These giants plow the sky with ease and grace, and, looking at them from the ground, no one thinks that these steel birds are such a huge structure that the height of the tail of one of these liners - A-380 - is five giraffes, set Each other. The Airbus A-380 is the largest passenger aircraft in the world, but this article will not only be about it.
"Boeing 747"
Among passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 have the largest size. These are liners that can simultaneously carry more than five hundred passengers. In particular, the A380 is capable of lifting 853 passengers into the air. Before the advent of this giant, the Boeing 747 with a length of 70.6 meters and the Boeing 747-8 with a length of 76.25 meters (the longest passenger aircraft) were the most spacious airliners in the world (the maximum number of simultaneously transported passengers reached 600 people). The Boeing 747-8 is more economical in terms of fuel consumption than the Boeing 747, which first flew on February 9, 1969. The designers originally planned a two-deck aircraft design, but the upper deck was shortened due to technical problems. The Boeing 747 was the first airliner in the world to have two aisles between seats. This aircraft is certified to fly on three engines, and if one of the four fails, the vessel will fully take off, fly and land on the remaining three engines. At the same time, the cruising speed of a Boeing 747 passenger aircraft is 913 km/h.
Giant A-380
The giant double-deck "Frenchman" - the A380 liner, the first copy of which rolled off the assembly line in 2005 - is the largest passenger aircraft in the history of world aviation. Indeed, its creators have something to be proud of - the cabin of the Airbus A380 accommodates 853 passengers. To date, more than 110 machines have already been built and put into operation. The monthly production of these liners is 2.5 cars. Today, these giants are used by 20 airlines, the Emirates airline has the largest fleet.
The cruising speed of the passenger aircraft A380 reaches 1020 km/h. Each airliner consists of about four million individual parts and components, which are manufactured in thirty countries around the world by one and a half thousand manufacturing companies and delivered using a unique logistics system developed by Airbus, which includes a route by water, as well as by air and by road. Each landing gear can withstand a load of about 260 tons (200 cars). For comparison with its predecessor, the wing area of the A380 aircraft is equal to one and a half wing areas of the Boeing 747-400 and is 845 square meters.
The largest passenger aircraft in the world can be equipped with two types of quiet engines: either the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or the Engine Alliance GP7000. At the same time, the A380 is the most economical airliner in its segment - fuel consumption for passenger transportation per 100 km with a cabin layout of 525 seats does not exceed three liters.
The dimensions of passenger aircraft are impressive, the cabin area of the A380 is 554 square meters. The liner has two decks - the main one, the width of which is a record high - 6.5 meters, and the upper one with a width of 5.8 meters.
An air volume of 1,500 cubic meters is replaced by an air conditioning system every three minutes; during the flight, there is pleasant silence in the cabin of the liner, the hum of turbines is almost inaudible.
Russia is proud of them
And what does the domestic aviation industry offer us? The largest turboprop aircraft in the world is the Antonov An-22. Its length is about 60 meters, the flight speed is 580 km/h. The first liner was launched in 1965.
"That"
The legendary Tu-134 is a passenger airliner for flights over medium distances, up to 2800 meters. It is designed for a maximum of 96 seats, its cruising speed is 850 km / h at an altitude of 11000 m. The Tu-154 is a larger aircraft, 158 people are accommodated in the cabin of three classes, 180 in the economy class. The maximum flight speed of this liner is 950 km / h, and the Tu-154M modification is capable of covering distances up to 5200 km.
Tu-204 accommodates 214 passengers, and the cruising speed is slightly less than the previous "brother" - 850 km / h.
"su"
The Sukhoi Superjet-100 is not the largest passenger aircraft in the world, but it is famous for being the first Russian airliner designed using digital technologies. It is designed for flights up to 3,000 kilometers on lightly loaded airlines. The maximum number of passengers is 98 people.
"Il"
Speaking of domestic aircraft, one cannot fail to mention the Ilyushins. Russian passenger aircraft represented by this design bureau have several basic types that are well known to us. Let's talk about each of them in more detail.
Let's start with the simplest - the Il-62, an airliner that has been produced since 1971 and is designed for flights over medium distances - up to 10,000 kilometers. This aircraft can accommodate 198 passengers and five crew members. Its top speed at cruising altitude is 850 km/h.
As for the Il-86 aircraft, it is also designed for flights over medium distances, a cabin containing two classes can accommodate 234 passengers, if a three-class aircraft, then 314 people. At the same time, 11 flight attendants serve customers. The aircraft are equipped with twelve emergency ladders and all the necessary modern rescue systems. The cruising speed of the Il-86 is 950 km/h, the distances it flies do not exceed 5,000 kilometers, with a maximum flight duration of eight hours.
IL-96
Now about the largest representative of the Ilyushin family - the Il-96 airbus. It is designed for long distance flights. Three hundred people in economy class and 262 passengers in the cabin of three classes - this figure is practically the same as the previous described model of this family. The liner flies with a maximum cruising speed of 900 km/h and is capable of covering a distance of up to 12,100 km. Its improved "model" - Il-96M - accommodates a larger number of passengers - up to 435 people in a charter version.
Immediate perspective, or Domestic developments
To date, the largest Russian aircraft project is the Irkut MS-21. Within its framework, it is planned to produce short-medium-haul passenger liners. Now Irkut is developing and building, the first copies of the aircraft according to the plan will be certified in 2016, at the same time flight tests will begin. The start of mass-scale production of MS-21 is expected from 2017-2018. In the Russian passenger aircraft market, these liners should replace the Tu-154 and Tu-204 and will be operated on domestic and international airlines.
The project is not developing the largest passenger aircraft in the world, but the family of airliners being created will include various aircraft of three types in terms of length and passenger capacity - 150, 180 and 210 seats. The lineup will include aircraft with extended range. The cruising altitude of the ship will be 11,600 kilometers, the speed that the liner will develop will be 870 km/h, the maximum fuselage length is 39.5 meters. The crew will consist of two people.
As for the progress of work, the base of the project is the Yak-242. The development of the new wing belongs to the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company, the fuselage work is carried out directly by the Irkut Corporation and the Yakovlev Design Bureau.
It is assumed that the new liners will be more economical due to the use of modern composite materials, as well as new generation engines. The aircraft will be equipped with Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines; in the future, it is possible to install domestic Perm PD-14 engines.
This list contains 10 of the largest aircraft ever built in the world. The rating includes both passenger aircraft and cargo and transport liners. There are more detailed materials about some of them, for example, An Mriya, and we will talk about some of them for the first time. The list is presented in descending order.
Dornier Do X
The Dornier Do X was the largest, heaviest, and most powerful aircraft in the world when it was produced by the German company Dornier in 1929. In fact, it is more of a passenger flying boat than a classic aircraft.
Tupolev Ant-20
Tupolev Ant-20, or Maxim Gorky, was named after Maxim Gorky and is dedicated to the 40th anniversary of his literary and social activities. The Ant-20 was the largest known aircraft to follow the Junkers design philosophy, with corrugated sheet steel in many key body components.
Boeing 747 Dreamlifter
This enlarged version of the Boeing 747, called the Dreamlifter, is used exclusively to transport Boeing 787 aircraft parts to the company's assembly plants from suppliers in other parts of the world.
Boeing 747-8
The Boeing 747-8 is the largest version of the 747, as well as the largest commercial aircraft built in the United States and the longest passenger aircraft in the world. That's how many records this outstanding aircraft has.
Boeing 747
The original version of the Boeing 747 had two and a half times the passenger capacity of the Boeing 707, one of the commercial aviation giants of the 1960s.
Antonov AN-22
The Antonov 22 is a heavy military transport aircraft designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in Kharkiv. The aircraft is powered by four turboprop air-jet engines. The AN-22 became the first Soviet wide-body aircraft and remains the world's largest four-engine turboprop high-wing aircraft with a twin fin and tail cargo hatch to date.
Antonov An-124
Antonov 124 is a strategic air cargo aircraft. One of the largest aircraft in the world was developed by the Antonov Design Bureau. The 124 is the second tallest cargo aircraft in the world after the Boeing 747-8F and the third heaviest cargo aircraft in the world.
Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 Double Deck is a wide-body airliner with four engines. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world. Numerous airports have had to upgrade their runways to accommodate its size. The A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 and entered commercial service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines.
Airbus A340
Second on the list is the Airbus A340. It can accommodate up to 375 passengers in standard versions and 440 in larger versions. Depending on the model, the A-340 can cover from 12,400 to 17,000 km on one gas station.
The largest aircraft - An-225 Mriya
The An-225 Mriya is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the 1980s. Mriya is translated from Ukrainian as a Dream. The aircraft is powered by six turbofan engines and is the largest in the world, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tons. At present, only one version of it has been built, but the second Mriya is also being prepared for release.
“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors, who, in their grueling off-road journeys in prehistoric times, looked with envy at birds soaring freely in space, at full speed, without any obstacles on the endless road of air,” once Wilbur Wright said.
Could the Wright brothers have imagined back in 1903 what their idea of controlled flight in the air would turn into? Now you will not surprise anyone with supersonic aircraft and winged colossi capable of transporting not only people, but also heavy equipment.
Well, even if we cannot fly like birds, but if we wish, we can fly on one of largest aircraft in the world. Choose which of these giants you like the most.
Role: multipurpose aircraft.
Developer: Design Bureau Tupolev, USSR.
This aircraft, created at the Voronezh Aviation Plant in 1934, became the largest aircraft of its time. Its wing span reached 63 meters, and the maximum takeoff weight was 42,000 kg. The ANT-20 was served by a staff of 5 people, and the aircraft could take 48 passengers on board.
When the "dad" of the Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery arrived in the USSR, he flew the ANT-20. But the life of this model was short-lived. In 1935, during a demonstration flight, the aircraft took off along with the I-5 fighter, which was supposed to demonstrate the difference in size for newsreel. During the performance of aerobatics, the I-5 entered the "Nesterov loop", lost speed and crashed down onto the ANT-20 from above. That, in turn, began to fall apart in the sky and fell on the holiday village of Sokol.
As a result of this accident, 49 people died. A memorial has been preserved at the Novodevichy Cemetery, crowned with a huge granite bas-relief of a crashed plane.
Role: transport aircraft.
Developer: Boeing.
An aircraft unsurpassed in terms of the spaciousness of the fuselage. The volume of its transport compartment is 1840 cubic meters. It is used purely for the transportation of parts of the Boeing 787, which are designed by third-party suppliers. A total of 4 Dreamlifters were put into operation.
The Boeing 747 LCF looks unpretentious, for which it has even been compared to the Wienermobile, a bun-shaped car used to promote and advertise Oscar Mayer products in the United States. And the head of Boeing, Scott Carson, jokingly apologized to Joe Sutter, the head of the Boeing 747 development team, for what he did to his plane.
Role: passenger airliner.
Developer: Boeing.
Boeing knows how to develop aircraft that set records. Here 747-8 became the longest passenger aircraft in the world. Its length is 76.4 meters.
The Boeing 747-8 is a new generation of the Boeing 747 series (eighth on our list). It features a lengthened fuselage, improved wing, and greater economic efficiency.
Role: passenger airliner.
Developer: Boeing.
Once upon a time, when asked what was the largest aircraft in the world in terms of passenger capacity, the designers of the double-deck Boeing 747 proudly answered: “Ours”! Depending on the modification, the aircraft can accommodate up to 624 passengers on board. But then the Airbus A380 appeared and pushed the Boeing 747 off the pedestal of the most spacious aircraft.
If you watched "Casino Royale" with Daniel Craig as James Bond, then you may remember the SkyFleet S570 liner, which the terrorists wanted to blow up. The Boeing 747-236B, which was built in 1980 and flew until 2002, acted as this airliner. A worthy end to a career.
And the Boeing 747 is also associated with one of the largest air crashes in the world. It happened in 1977 on the island of Tenerife. In fog, two Boeing 747s collided with each other on the runway, killing 583 people.
Role: transport aircraft.
Developer: OKB im. O.K.Antonova.
This winged machine, named "Antaeus" in honor of the invincible giant from ancient Greek myths, is still the world's largest turboprop aircraft.
Transportation of cargo during the war in Afghanistan and during the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, transportation of refugees and military personnel from Eastern Europe and neighboring countries - this is not a complete "track record" of the An-22. And in one of the passenger flights organized during the air bridge between Egypt and the Soviet Union in 1972, Antey set a record by taking almost 700 people on board. This is a real plane-worker, reliable and unpretentious in operation.
Role: transport aircraft.
Developer: OKB im. O.K.Antonova.
The five largest aircraft in the world are opened by the Soviet development, which until the advent of the Airbus A380 (fourth number on the list) was considered the largest of the mass-produced aircraft.
However, no one has yet taken away the title of "largest military aircraft" from the An-124, as well as the title of the world's largest cargo-lifting serial transport aircraft.
And although now the production of Ruslan, as Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov called this aircraft, has been suspended, the existing fleet of aircraft will be modernized. This was announced in July 2018 by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov.
Role: passenger liner.
Developer: Airbus.
The largest passenger aircraft in the world (from mass-produced) and one of the largest aircraft on Earth. When you watch a video with one of the largest aircraft in the world, it's hard to believe that such a colossus is capable of taking off.
The Airbus A380 is capable of carrying up to 853 passengers in an economy class configuration. By comparison, the A380's main competitor, the Boeing 747 passenger airliner, carries only 624 people in full economy class configuration.
Not only airlines own the luxurious Airbus A380. By order of the Saudi prince Al-Walid ibn Talal, a private jet was built, which cost the owner $488 million.
Role: passenger liner.
Developer: Airbus.
It is the largest member of the Airbus A340 family and the third longest aircraft in the world (75.36 meters). Airbus A340 aircraft were produced until November 2011, but could not compete with the Boeing 777. However, they still carry out passenger transportation in various countries of the world.
It is curious that during the entire period of operation (since 1993) only five A340 aircraft were lost. In this case, not a single passenger or crew member died.
Role: cargo airplane.
Developer: OKB im. O.K.Antonova.
It is the largest transport aircraft ever built. Its maximum takeoff weight is 640 tons, and its payload is 250 tons.
An-225 is capable of transporting vehicles, construction and military equipment and other bulky cargo to different parts of the world on its fuselage. But this giant was intended for a different, much larger purpose. It was created as part of the Buran reusable spacecraft project. It was assumed that the An-225 would transport the components of the Buran and the launch vehicle from the place of creation and assembly to the launch site.
The first flight of the Mriya (dream in Ukrainian) took place in December 1988, carrying a Buran weighing sixty tons. However, after the collapse of the USSR, the "dream" was left without work. They began to operate it again (after appropriate modernization) only in 2000, for commercial transportation.
And most recently, in September 2018, the giant aircraft set a new record by making a thirteen-hour non-stop flight from Ukrainian Gostomel to the American airport of Auckland. He covered a distance of 9800 km.
Role: carrier aircraft.
Developer: Scaled Composites.
This huge aircraft will not carry conventional cargo. Rather, it will serve as another way to deliver objects, namely satellites, into the stratosphere before launching them into space orbit. This mode of transport will be more reliable and less expensive than traditional rockets.
Unlike the largest aircraft in the world, the Ukrainian Mriya, the American Stratolaunch is not yet in flight. Its first demonstration took place in May 2017. In terms of wingspan - 117.3 meters, it far exceeds the An-225 (88.4 meters, respectively). For now Stratolaunch - the world's largest wing span aircraft.
However, the American is inferior to the Ukrainian "colleague" in terms of maximum takeoff weight (589,670 kg and 640,000 kg, respectively) and length (73 meters for the Stratolaunch versus 84 meters for the An-225).
The exact dates for the new Stratolaunch tests are not yet known. Engineers hope that this aircraft will enter service within the next 10 years.
Today, not a single person can imagine life without the existence of aircraft, and in fact, before people could only dream of flying in the sky. Thanks to the colossal work done by scientists and design engineers from different parts of the world, the world got acquainted with the first aircraft. And on October 25, 2007, it went into operation Airbus A380- the largest passenger aircraft in the world, the photo of which to some extent reflects the real size of the giant.
We will not dwell on one model, but will introduce you to other airliners capable of carrying a considerable number of passengers on board.
Introduced in 2005, the Airbus A380-800 supplanted the 36-year-old aviation giant, the Boeing 747.
Technical specifications:
- Vessel length: 73 m
- Passenger capacity: 525 people
- Wingspan: 79.75 m
- Wing area: 845 sq. m
- Height: 24.09 m
- Weight: 280 tons
- Maximum speed: 1020 km/h
- Takeoff run: 2050 meters
The development of Airbus had to spend one decade and 12 billion euros. The maximum distance covered by an aircraft without in-flight refueling is 15,400 km. In terms of the amount of fuel used, the Airbus A380-800 is much more economical in comparison with other aircraft of this class.
It was possible to reduce fuel consumption thanks to the correctly designed shape of the wing and fuselage. To achieve such accuracy in Japan, milling machines used in the manufacture of aircraft were specially developed. It takes 3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers for three passengers.
Despite the large capacity of Airbus compared to the Boeing 747, its production is 15 percent cheaper. For the first time, the air giant began to be operated by Singapore's national airline, Singapore Airlines, serving the Singapore-Sydney route.
Boeing 747-8
In 2005, the Boeing 747-8, another modification of a passenger aircraft, appeared in the American corporation The Boeing Company. The main differences from previous liners are an elongated hull and economy. By changing the deviation of the wing in plan from perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft and reducing its thickness, the manufacturers managed to improve the quality of aerodynamics. Thanks to this shape of the wing, fuel consumption has decreased.
Boeing 747-8
This modification was preferred by the governments of 19 states, using the liner for flights by the country's top leaders.
At 76.25 meters long, the Boeing 747-8 is the largest commercial aircraft built in the United States of America. In addition, the Boeing 747-8 is the leader in orders for VIP versions, which are intended for politicians in government.
The largest passenger aircraft in history is the Hughes H-4 Hercules. The giant received this title in 1947. Against the background of the flying "machines" of that period, the Hughes H-4 Hercules stood out with a 98-meter distance between the edges of the wings, due to which this modification was considered the most wide-body.
In total, 2 aircraft of this type were produced, today only one remains. The Hughes H-4 Hercules aircraft with a capacity of 750 passengers was brought to the Long Beach Museum in 1993, where it is still located. More people in one flight were not transported by any aircraft.
The Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft, designed in 1990, can fly 20,000 km without in-flight refueling. A test flight took place in 1994.
The Boeing 777-300ER is the first passenger aircraft to be designed using virtual computer assembly rather than paper drawings. Thanks to new computer technologies, or rather the program for creating three-dimensional models CATIA, it was possible to avoid typical connection errors not during production, but at the design stage.
The liner is equipped with the most powerful bypass turbojet engines with a high bypass ratio and is equipped with additional fuel storage tanks. The introduction of such a modification reduced fuel consumption by 1.4 percent. On board the liner, 305-550 passengers can fly at the same time.
Il-96M with a capacity of 435 passengers is recognized as the largest airliner produced in Russia. Its design was carried out by domestic and Western companies. The aircraft model has been exhibited more than once at specialized air shows, but mass production has not yet begun. In 2009, the aircraft was destroyed due to wear and tear.
An aircraft with a length of 63.7 m and a capacity of 400 people holds the absolute world flight record on one serviceable engine. In 2003, in the month of March, after the failure of one of the engines, the airliner flew 2 hours 57 minutes with 255 passengers. Despite the appearance of improved quality modifications, the Boeing 777-200 EP is still in demand. There are more than 400 aircraft of this modification in the world.
The Airbus A340-600 aircraft is one of the long-haul liners. At one gas station, he is able to cover a distance of 14,800 kilometers. The Airbus A340-600 has been in operation on international and intercontinental lines since 2002. The capacity of the aircraft with a length of 75 meters and a wingspan of 63.5 meters is 380 people.
A total of 97 Airbus A340-600 models were assembled. In 2011, the production of the liner in series ceased.
The wingspan of the Russian aircraft "Ruslan" reaches 73 meters with a length of 69 meters. The main difference between the aircraft is a colossal cargo compartment with a volume of 1050 cubic meters. meters. The aircraft with a cruising speed of 850 km / h was used for cargo transportation (carrying capacity - 120 tons), if necessary, military personnel could be transported on it. The flight life of the An-124 model does not exceed 45 years.
The military model aircraft Lockheed C-5 "Galaxy" is also worthy of competing for the title of the largest passenger aircraft. The liner was used both to transport people and goods. On board the aircraft, 270 military personnel can simultaneously fly, in addition, if necessary, you can equip the car with additional passenger seats in the amount of 75 units. Due to its impressive size (the length of the vessel is 75.5 meters, the width is 68 meters), the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy was classified as a giant aircraft.
Without refueling, the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy covers a distance of 5,600 kilometers at a speed of 920 km/h. The maximum height to which the giant climbed is 10,100 meters.
From the moment the first passenger was taken on board to the appearance of spacious airliners, 60 years have passed. And today we can no longer be surprised either by huge aircraft with excellent flight characteristics, or transcontinental flights, or many hours of travel on airliners.
Since there is no limit to human imagination and ingenuity, more and more new and modern aircraft models appear. They are getting better, more economical, safer, and of course, more massive.
Airbus A380
This aircraft has two decks and is the largest for carrying passengers.
The height of the aircraft is 24 meters, the wingspan is 80 meters, and the length is 73 meters.
The aircraft carries up to 555 passengers, in a single-class modification - 853 passengers.
This aircraft is capable of overcoming 15,000 kilometers non-stop, being at the same time very economical. The creation of the Airbus A380 took 10 years at a project cost of 12 billion euros. The first commercial flight took place in October 2007. Then 455 passengers boarded to fly on the Singapore-Sydney route.
During construction, the main sections of the liner are transported by land and surface transport, although some parts are transported by An-124 aircraft.
This model was created as an alternative, previously considered the largest for 35 years. But Airbus moved the "colleague" from a place of honor due to its efficiency not only in fuel, but also in cost.
The developers also achieved a reduction in the weight of the aircraft. The highlight of the design is that 40% of the composition of the Airbus A380 body is graphite (wings and fuselage). The cost of the aircraft itself is about 390 million euros.
This airliner is the leader in terms of flight range. It is capable of flying over 21,000 km without refueling. Operation began in 1995. The aircraft can carry from 300 to 550 people in the cabin. The 777-300 ER is powered by two General Electric gas turbine engines, which are the most powerful engines in their class.
It has a maximum speed of 965 km / h with an impressive mass of 250 tons. One of the main distinguishing features is economy. On the basis of a passenger aircraft, a cargo modification was also created. The symbol "ER" stands for Extended Range (increased range).
A modification of the well-known 747 appeared in 2005. The hull has become longer, at the same time the aircraft is more economical. This model is the leader in the number of special orders for billionaires and top officials of the state. It is used by the heads of 19 states. Version 747-8 is the largest commercial aircraft in the world. The first owner of the commercial model 747-8 is the German company Lufthansa.
Officially, it is the longest aircraft in the world!
Hughes H-4 Hercules
This huge car is one of the record holders in terms of the number of passengers (750), but now it is a museum. The plane was created under the guidance of the famous millionaire Howard Hughes, and was made of wood. The creator of Hercules himself maintained the aircraft in working condition until his death. In 1993, the plane found its eternal parking in Oregon, and more than 300,000 tourists visit it annually.
"Hercules" was developed as a wooden flying boat weighing 136 tons. At the same time, the aircraft was until May 2017 the widest aircraft with a wingspan of 98 meters.
The most capacious of Russian liners, it can accommodate 435 passengers. At the moment, it is used only by the Rossiya transport company as a VIP transport and Cubana, including for the President of Cuba. It has a modification 96-300PU (control point) - like the aircraft of the President of the Russian Federation. Now on the basis of IL-96M, IL-96-400 was created, with the same capacity as its predecessor.
Unfortunately, the mass production of this model did not take place, despite the fact that it was designed by Western and domestic specialists.
This liner has proven itself over long distances since 2002. Its capacity is 380 passengers in three class classifications, 419 in two class classifications. Flight range - 14,800 km. Initially developed as an alternative to early Boeing models. Although the airliner is identical to the Boeing 747 in terms of the number of passengers, the luggage compartment is twice as large as that of a competitor. Series production ended in 2011.
Cargo aircraft
- the most cargo-lifting aircraft in the world. The aircraft was created in the Design Bureau. Antonova. The basis for the creation of "Mriya" was.
The development of "Mriya" was in close relationship with the program "Buran". It was with the help of the An-225 that parts for the shuttle were transported, and subsequently the ship itself. Since the dimensions of the launch vehicle blocks and the Buran itself were larger than the cargo compartment of the Mriya, the An-225 provided external mounts for such cargo.
There is one copy, but there is a joint Ukrainian-Chinese construction of another "Mriya".
The original mission of the aircraft was to transport ballistic missiles. But the result is impressive. An-124 began to be used to transport military equipment. The civil aviation variant can fly at any latitude and carry many types of cargo, including bulky cargo.
The cost of one copy is $ 300 million, which is more than for many passenger airliners.
The aircraft was developed in the USA for military transportation back in 1968. Capable of carrying up to 345 soldiers or several pieces of military equipment.
It was the most lifting until the appearance of the An-124 in 1982.
The reason for the creation of this aircraft was the location of Airbus factories in several places and the need to transport individual parts of Airbus liners. A total of 5 copies were created and they all work for Airbus. Currently, a similar device is being developed on the basis of the A340, for transporting parts of the Airbus A380.
The name comes from the beluga whale, whose shape resembles an aircraft.
Such an aircraft is designed to transport parts of the Boeing 787 aircraft. Before that, individual parts were transported by sea, which was extremely inconvenient. Thus, the supply of wings from Japan for the 787 Dreamliner was reduced from 30 days to 8 hours. Only 4 copies have been released so far.
Military aircraft
The short history of military aviation contains many cases when gigantomania came into fashion. The result was the construction of huge aircraft. Some representatives of the largest military aircraft will be described below.
The German aircraft of the Second World War was at that time the heaviest land aircraft. Widely used in North Africa to supply troops. The carrying capacity is 23 tons. Unlike the predecessor Me.321, which flew only one way and was subsequently blown up by the crew, the Me.323 was equipped with engines and landing gear.
The aircraft became the basis for many engineering solutions still used in military aviation. It can and should be called the first military transport aircraft.
The aircraft was created in 1943 in Germany. The base for its creation was the Ju 290. It was created to perform many tasks, including as a strategic bomber that could even bomb US territory. The Germans planned to build 26 aircraft, in fact only two were built.
The aircraft had a unique flight range for its time - 9700 km, which allowed the Germans to seriously think about bombing in the United States.
The plane was created in the USA, like a flying boat. The Navy used it as an ocean patrol aircraft. In total, 5 devices of this type were created. In terms of wingspan, the JRM Mars is the largest mass-produced seaplane in history (the H-4 Hercules was produced in only one copy).
The last of the aircraft of this type is still in operation as a firefighting aircraft.
The aircraft was created by Boeing in 1941 to counter enemy Japan. Entered serial production in 1943. B-29 embodied all the latest engineering solutions of that time and was a model for the current military aircraft industry. He became widely known after the use of atomic weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
To establish a military balance, by order of I.V. Stalin, an analogue of the B-29 was created, an unlicensed copy of the Tu-4.
Initially, the B-52 was created as an intercontinental strategic bomber, but, being a means of delivering nuclear weapons, it was used in military conflicts only for training. Having an altitude ceiling of up to 15,000 m, he was able to deliver two thermonuclear bombs to any point in the USSR.
The B-52 was actively used in many military conflicts, primarily in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973.
The US military plans to use B-52 aircraft until the 2040s with appropriate upgrades.
The legendary Soviet strategic bomber, which is still in service with the Russian Air Force. This is the world's only turboprop missile carrier. 60 vehicles of this type remain in service, capable of carrying X-101 missiles, which, with a range of 5500 km, allow the Tu-95 to attack targets quite calmly, without revealing itself on enemy air defense systems. Despite the fact that many of today's strategic bombers are jet-powered, the Tu-95 is not obsolete; on the contrary, this is its advantage, since some satellites track the bombers by jet exhaust.
On the basis of the Tu-95, various kinds of test aircraft were created, such as the passenger Tu-114, reconnaissance Tu-126.
Video about the Tu-95 - one of the best bombers of our time.
A supersonic missile carrier with a variable sweep of the wing was developed at the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 70-80s. Many prefixes “most” can be attributed to the aircraft. Tu-160 is the largest military aircraft, which also has the largest maximum takeoff weight. The Russian Air Force includes 16 Tu-160 aircraft based in Engels, Saratov Region.
In 2017, a decision was made to completely modernize the Tu-160.
The history of aircraft construction, both military and civil, does not have much time, however, during this time a huge leap has been made in the technologies used. Over time, the capacity of passenger liners increases, their flight range increases, more and more complex tasks are imposed on military aircraft, from transport to combat. One way or another, the aircraft industry will remain one of the most high-tech industries.
