As early as 1924, he made his first glider, named "dove", but it couldn't fly at all and had to slide down the slope. The first setback did not shake Antonov's ambition for aviation at all, and he then worked hard to build a second glider. Efforts have blossomed, and this tidal glider is finally soaring in the air driven by a child of 14 years old.
Antonov became the main designer of the glider factory after graduating from Leningrad Institute of Technology. His light glider became the standard glider at that time. Many Soviet pilots trained themselves to be fast pilots in gliders yC-4 and yC-6. It is also widely used in the gliding movement of national defense sports. Antonov himself became an excellent glider. He used to fly a parabolic wing glider designed by Che Lanoff. At the 1932 All-Soviet Gliding Conference, he was awarded the title of "A-Class Athlete". He made a wonderful flight in a glider designed by himself. His "outpost" glider set many world records.
At the beginning of 1959, he successfully designed a new type of "A- 1 1" instructor glider. This is an all-metal outrigger monoplane glider, equipped with a lift conveyor, which will automatically retract after leaving the ground. The empennage is installed on the fuselage at an angle of 45, and acts as a horizontal and vertical stabilizer at the same time. When towed by an airplane, it can be lifted off the ground by taxiing for 40 to 50 meters. The maximum allowable speed of glider can reach 200 km/h, and it can fly under any ordinary and complicated meteorological conditions.
The talented Antonov later became an airplane designer. His creative ideas, manifested in aircraft manufacturing, have special vitality. Antonov and his design team designed An -2 with excellent technology under the argument of the uselessness of modern biplane, which surpassed the level of all biplanes in the contemporary world. This is a single-engine biplane multi-purpose aircraft, which has many advantages that other aircraft do not have: it can take off and land in fields and other places, the taxiing distance is only 180 meters, and it can fly at a low altitude of 5 meters; Equipped with the latest radio navigation, orientation, blind flight and landing equipment; Simple operation and maintenance; With large load capacity, it can be used as a transport plane to carry one and a half tons of goods or more than ten passengers; It can be used for more than forty purposes such as sowing, pest control, fertilization and weeding. This kind of external floating can be used on water, and it can be used in snow when it is mounted on a sled.
1957, the design bureau led by Antonov developed the An-10 "Ukraine" jumbo airliner, which consumes less fuel than the Tu-104 jet airliner, and can carry 84 passengers and 3.5 tons of cargo. Antonov also made a unique creation for the comfort and safety of passengers and the simplicity of driver's operation.
When Antonov was in charge of the Design Bureau, he also led the An -8,-12, -22, -26, -32, -72,-124 military transport aircraft, An -2,-14, -28 multi-purpose transport aircraft and An -24.
Antonov died on1April 4, 984. He devoted all his creative talents and knowledge to the aviation industry of his motherland.