As it happened, this was only to knock out the huge spikes to which KF was tied down.

Down into the arena come the parachutists, all five square on the mark in the face of a blustery breeze, then in the overhead we see the machine from which they fellan elderly biplane to which all eyes are drawn because in contravention of every law of physics it has stopped dead in mid-air.

Slats extended, flaps at 40 degrees, throttle on the high side, it hovers nose-up like a kestrel hunting mice at the roadside.

Such a party trick is the province of few conventional fixed-wing aircraft; the Fieseler Storch can pull it off, but this old biplane can hold six tonnes aloft and fly backwards in anything of a wind.

It is of course the massive, magnificent, ludicrous, lovely Antonov An-2.

Fabled as the worlds biggest single-engined biplane, the Annie makes other aircraft look, sound and feel anaemic, and once you have flown her you will always have a high mark against which to measure lifes experiences.

She pokes up two big fingers at the quaint notion that if it looks right, itll fly right shes living proof of the fact that if you pack in enough power, you could get Tower Bridge off the ground.

Rolling the aircraft hard into turns is better done two-handed and soon comes to feel like an extended gym workout Wrestling all that drag around calls for thick neck muscles and bulging thighs; the An-2 really ought to be flown by a Russian lady shot-putter or a tattooed gentleman in a string vest with his arm out of the window.

On the ground, she trundles and lumbers and clanks and blats and hisses, and in the air she does the same.

Flying her is like conning a barge, landing her like running aground, and everything from chocks to chocks is accompanied by flames and smoke and the kind of noise youd get if every bank clerk in the Home Counties revved his Harley in unison and gloried in the over-run.

Bill Leary has the fathomless good fortune to fly this puppy regularly and he wears a near-permanent grin.

He took me for a jaunt around Hampshire to get some stick time, and strange though it may seem, you can do the same if you have a PPL(A)the aircraft comes in a shade underneath the weight limit for the ticket.

Although I couldnt log the time I could log the aircraft, which Ive done as P2.

Passenger cabin HA-MKF is owned by James Black, who has wanted an An-2 since he first experienced the inside of one while flying in the World Aerobatics Championships in Russia before the Wall came down.

A Polish-built late model, KF differs little from the 1946 originalthe aircraft was never really developed during its long production run.

The instruments and systems were adequate in the Paleolithic era, when Russian pilots apparently had the three arms you need to start her up and the gorilla muscles required to motor her around, and they still do the job today.

The Annie is where aeronautical engineering meets blacksmithing; she was designed to be maintained by farm boys in the Siberian wastes, and all they needed were big spanners.

She can suck up her own fuel from a connector under the belly, where theres also a compressed air take-off for inflating the tyres.

What tyre pressure is required Consult the manual, and do you know what it says Inflate until round.

Your crew today, An-2 Club members (L to R) Chris, Culllum, Bill and Ernest A Jack of all trades The An-2 was built as a Jack of all agricultural and industrial trades, a short-haul, twelve-passenger airliner, a freighter, a crop sprayer, parachute dropper, firefighter, an air ambulance, a troopship and a military scout with machine guns and rockets, even a VIP transport with five plush seats; hot weather versions have been built, cold weather variants, theyve put a jet engine in one and theyve been mounted on wheels and skis and floats.

I saw one once that doubled as a McDonalds in Budapest; this is far from the most unusual use to which this extraordinarily versatile aircraft has been put.

The An-2 is like a seaside blockhouse with five portholes, some random cables and a little conservatory on the roof.

Bill and I were joined on the walk-round by James Black, pilot Chris Thompson and ground crew Ernest Tipper, aged 83, and Cullum Hall, aged 14.

I was only slightly surprised when Bill produced the first tool required, a twelve-pound mell hammer.

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