Get Nebula using my link for *40% off an annual subscription* : go.nebula.tv/paperskies Watch my exclusive video on the Soviet "Ghost Plane": nebula.tv/videos/paperskies-when-the-soviet-an12-flew-with-an-unconscious-crew
@@sus5976 apparently you never aged beyond the elder sibling grabbing their younger sibling and forcing them to hit themselves while screaming "stop hitting yourself" over and over again. if you feel the need to spread z propaganda, why not focus on more accurate or effective bs?
Ah Nebula. Where I go because the tube is a soulless corperate entity. Mostly you get early content and the ability to listen with screen off. It’s worth it nerds!
The zinc coffin stories reminds me of a story that our Danish army deploys with ammunition crates that double as coffins for return trips. No special welding crews, just grab an empty ammo crate from the back of the barracks, close it and send it back on the next regular cargo run .
@@72tadrian65 Simply cause it allowes the body to be hermeticly sealed. And Zinc does not rust when in contact with bodily fluids. That allowes for transportation of bodies in the heat of afghanistan without refridgeration. If they were just in normal coffins. I except the smell to be really horrible after just hours in the Afghan sun.
@@MrDanisve Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this question! Some may find my question inappropriate, but I work in a dark line of work. We ask these questions.
@72tadrian65 it wasn't all that inappropriate. I was wondering the same thing and I assumed that any metal would do but zinc would be the cheapest and lightweight option
Like in the 'dont tell mom im in chechnya' song, 'he will be going home in the black tulip'. Seeing those boxes stacked, I knew it was the black tulip only because of that beautiful song.
I used to maintain KC-130s in the USMC. Our birds were used for what we called "angel" flights back in 04-05. Same purpose. Inside note; our birds were so old that they were the same birds that did the same job in Vietnam. Some say BN 800 was haunted. Go Raiders
Can confirm; I was USMC aircrew for far too many angel flights in 2010, though all active-duty squadrons had fully transitioned to the new KC-130J at that point. Go Raiders
I worked transient alert in Kirkuk caught many of these AN-12's,IL-76's C-130's and C-17's. So several of the angel flights at the start of their journey home. I also crewed KC-135's including crewing the 135's most notable haunted KC-135 Spook 50. Our planes were like yours all Vietnam era and all had their own stories.
The AN - 12 rather interestingly was well liked in the Indian Air Force for its huge hauling capacity and pure robustness. It's successor was the IL - 76 which is one way or another almost similar with turbofans strapped on.
Everyone who used the AN-12 was very happy with it. All those who speak badly about it are jealous that their country could no produce something like that.
@Ahmed Adly *WTF is this* foolish comment that: "...those who speak badly about it are jealous that their country could no produce something like that."? I didn't even need to look it up, but the Lockheed C-130 Hercules is _literally_ the American equivalent. I would say this sounds like Russian propaganda, if weren't for the fact that Antonov is Ukrainian.
I think this is somewhat similar of a story to the F-104G "Widowmaker" nickname. A name which everyone in Germany knew precisely what aircraft and what backstory it was about.
I occasionally see conspiracy people talk about some super secret Black Project wonder fighter that'll outclass everything we know about, and they decide to call it "The Widowmaker" to make it sound powerful. It's always fun explaining to them that "Widowmakers" aren't a danger to the enemy.
Just wanted to thank you, as going that deep into such terms as a "cargo 200" and "smelalochka" is a quite uncommon within western creators. As a ukrainian i always had problems with explaining those "mysterious russian soul" things to non ex-ussr people, so again, huge thanks
A couple of years ago the Jaguar / LandRover factory in Speke was selling off a lot of their tooling. We had daily flights of AN-12's flying in and out of Liverpool airport transporting it all out to wherever it was going. It was awesome watching them come and go, especially that orange one shown in your video which is a nice livery. You could see them on a approach miles away because of the trails of smoke they left! Great aircraft IMO, made a change from the usual B373 and A320!
It was not expected, but it was on the An-12 that I flew to Liverpool and Manston ! Eindhoven .....ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uc_CZLZ4wTU.html
I flew out of Villavicencio in colombia until 2021, there was a An-12 rotting in one of the hangars. The leyend says that in the early 2000 the owner bought it to the country in the hopes of using it as a replacement of the DC3 hauling cargo and passengers to isolated communities in the jungle. It's not clear why it never flew in such role, some says that it was a lack of funds, others say it was an insurance issue and others that it was a regulatory problem. I enjoyed looking at it on my taxi out
It is very hard to imagine that a mother who received a pressure cooker in exchange for her son's life actually happened. I'm at an actual loss for words.
I am hoping someone can provide more information on this. I tried searching about it but nothing came up. I did find reports that bereaved families receive cash payouts, but nothing about receiving consumer goods.
As much as I appreciate his videos, he is bending the truth here. It has nothing to do with the exchange for son's life. The gifts are simply a token of gratitude from the regular people who wanted to help relatives of fallen soldiers with anything they can. The act of regular people helping somebody and showing that that they are not forgotten is portrayed as some heartless sinister act. That is disgusting. While overall the quality of the videos are good, it is not the first time this kind of truth bending happens in his videos, especially when it touches the current events.
@amykathleen2 I believe this is rather a myth/mistake rather than a fact. Gifts was usually made by common people as a token of appreciation, and not connected to somebody's death
With the modern situation of the Russian military in Ukraine, it seems odd to hear stories where 1) the Russians had a competent logistics wing and 2) the Russians actually respected the dead bodies of their fallen.
The big mistake westerner made are thinking Russia now day are the same like Soviet 😅 and over hype the threat of Russia ( again this result from you guy thinking Russia=Soviet )
It was the first aircraft I have experienced wonders of flight on. My uncle serving as a military airbase ground staff smuggled 10 y/o excited me into a Soviet airforce plane doing a 4-hour long training flight around the city of Mariupol, Ukrainian SSR at the time. Little did I know about what would happen to the city a few decades later...
Just don't tell mom I'm in Chechnya - Lyrics / Ты только маме что я в Чечне не говори - текст ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DHCzaiJEoEY.html Also mentions the Black Tulip.
@@BichaelStevens googled пыль глотаю александр дорошенко. It’s definitely swallowing dust. Only a few sites refer to it as “Afghan”, the vast majority don’t, or have it in brackets for easier recognition (which happens with a lot of songs)
Thanks to the excellent video on the Soviet A-12 Ghost Flight on Nebula. I post the comment here because Nebula doesn't have comments. Back in 1999, golf pro Payne Stewart and others died when the Learjet they're flying lost cabinet pressure and eventually ran out of fuel. USAF scrambled F-16 to check on the plane as there's been no communication back from the plane. It was later determined that the plane was simply running on autopilot until it ran out of fuel. There's literally nothing anyone can do, and in all likelihood everyone onboard was already dead before the crash.
@@moshunit96 Yeah it was a Cyprus to somewhere flight with a stopover in Athens. Autopilot put it in a holding pattern around Athens until it ran out of fuel. It is believed that the one person still conscious - a flight attendant who had an oxygen bottle - steering the plane towards an unpopulated area at the last minute.
You, my man... You are the reason I am finally getting Nebula. I'm glad you're back making content and that you are doing well. Keep it strong, my friend.
Got to say i love your stuff. You seldom get to see a completely fresh perspective on something historical that is also so well researched and I'm always looking forward to your new uploads.
One operation of an12 that folk tend to forget was the massive airlift mission transporting vietnamese troop from south Vietnam up north in 1979 ( as majority our military was in Cambodia and south Vietnam when china invade us in 1979) the soviet an12 fleet beside Vietnam an26 , c130,c124,b707,dc3-4 and il14-18 was flying a lot of fly per day ferries troop from Saigon ( tan son nhat airport ) to Hanoi
I was always confused by the line in the song "Just Don't Tell My Mom I'm In Chechnya", that goes "Our tank mechanic is dead, he'll be coming home in Black Tulip" (I live in England, you see). Figured it related to the poppy laurels that we have/had for our troops coming home in caskets (saw them a lot on the news during OUR war in Afghanistan, funnily enough), thought that soviet coffins came back decorated with black tulip laurels lol It feels interesting to learn the true story behind the lyric and more on the side, thank you for the video! (:
5:24 one of whom was Grigory Boyarinov, commander of the Spetsnaz unit which stormed the Tajbeg Palace; officially, he was killed by his own soldiers who mistook him for one of Amin's bodyguards, though there are allegations that he too was liquidated, in order to keep the details of the assaults secret.
As an EMT in America for the last 7 years, (EMT stands for Emergency Medical Technician, it’s a medical certification usually for an average level American ambulance worker like myself). Knowing full well what it’s like to have to deal with death and develop that necessary “lack of compassion” and comfortable attitude toward death. The idea of an entire society having that same attitude pumped into their heads really really really does more to explain Russia to me than anyone ever has. It’s such a deep cold darkness to have to keep your cool when someone just died in your care. It shouldn’t be normal. It should be a shameful necessity of the few jobs like mine. I’m actually like kind of shaken up to hear this to be honest. The pure mental illness and instability it causes to have this perspective on death is so scary. I can’t imagine a more deadly propaganda to push.
As someone who has the utmost appreciation for the work and hardships you and your colleagues around the world do, I would implore you to not ever think of any aspect of it to be in any way, shape or form "shameful." Perhaps more than any other profession, you're truly doing what's necessary, at the most brutal level: saving human lives, or taking care of them in their last moments. So to all of you medical pros: You're amazing, that's what you are, and thank you.
Your insight and analysis is superb, as always, delving deep into fascinating topics I knew little about. Thank you and keep it up! I personally find your english perfectly understandable and don't need the subtitles, but appreciate you including them all the same. My wife is hard of hearing and youtube's auto-subtitles are just terrible, so it's always great when a creator goes to the effort of making their own. ❤
Extremely well-made and well-stated video… I always love hearing the stories of **how** legacies like these come about, and you’ve not only told the story very well but also made the human aspects of the story very real… thanks for a really great channel! Can’t wait to see what’s next
It’s great to see such and insightful and entertaining video about some less talked about planes and events. And it’s also kind of nostalgic to hear again about the plane which I remember my uncle talking about a lot, as well as hearing Rosenbaum’s song again.
As an American who lived in Russia for almost 5 years, and knew many Afghan war vets, I could appreciate their service because I too was a vet, of the Vietnam era. Men and women who have been to war, regardless of the side they were on, share a bond for life. That Black Tulip song brought a tear to my eye.
I have to add to the IL-2 nicknames: in Finland it was called "maatalouskone" or "agricultural machine" (lit. earth economy machine) in English. The nickname is a word play on "maataistelukone" or "ground attack aircraft" (lit. earth battle machine). They were flying low over the fields and forests and were sturdy like tractors, I always thought that it was a great nickname.
In Afghanistan I worked alongside the civilian An-12 cargo planes every day. They remind me a lot of a C-130 but much smokier and a little less safe looking haha. Still very cool nonetheless. I’ve always enjoyed the design differences of Soviet and now Russian aircraft and I’ve head the pleasure of working with a large variety of Russian transport and cargo aircraft over the years.
That's really cool. The only experience with Russian transport aircraft I have are IL-78Ms (do tankers count as transport?) and an AN-12 (along with an AN-26) that was on display 😅
It's surprising to me as an American that the USSR put so much logistics into taking the Russian soldiers home in a timely manner. Very commendable and honorable
Contrast that to today's conflict in Ukraine, where a lot of the time the Russians can't even be assed to find and retrieve a good portion of their fallen, and what they do retrieve aren't properly taken care of for later burial. Even back then though, it seems that they were still in denial mode when it came to conflicts; there's no "war in Afghanistan", it's just Soviet soldiers building infrastructure, much like how initially the conflict in Ukraine wasn't a "war", it waas a "Special Military Operation".
@@StrikeNoir105E Where the fuck do you get this information from? Wait at least a couple of years when it will be possible to conduct research, and not to assume unfounded.
@@StrikeNoir105E as far as i remember, even the Ukrainians collect dogtags for the fallen Russian soldiers and set up a hotline for Russian families to call them ask ask the hotline the fate of their family members who are Russian soldiers in Ukraine
USSR is not Russia, so they transported not only Russian soldiers. In fact, one shot in this video where you can clearly see address on the coffin says "Horlivka" - that is city in Ukraine, mere kilometers from the current frontline, occupied by Russia for several years now
The AN12, The Soviet Hercules! 😁 Excellent video as always. When I see a new post, I get excited and disappointment NEVER follows! Thanks for sharing your hard work!
I love these videos, please don’t stop making them. Your accent is rather nice to hear and gives the videos a personal feeling to your content, it sounds much better rather than hiring some American or British voice over to make these. Also a video suggestion I have for you is the Tupolev Tu-144 or as many of us westerners know it as, The “Concordski”.
Paper, thanks so much yet again for such great work. We don't get much insight into the history of Soviet military history in general in the US, and particularly not with the Soviet Air Force. We particularly don't know much about life in the USSR prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and your work gives us a look we might not otherwise get. So thank you- these stories are superbly-told by you, and humanizes the group of guys who were doing what most men who wear their nation's uniform try to do- serve their nation well and get home to their families. And it sure is great to hear stories of the aircraft and the culture around them. Oh, and thanks for the proper pronunciation of words like "Politburo"- transliteration from Cyrillic to English doesn't always convey the right way to say it! Hope you and your family are well, sir. God bless.
I was not prepared to have my enjoyment of aviation history and your narrative style, to leave me blown away, heart broken, and profoundly more well off with knowledge of another culture. I knew your channel was awesome but the contextual and cultural history you bring to the table is bar-none a unique and need experience for anyone who truly wants to know how history is as relevant today as it was when it happened and why. Keep up the amazing work!
Some company was flying civilian veraions of that when I was in Afghanistan in 2010-2011. In fact most contractors used soviet era aircraft for transport.
It looks almost identical to the Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Developed around the same time for the same purpose. Perhaps the only difference being the C-130 remains in production.
The footage of the Afghan War flights into Bagram reminds me of a pivotal scene in one of my favorite war movies of all time, "Ninth Company". The band of brothers followed in the movie is being delivered to the TOO. The plane lands, and as the rear loading door opens, a harsh, bright sunlight creeps across the bodies of the soldiers sprawled out on the plane's floor, waking them to their new reality. As they leave the plane, the men being rotated out take their places on board. One guy, elated at going home, passes his good-luck charm on to one of the new arrivals. As the plane takes off again, there is a small puff of smoke coming from the hillside ringing the runway. A frantic warning sound alerts the pilots to incoming missiles. One goes wide, but the second one finds its target. Desperately, the pilots turn sharply to attempt a landing on the runway that they just left. As the aircraft approaches, it becomes more and more enveloped by flames, eventually coming to pieces as it slides on the runway and explodes. One of the new arrivals watches the unfolding scene in horror, with the amulet between his fingers. As he shakes of the effect of what he just witnessed, he looks at the charm, tucking it away under his undershirt. The whole movie might still be on Yt, chopped up into short pieces. Well worth the effort of looking for it.
The An12 was a good cargo aircraft like the C130 Hercules except the piston engines. China's Y9 was derived from An12 with a new engine and six blades propellers (Star shape). Now the Y9 was not just a cargo plane but also has ASW and AWACs variants. the Cub still flies strong in China!
I live on the NW coast of the Scottish highlands and military jets from our RAF and the USAF fly over my home all the time. Now and again though, I get a treat - a lovely old AN12 cargo plane will fly over on it’s way to Iceland and I love it when they do…..if it’s in the small hours and quiet you can hear that lovely beastie coming up for ages before it flies overhead. It’s the same with chinooks and the rescue helicopters too - because of the mountains, the noise bounces about and reaches here long before the aircraft. Same when we have thunderstorms, lots of long, long rumbles of thunder that are bouncing off the mountains. I’m female, I’m 45 and my kids have grown up and left home. Been married over 20 years and am bored out of my tiny mind. I’d love to visit Eastern Europe to see older aircraft that still fly and I’d also love to visit the USA so I can smush myself up against a security fence and watch beautiful, massive cargo aircraft like the 747/4 or even 767s…..my closest airport is across the country in Inverness and they only have those pathetic, ugly Airbus A319/320s or wee Saab prop aircraft. I’ve never flown in anything larger than a 737 and I’d give my right boob for a transatlantic flight in a 747/8. Unfortunately, my 45 year old bewbs are too saggy and therefor I can’t make money on onlyfans, too old and ugly to sell my body and I don’t know who to speak to to discuss selling a kidney. So, unless I win the lottery I guess I’ll miss the whole 747 phase just like I’ve missed the MD11, DC10 and every other gorgeous classic aircraft. I wasted my youth being a nurse and popping out children and now that I actually have time to visit places, I’m too bloody skint!
This is by far my most favourite video you have produced! Spectacular production, information by multiple bomber loads but simple to digest! Keep up the good work man!
15:17 This still breaks my heart. Seeing Zaluzhnyi on his knees before the mother of a fallen soldier is something that will always stick with me as well, won't see that in Russia. Fucks me off Ukrainians have to go through this shit now, they certainly don't deserve it. I've never had any friends killed (touch wood), but I've seen ramp ceremonies for our fallen and it's something that really sticks with you.
I love your channel. My college roommate was a Russian history / Russian dual major, so I learned just how different the Russian view of life can be. For the record, you are easy to understand, and I think the accent adds to the stories. I subscribed on Nebula, and I love the video on Soviet military cheating. It's worth the little bit of cash.
Say what you want about the Soviets, but they had some pretty great engineers! they designed some great planes and weapons systems and they did so in a way that was simple enough for mass production while also being rugged enough for the field! my hats off to them!
There's a song called "the Rooks Have Arrived" about Soviet SU-25 "Rook" pilots and in there he mentioned "I must be careful not to drop my 200th payload" when referring to him dying by being shot down. Interesting to know that comes from the "Cargo 200" or Order 200 days back in Afghanistan.
Honestly at one of the air shows we had at a Canadian military Air force Base I saw one of these aircraft the Antonov an-12, I fell in love with it I wish I could own one but the maintenance and fuel costs would kill me lol
I can imagine how much ghost and creepy stories these aircrews know.
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I came for a Video about a Plane and got a very insightfull Video about the russian psychi. Thx a lot for that´. Very well done ! Now off to Nebula to watch your other video.
I would just like to ask about a thing in the Russian expression translated by "cargo 200", what is the connotation behind the word translated by cargo, for example, here in France there are at least three words for the same thing, with different ideas attached to them : marchandises : is associated with a positive view, with the idea of trade, of exchange, ... cargo : more neutral but associated with the globalization, we speak of un bateau cargo, un avion cargo (a cargo boat/plane) Fret : associated with a cold idea pf purely functionnal, completely dissociated with feelings. In the french translation of The zinc coffins, it was translated into "fret 200" and not "cargo 200" to make some distance. Does the Russian expression have the same nuance ? I wonder as I haven't learned russian. Thanks for the video
In russian it's just "груз" (gruz), meaning something to transport. Almost never used to leaving beings, I'd say even it's offensive to call people transported "gruz". But there are no other widely-used words instead
I really hates ads, but the art of implementing your sponsor perfectly with a very satisfying cliffhanger in this case for Nebula is insanely perfectly well done. I sadly dont have the money. But I wish I had, Nebula seems worth it. But I applauded when you made that PERFECT transition! talented person you are!
Video suggestion: Pardo's Push. 2 damaged F4 Phantoms over Vietnam, trying to get to friendly airspace, on had dual engine failure. The jet that still had running engines pushed the other all the way to a point where they could all eject safely. It worked....
Russian expat here. Expected to see a video about the plane, stumbled across some deep and very real information. I'm very glad that someone who understands the topic (and it makes me feel by the way the speech sounds - speaks Russian and/or Ukrainian) makes videos for the English-speaking population. The difference between the 'cargo 200' thing and treating killed soldiers like individuals drastically shows the difference in the cultural levels of Russia and Ukraine. Thank you! This content is very, very valuable.
At the end of the video he claims the families of fallen russians dont care about their dead and just happily take the compensation. He can't possibly believe this to be true, right? A very dehumanizing perspective.
A Civilian-operated An-12 flown pass my home once. The guy’s engine sound is so loud and unheard of(literally) to me so I have to use Flightradar24 to identify what is above my home.
This video was super interesting, not only a great overview of a russian cargo aircraft, but also a really neat insight on the culture of military death in Russia and Eastern Europe in general. Keep up the amazing work!
Aside from the "200" story, the An-12 has been a fine aircraft. Reliable, efficient, and rugged, you can land it almost anywhere.....maybe even Hell.....because of it's tough landing gear made for dirt runway use. I guess it was the Soviet Union's C-130.
Our military used (and they still in the roster i think) An-26s. One the the nickname of the model here is: "Roaring mouse". Tough the C-17s (BigMac) is the main transport plane of our military nowadays.
No one but a Hungarian would call the An-26 as the Roaring Mouse. Sadly our last Ancsa was taken out of service some 2-3 years ago. We've ordered C-390 aircraft from Brazil to replace them, but those are not yet in service as far as I know.
The name Black Tulip could also be a carryover from WW2 when the Black Tulip was the marking of Luftwaffe Major Eric Hartmann's squadron on the Eastern front. This was a symbol of certain death to the Soviet pilots who encountered Hartmann and his flyers. Just supposing.
During the clips of the aircraft taking off in Afghanistan, it seems to be dropping flares while still on the runway? Was it common for Russian planes to be in danger of missiles even in their own airbases?
"Black Tulip" was also the name Erich Hartman gave to his plane since the nose of his Bf-109 was black. Otherwise known to the Soviets as "The Black Devil.
