The Largest Aircraft in the World:Antonov An-225 Mriya

The Antonov An-225 Mriya - Bigger than a Boeing 747 and Airbus A380. Longer & heavier than the Hughes H-4 “Spruce Goose.” 

 A brief introduction to the two biggies:
The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Dream) is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft developed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Ukraine. The first An-225 was completed in 1988 and a second An-225 has been partially completed. The completed An-225 is in commercial operation with Antonov Airlines carrying oversized payloads.  The An-225 requires six turbofan engines to keep its payload in the air.

The Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the "Spruce Goose";) is a prototype heavy transport aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft company. The aircraft made its first and only flight on November 2, 1947, and the project never advanced beyond the single example produced. Built from wood because of wartime restrictions on the use of aluminum and concerns about weight. The Hercules has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in history. It survives in good condition at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, USA.

Hughes H 4

 The Antonov An-225 was originally designed to function as a Russian Space Shuttle carrier aircraft, assisting the Buran space shuttle of the Soviet Space Program. Known for its immense carrying capability, the An-225 can carry 550,000 lbs. internally or 440,000 lbs. on the upper fuselage. Initially plans were to build several An-225s, but the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 saw the cancellation of the Buran space program and the Antonov contracts.

 By 1994, the lone Antonov An-225’s future was in doubt.  The engines were removed and it was placed in storage along with the second, unfinished An-225.  In 2000, the need for strategic heavy equipment lifting brought the An-225 back into service. By 2006, demand was great enough to warrant plans to finish the second An-225 but numerous delays left the aircraft unfinished in 2009.

 So just how substantial is this aircraft? It requires six Ivchenko Progress D-18T turbofan engines to fly. The landing system has thirty two wheels.  The maximum gross weight is 640 tonnes (1,410,000 lbs.). The largest single piece of airlifted cargo ever recorded was on an Antonov An-225: a generator for a gas power plant in Armenia which was 53.2 ft long, 14 ft wide and weighed 416,900 lbs.

The Antonov An-225 is still in use today.  Even the United States contracts the An-225 for military transport.  From chimney ducts to generators to tanks to wind turbine blades, the Antonov has carried just about every large object that has required a transcontinental move.