ANBO (Lithuania) aircraft

When the Soviet Union annexed the three Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in 1940, the inventories of the armed forces of those nations also changed the owner. The air arms of all three countries, beneath imported types, were operating a small number of indigenous designs. In Lithuania these came from the Army Aircraft Factory or ANBO at Kaunas. The designer of ANBO aircraft was Lt.Col. Antanas Gustaitis, later becoming Commander of the Lithuanian Army Air Corps and even later being shot at Moscow. The first of his designs, the ANBO-I, appeared in 1928. It was a single-seat low-wing sports monoplane. This was followed by the first military type ANBO-II, a two-seat primary trainer with a parasol-mounted wing and only modest performance.

The next model was the ANBO-III, an advanced trainer which differed from its predecessor externally by its undercarriage and redesigned vertical tail surfaces. Production of ANBO-II and ANBO-III is said to have been 20 machines of each type.

In 1932 the ANBO-IV passed its maiden flight. This was a much heavier construction compared with the earlier Gustaitis designs. The ANBO-IV was intended as a tactical reconnaissance and general-purpose aircraft and was flown by two squadrons of the Lithuanian Army Air Corps. This type soon earned the reputation to be a very reliable aircraft. When Colonel Gustaitis personally led a formation of ANBO-IVs on a tour to different European capitals (Stockholm, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Prague, Bukarest, Moscow and others) from June 25, 1934 on, the type became relatively well-known outside Lithuania. On June 30, 1934 Gustaitis himself demonstrated his talents as a pilot and the qualities of the ANBO-IV during the RAF Air Show at Hendon.

An improved version with a more powerful engine was the ANBO-41 (about 20 built) which also equipped two Lithuanian squadrons.

The models ANBO-V, ANBO-51 and ANBO-VI were trainers with a basic design similar to the ANBO-II and -III.

In 1939 the ANBO-VIII light bomber/reconnaissance prototype appeared. This was a two-seat low-wing monoplane with an air-cooled radial engine and a fixed undercarriage. It was under test, when Lithuania was annexed by the USSR.

As may be found at "History of aircraft construction in the USSR" and other sources, the USSR took over the models ANBO-III, -IV, -V, -VI, -VIII, -41 and -51 from Lithuania, but that they were of no military importance. Of the ANBO-VIII is said that its testing was continued by the Soviets.

General Information
Type	ANBO-III	ANBO-IV	ANBO-41	ANBO-V	ANBO-51	ANBO-VI	ANBO-VIII
Function	Trainer	Reconnaissance, ground attack		Trainer			Light bomber, reconnaissance
Year	1929	1932	1936	1929	1936	1933	1939
Crew	2
Powerplant
Type	1*Walter Mars	1*Bristol Pegasus L2	1*Bristol Pegasus XI	1*Walter Vega I	1*Armstrong Siddeley Genet Major IV	1*Curtiss Challenger	1*Bristol Pegasus XVIII
Power (hp)	120	600	800	85	160>	185	1,010
Size (m)
Length	6.50	8.84		7.30		7.25	9.50
Wingspan	10.55	13.20	13.24	11.35		10.60	13.50
Wing area (m2)	18.20	29.00		20.65>		18.30	30.00
Weights and loads
Empty (kg)	556	1,450	1,500	510	680	720	2,300
Maximum (kg)	800	2,200	2,300	820	950	1,070	3,700
Wing Load (kg/m2)	44	76	79	40	46	58	123
Power load (kg/hp)	6.67	3.67	2.88	9.65	5.94	5.78	3.66
Speed (km/h)
Maximum	180	290 at 1,500m	360 at 2,000m	170	200	205>	411 at 5,000m
Cruising	?		265	?		180	?
Range
Normal	?		800km	?
Ceiling (m)
Ceiling	4,500	8,000	9,000	4,000		4,500	9,000
Climb
5,000m	?	12-14min	8min	?			15min
Armament
Guns	None	4*mg 7.7mm	4*mg 7.7mm	None			5*mg 7.7mm
Bombs	None	144kg	200kg	None			600-1,000kg

References	Links
"Aero" magazine, Vol.10 (in German); "Das große Buch der Militärflugzeuge, Weltkrieg II" ("Combat Aircraft of WWII") by Elke & John Weal and Richard Barker; "History of aircraft construction in the USSR", Vol.2;	Anbo III Anbo IV Anbo 41 Anbo V Anbo 51 Anbo VI Anbo VIII Anbo III (in Lithuanian) Anbo IV (in Lithuanian)	Anbo 41 (in Lithuanian) Anbo V (in Lithuanian) Anbo 51 (in Lithuanian) Anbo VI (in Lithuanian) Anbo VIII (in Lithuanian)

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