker, hence the nickname), eventually it had a mock "wing" section installed vertically on top of fuselage, with additional sprinkler installed in front of it for de-icing equipment tests.
An-12M-LL 'red 43' - an ejection seat testbed with an elongated pod attached to the tail gunner's station. It could be installed at various angles to simulate ejection in various conditions (including downwards).
An-12BPTs Tsiklon (Cyclone) - weather research aircraft (2 actually) developed around 1976 for Gossudarstvenny Komitet SSSR po Gidrometeorologii, Goskomgidromet (State Commitee of the USSR for the Hydrometeorology).
An-12AP Magnitometr/Relikt (Magnetometer/Relic) - geophysical research aircraft developed in 1982 for the Earth Magnetism Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

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Besides the Soviet Union, An-12 was (and is) produced in People's Republic of China. Although licence was obtained already in 1960, due to disastrous effects of Great Leap Forward and Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution first prototype of Y-8 (as it's named in China) took of only in 1974. Initially produced aircraft were essentialy identical to An-12BP, but soon a modified version was introduced with nose and tail turret adapted from H-6 (license-built Tu-16 bomber), followed by versions for specific purposes (Y-8A optimised for transport of S-70C-2 Black Hawk helicopters - also in PLA inventory, Y-8B commercial transport, Y-8C with pressurized cargo hold, Y-8D export version, Y-8E drone launcher for WZ-5 - copies of US AQM-34N Firebee, Y-8F-100 and Y-8F-200 upgrades with some western equipment). In 2000 Y-8F-300 and Y-8F-400 versions with solid noses were unveiled, and in 2005 a heavily redesigned (new nose and tail) Y-8F-600 version took off (essentialy a pre-Y-9 model). Currently a new version - Y-9 - is being introduced into service with People's Liberation Army, with upgraded engines and 6-blade propellers.
Unfortunately, reliable drawings are scarce so these drawings were largely based on photographs, therefore may consist significant inaccuracies.

Like An-12, Y-8 served as basis for many specialized military versions.
Y-8J - AEW/Maritime Patrol aircraft with Racal Skymaster radar in bulbous nose. At least 4 such aircraft are in service with PLA Navy.
Y-8X - Maritime Patrol/ELINT aircraft with Litton AN/APS-504(V)3 radar in the undernose radome, optical and IR cameras and various other specialized equipment. At least 3 are in service with PLA Navy.
Y-8CB GaoXin-1 - Electronic Warfare version, at least 5 in service with PLA Air Force. Portrayed is modified version with SATCOM antenna in fron of vertical stabilizer.
Y-8JB GaoXin-2 - ELINT version, at least 4 in service with PLA Navy. It's speculated that at least some of the used technologies may be rip-offs of the equipment used on the US EP-3 force-landed on Hainan in 2001.
Y-8T GaoXin-3 - Airborne Command and Control Post, at least 3 in service with PLA Air Force.
Y-8G GaoXin-4 - Battlefield Surveillance Aircraft with large SLAR antennas on the sides of the fuselage. Equivalent of E-8 J-STARS or Raytheon Sentinel ASTOR. At least 7 in service with PLA Air Force.
Y-8W GaoXin-5 (also KJ-200) - AEW version with ERIEYE-like radar. At least 11 in service with PLA Air Force and PLA Navy.
Y-8FQ GaoXin-6 - Maritime Patrol and ASW aircraft, currently undergoing flight trials, equipped with (among others) MAD and bomb bay.
Y-8XZ GaoXin-7 - Psychological Warfare aircraf, equivalent to US EC-130E Rivet Rider, equipped with broadcast and jamming installations.
Additionaly a new ELINT version (GaoXin-8) is currently undergoing flight trials, but it's available photographs are seriously lacking in certain critical areas.

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