The how-many-engines/how-many-props conundrum is a difficult one. Was the Macchi MC-72 record-setting seaplane racer a single or a twin, for example?

Is a Fairey Gannet a single or a twin?

Both the Macchi and Gannet are twins. The engines were mechanically independent, as were the drivetrains and props - even though coaxially located.

The same does not apply to a Griffon-powered coaxial contrarotating prop machine - that would be a single.

AN2
 

The AN2 is the Worlds biggest single engine bi-plane that is still in commercial use today.:=

Single engined Aircraft
 

An AN2 located in Far Eastern Russia.

A versatile aircraft.

Tmb

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/l...erhats1185.jpg

I've been told you can fly an AN2 on a PPL (not commercially, of course). Think I'd want a bit of a conversion course from a C172 though!

The AN-2 is quite easy to fly. Taxiing, however...(pneumatic brakes).

Instrument panel and cockpit of AN2 in Far East Russia
 

Hope this is of interest, the cockpit and panel of an AN 2.

Tmbhttp://i288.photobucket.com/albums/l...erhats1212.jpg

How do the pneumatic brakes on those skis work Stepwilk? ;)

Great pic, Tmbstory, I'd love a go on one of those. I might want to learn what all those knobs and tits in the middle mean first, though!

They're actually rubber bladders--god knows maybe they're goatskin--that force the drum-brake shoes out against the drums, and of course they're prone to leakage. The air compressor on an Ant is as important as the APU on a jet.

As I remember--it's been awhile--the brake bladders are activated by a bicycle-grip squeeze handle on the yoke, plus differential rudder-pedal use. Makes a wonderful noise as you taxi in, though.

The other thing I remember about flying the AN-2 is that the windshield-panels configuration is such that there are areas where the wind whips the rain away as you fly through it, and other areas where it just drips and falls pretty much as it does out of a clogged gutter on your porch. Very strange.

The AN2 is the biggest SEP which can be flown on a PPL. :ok:
AN2, Project Propeller Halfpenny Green 2006
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t/P1011563.jpg

Grumman AF Guardian may have been the largest mass-produced and operationally used single-engine airplane, 389 built with a mtow of 25500 lbs (11567 kg).

It's a close call between the Guardian and the Doug Skyraider, both of which had nearly the same max gross and wingspan, though the Guardian's was slightly larger in each category. Yet the Skyraider was a vastly more effective and far more numerous airplane; no Guardians were even operating by the time of the Vietnam war, when Skyraiders were still very active.

But let's widen the purview to include single-engine jets, for the fun of it. Nothing comes close to the Republic F-105, with the MiG-27 and Lockheed U2 trailing somewhat behind. NOTHING with one engine has ever carried as much as a Thud.

I really like the Chinese version Y-5 with its cute wingtips………

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...viate/y5_1.jpg

The reason for pneumatics on an AN-2/Y-5 is probably to do with extreme cold weather it often has to endure in Siberia etc?

You'd need to be careful with pneumatics in cold weather as the act of compressing the air can condense water out of it and you wouldn't want that freezing in your brake pipes now would you.

Pneumatics were once quite common in British aircraft, for instance the Dh Dove had it undercarriage, flaps and brakes powered by pneumatics, it was only the propeller pitch and the windscreen wipers! that were hydraulic.

When I read "biggest" at the head of this thread, I thought of power rather than weight or wingspan. Anything with a single piston engine to trump the R4360 powered Super-Corsair or DB2D for power?

For turboprops, I can think of nothing more powerful than those frightening tailsitters the Convair XFY and the Lockheed XFV. As for jets, I suppose the JSF is king of the hill.

How about 7 engines? If I have it right, an Orenda Iroquois was mounted on a borrowed B-47 for trials. The aircraft was flown for a time on the Iroquois alone.

After an excellent landing etc...

Seven-engine B-47
 

The Navy bailed a B-47 to GE for flight tests of the then-new TF34 engine (1971). This particular ship was selected because it had a large resistor load bank installed in the bomb bay from a previous test project. The load bank was useful for testing the TF34 under relatively large generator loads, part of the S-3A installation requirement.

What about the F105?
MTOW about 52500Lb for the D version.

Probably faster than an AN2 as well.

The Thud is the runner-up, now. F-35 MTOW is 70,000 pounds.

What about the Avro Vulcan?
Olympus Test Bed......