Antonov An - 8 The Antonov An - 8 ( NATO reporting name : Camp ) is a Soviet - designed twin - turboprop - engine high - wing light military transport aircraft . Development . In December 1951 OKB - 153 initiated the design of a twin - engined assault transport aircraft , designated DT - 5 / 8 ( " Desahntno - Trahnsportnyy [ samolyot ] " – assault transport aircraft ) , to be powered by two Kuznetsov TV - 2 turboprop engines , and fitted with a large rear cargo door to allow vehicles to be driven straight into the hold . On 11 December 1953 the Soviet Council of Ministers issued directive No . 2922 - 1251 to the Antonov OKB , requiring them to build a twin - turboprop transport aircraft derived from the DT - 5 / 8 . Bearing the in - house designation of Izdeliye P the resulting aircraft followed state of the art practice with a high wing carrying two propeller engines sat atop a rectangular section fuselage , tricycle undercarriage , with main gear units housed in pods either side of the fuselage , an upswept rear fuselage providing clearance of the tail unit for loading and unloading . After State acceptance trials production was not recommended due to poor spinning characteristics , directional stability and control issues , nosewheel shimmy , poor controllability when landing in crosswinds above 6 m / s ( 12 kt ) and , last but not least , phugoid oscillations in all - three axes which were difficult to control and made piloting the prototype very tiring . As well as the aero - dynamic faults the TV - 2 engines proved difficult to start with unstable gas dynamics at altitudes above 6 , 000 m ( 19 , 700 ft ) . The Antonov OKB set about rectifying the faults with increased area vertical and horizontal tail surfaces , anti spin strakes on the upper rear fuselage sides , deleting the wing LE slats , local structural reinforcements and replacing the TV - 2 engines with Ivchenko AI - 20D turboprop engines , which had the added benefit of reducing the empty weight by 3 tonnes ( 6 , 600 lb ) . The new design required the use of new production techniques , like : stamping and forging of large high strength parts , extrusion of long sections , chemical milling of large skin panels and other new techniques . Given the service designation An - 8 , the new transport was built in the GAZ - 34 factory in Tashkent , from 1957 to 1961 , as a larger - capacity replacement for the earlier Lisunov Li - 2 ( DC - 3 ) , with a large unpressurized hold , a manned tail gun position , chin radome for navigation / mapping radar and a glazed nose for the navigator . Operational history . The first production aircraft was rolled out in December 1958 incorporating de - rated AI - 20D engines , ( the initial production AI - 20D was found to be incapable of delivering the specified power ) , modified undercarriage control system , fuel vents , pressurization and de - icing system , as well as thicker gauge skin in the propeller plane of rotation and increased rudder range of movement . The majority of An - 8s built served in the Soviet Air Forces , with two An - 8s being used to land special forces to seize Plzeň airport during the Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 . Others were used as electronic reconnaissance aircraft , and one aircraft was used for air sampling following Chinese nuclear testing in 1966 . They continued in large scale use on front - line military duties in the Soviet Air Force until the 1970s , when many were later transferred to Aeroflot for use as freighters . Following a series of accidents in the early 1990s , the An - 8 was withdrawn from use in Russia . This did not mean the end of the An - 8 , however , as a number were sold overseas with a few aircraft observed flying in Africa , particularly Liberia and Angola , and the Middle East ( particularly airlines associated with the Russian Businessman and alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout despite Antonov having withdrawn the airworthiness certificate and support for the type in 2004 , ending legal use of the aircraft .