In August 1993, Turkish Airlines went into the airfreight business was with nothing more unlikely... than an Antonov 12 leased from Air Sofia (hence the LZ reg).

LZ-SFK was the first ever An-12 to fly without its nose radome, which once housed the ROZ-1 ground mapping radar. 10 more planes would follow suit with this interesting Bulgarian modification (including VEGA with its ill-fated "Tsar Boris").

Unfortunately, info on Turkish An-12 ops is just as scant as why some An-12s flew without their bulging radomes. At least the latter makes a sleeker, better looker IMHO.

Radomeless An-12 for FS2004.
Work in progress by me.

 

 

 

Note: the eyebrows were painted onto the texture; they are not part of the physical model because almost all of the radomeless An-12s had their eyebrows plugged not long after their radomes were removed.

Cool shots and interesting story and man, FS2004?  Wow, that brings back some memories.