The world’s largest plane, the Antonov AN-225, has been destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.
This plane was a truly one of kind. It was truly a monster of the sky. The physics that allowed it to even get off the ground are pretty mind-boggling. There was no other like it, take a look for yourself. It was the biggest plane ever. This is the Antonov An-225 Mriya.
Its first flight was on 21 December 1988 under the Soviet Union and was used as a commercial cargo plane (Antonov Airlines). It was originally designed to carry the Buran space shuttle and its rocket boosters.
It took 6 crew members to fly this plane. It also had a wingspan of over 290 feet.
The Antonov An-225 had 32 wheels supporting a maximum take-off weight of about 1,411,000 pounds.
It could hold up to 300,000 kg of jet fuel; which is about 98,000 gallons of fuel.
There was only one AN-225 built, ever.
It has carried four military battle tanks (at once), wind turbine wings, parts of other planes, etc. Basically, anything too large for a normal cargo plane.
It is said to have cost over $300 million to make.
How incredible was this amazing piece of equipment? I would have loved to have a flight on this.
The enormous aircraft, named “Mriya,” or “dream” in Ukrainian, was parked at an airfield near Kyiv when it was attacked by “Russian occupants,” Ukrainian authorities said, adding that they would rebuild the plane.
This truly was an engineering marvel. The fact that something this big was able to get into the air and stay there is pretty incredible. I would have thought many more engines would have been required on the biggest plane ever.