“Tah-Dah!” It has happened, at last.
Antonov-2, a venerable biplane celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, was reintroduced on floats. Aviators in North America might wonder, “why, - what’s a big deal?..”
Yes, it is a distinct MILE STONE for the 60-year old aircraft type 
To your knowledge, in the Soviet Union time the An-2s were widely operated on floats in remote areas of the country. Most of them had a designator ‘An-2V‘.
This is an old picture from that era’s typical day: a pilot standing on an An-2’s float, either just having finished his day, or waiting for the plane to be loaded before going for the next trip.. And then, all of a sudden, this practice had stopped all across the country. It happened in early 80s..
I’m exploring now into that time in order to find out a reason why that had happened. There’s a couple of interesting leads emerged recently, that might bring my search over to the true cause laying in the grounds of that abrupt stoppage.
As for a new attempt (quite successful, accordingly the aviation media reports) to reintroduce An-2 on floats, - again, it was not without the ‘AeroSamara‘ involvement They were responsible for providing a project with the main component - floats themselves. Floats were made of modern composite materials, with the use of technology in which the AeroSamara is a recognized expert.
Maybe in the near future, the An-2, now on floats, will regain its role as a ‘Russian ultimate bush plane‘.
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