Discovery.

In 2006 a buddy told me about some AN-2's that were available. He had not seen them but was flying to Seattle on business and would check them out while he was there. He had heard that the fabric was a little rough, but his intention was to do some duct tape repairs and fly one home. Did I want to join him in this project?

The flyable demonstrator

When he want there and saw the shape they were in, he realized that his duct tape plan was not going to work. The plane would have to be dismantled and trucked home and then go through a full rebuild.
I had only seen an AN-2 once years before, and all I could remember was that they were pretty ugly. So after checking out a few pages on the internet, I thought it might be 'fun' to give this project a go.
I loaded some tools and my daughter in the car in June 2006 and headed up to Seattle for my first look. As we pulled into the little airfield where they were stored, both our mouths dropped as we saw the monsters parked next to some little toy (by comparison) airplanes: Cessna's, Piper's and such.
Yes, the one in the above picture looked pretty good, in fact, it was in flying condition. Unfortunately, all the others were not in the same shape, and the 'good' one was not for sale at the time. 10  AN-2's had been brought over from Russia but only one had been reassembled and flown as the demonstrator. The others had been hung together, but nothing tightened. Then they had sat in the open Seattle weather for 10 years. A few had been sold but the others were slowly rotting. The airport management were threatening to bulldoze the remaining planes if they were not removed quickly.
For those of you who don't know much about AN-2's, they were designed in 1947 and built first in Russia, then in Poland - by PZL - right up until the year 2000. Over 20,000 were built, with the main difference in all models being the radios. Powered by the 1000hp Russian version of the P&W 1830, basically the same engine as in a DC-3, the AN-2 is a  bi-plane with 60' wingspan, with leading edge slats on the top wing and full flaps on both wings. It can take off and land in such a small distance it should really be classed as a helicopter.
An interesting note from the pilot's handbook gives some idea of how solid this plane is built and, despite it's size, how much lift is generated by the huge wings. It reads: "If the engine quits in instrument conditions (blind flying when you can't see the ground) or at night, the pilot should pull the control column full aft (it wont stall) and keep the wings level. The leading-edge slats will snap out at about 40 mph (64 km/h), and when the airplane slows to a forward speed of about 25 mph [40 km/h], the airplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground."