Have you ever wondered, in your mind, which plane is the largest plane in the world? Have you ever witnessed any plane breaking hundreds of records?
The accuracy of your prediction may have varied depending on whether you were wondering before or after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Antonov An-225 Mriya was the largest aircraft in the world until February 27, 2022.
Antonov An-225 Mriya, which we can also call as “Mriya” (“Dream” in Turkish) for short, was the biggest aircraft of the union, which was produced by the Soviet Union in Soviet Ukraine and transferred to Ukraine within the company that produced it after the USSR collapsed.
Its length was 84 meters, its height was 18 meters, its wings were 88 meters wide, and the area allocated to the wings was 905 square meters. Its speed could reach 800 kilometers per hour.Mriya was also famous for being durable enough to carry Soviet space shuttles like Buran to the borders of space.
In the video above, it is possible to see that the famous Soviet Buran space shuttle was placed on Mriya starting from 2:30.
The Soviet Union would sometimes take the space shuttles to the skies with large planes like Mriya instead of rockets. The reason for this was that contrary to popular belief, it was not only more practical, but also more economical.
Since it was built to handle all this pressure, there was no problem with the plane. It was also used as a cargo transport vehicle in addition to space missions, as it could carry a weight of up to 640 tons.
Having broken more than 240 world records in its lifetime, Mriya was a unique and difficult vehicle to manufacture in aviation. The cargo capacity and number of services it provided was unrivaled.
Some world records Mriya broke:
- In 2001, it carried 4 battle tanks at the same time.
- In 2009, it carried a weight of 189 tons and 247 tons, respectively, on two separate flights. Among them was a large generator sent to a natural gas cycle power plant in Armenia.
- In 2010, it transported the longest cargo in the world, transporting a very long aerofoil blade from China to Denmark.
- In 2012 its interior was home to the highest art gallery in the world.
In addition to all these records, it should be noted that it regularly transports large vehicles and infrastructure materials, including locomotives, and raises humanitarian aid around the world until 2022.
Let’s talk about what happened on February 27, 2022 and why Mriya is no longer the biggest plane.
The Russian Federation began to invade Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The last functional Antonov An-225 Mriya was also in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
Mriya, which was used only as a cargo plane, did not constitute any military target and was planned to be rescued by flying abroad a few days later, was bombed and destroyed by the Russian army on February 27, 2022, during the siege of Kyiv.
Although plans to rebuild the aircraft are sometimes on the agenda in Ukraine, rebuilding it doesn’t seem likely anytime soon due to all the damage and expense caused by the war.
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