October 30, 2007: Refugees
from North Korea report that the air force there has ceased, or greatly
reduced, training flights of the 300
An-2 aircraft it maintains for
delivering commandos into South Korea. The reason is apparently lack of
fuel, and spare parts to keep the fleet of 30-40 year old aircraft, in working
order. The AN-2 is a strange bird. It's a single engine bi-plane made mostly of
wood and canvas. This makes it difficult to pick up on radar, especially if
it's coming in low. The 5.5 ton aircraft was developed by Russia in the late
1940s, and it was most frequently used for crop dusting and fire-fighting, as
well as a light transport. It can carry up to a dozen passengers. The An-2 can
fly as slow as 60 kilometers an hour, making it excellent for crop dusting, or
parachuting commandos to a precise location. It's range of 800 kilometers is
sufficient to reach most of South Korea. Over 10,000 were produced, by Russia,
China and Poland, until the early 1990s. The North Koreas regularly had theirs
up for training flights, as the pilots had to be pretty good to get across the
DMZ (or via open water) into South Korea at night.
Most An-2s were made of metal
parts, and many were used as light transports in out-of-the-way places. It was
a rugged aircraft, and could land and take off on a short stretch of road, or a
field. The North Koreans may have planned to land some of their commandos that
way, thus enabling the troops to carry more weapons and explosives with them.
The North Korea Air Force has
been cutting back on training flights for over a decade, and most of their
combat aircraft are considered very inferior to the more highly trained South
Korea pilots as a result.
