Kuznetsov NK-12

The Kuznetsov NK-12 is a Soviet turboprop engine of the 1950s, designed by the Kuznetsov design bureau. It drives huge eight-bladed (four per propeller) contra-rotating propellers 18.4 ft (5.6 m) in diameter and weighing 2540 lb (1,155 kg).

Rated at 12,000 to 15,000 Pferdestärke (11,000 kW, 14,800 shp) it is by a wide margin the most powerful turboprop engine ever built. It powered the Tupolev Tu-95 / Tu-142 bomber, the Tupolev Tu-114 airliner (still the world's fastest propeller-driven aircraft), and the Antonov An-22 Antheus – the world's largest aircraft at the time. It has also been used to power several types of amphibious assault craft, such as the Orlyonok Ekranoplan.

An interesting fact is that the two propellers are driven by separate turbines with independent gearing mechanisms, this means that with the engines off the propellers can be moved in any direction at the same time almost without effort.