There is nothing on Earth or in the air quite like the Antonov An-225. Dwarfing a Boeing 747 and out-lifting a U.S. Air Force C-5A Galaxy, it can haul an expeditionary force into combat, or carry enough food to avert a famine. Yet, oddly, the original purpose of the An-225 was neither hostile nor humanitarian. Conceived in the chilliest years of the Cold War, the plane was designed as an airborne tow truck for the now-defunct Soviet space shuttle program. Despite its lack of armaments, NATO war planners gave the An-225 a military code name, Cossack. History would reveal that the Soviet nickname for the An-225, Mriya, which is Ukrainian for "dream," was more apt.
In keeping with the Soviet penchant for building the world's biggest everything, the An-225 was designed to carry twice as much as a Boeing 747 freighter. The dimensions of the An-225 are staggering--nearly a football field from nose to tail and wingtip to wingtip. With a maximum takeoff weight of about 1.32 million pounds, it is 50 percent heavier than a fully loaded C-5A. To get so massive an aircraft into the sky, Ukrainian engineers equipped the An-225 with six ZMKB Progress Lotarev D-18T turbofan jets, each capable of pumping out 51,590 pounds of thrust.
After only 3-1/2 years in development, Mriya took its maiden voyage on Dec. 21, 1988. Less than a year later the Berlin Wall fell, and with its collapse the Soviet Union dissolved. Ukraine, home to the Antonov Design Bureau that created the An-225, split away as an independent republic. And with these changes the future of the An-225 changed as well.
Military RootsAs revolutionary as it appears, the An-225 is a derived rather than original aircraft. Basically, it is an enlarged version of the Antonov An-124 military transport. Engineers stretched this smaller plane nearly 40 ft. and added two engines. To distribute the weight of the fully loaded, 6-engine aircraft, the An-225 was equipped with an unusually configured 32-wheel landing gear. Normally, only the nose gear of an aircraft is steerable. On the An-225 there are 20 steerable wheels: four in the nose gear and 16 at the rear of the 28-wheel main gear. The result is an aircraft that is extremely maneuverable.
Making the An-225 equally agile in the air is the reason behind the plane's signature wide split-tail. While most of the An-225 follows the lines of the smaller An-124, the modified split-tail was added to maintain the plane's maneuverability when it carries large exterior loads.
In keeping with the Soviet penchant for building the world's biggest everything, the An-225 was designed to carry twice as much as a Boeing 747 freighter. The dimensions of the An-225 are staggering--nearly a football field from nose to tail and wingtip to wingtip. With a maximum takeoff weight of about 1.32 million pounds, it is 50 percent heavier than a fully loaded C-5A. To get so massive an aircraft into the sky, Ukrainian engineers equipped the An-225 with six ZMKB Progress Lotarev D-18T turbofan jets, each capable of pumping out 51,590 pounds of thrust.
After only 3-1/2 years in development, Mriya took its maiden voyage on Dec. 21, 1988. Less than a year later the Berlin Wall fell, and with its collapse the Soviet Union dissolved. Ukraine, home to the Antonov Design Bureau that created the An-225, split away as an independent republic. And with these changes the future of the An-225 changed as well.
Military RootsAs revolutionary as it appears, the An-225 is a derived rather than original aircraft. Basically, it is an enlarged version of the Antonov An-124 military transport. Engineers stretched this smaller plane nearly 40 ft. and added two engines. To distribute the weight of the fully loaded, 6-engine aircraft, the An-225 was equipped with an unusually configured 32-wheel landing gear. Normally, only the nose gear of an aircraft is steerable. On the An-225 there are 20 steerable wheels: four in the nose gear and 16 at the rear of the 28-wheel main gear. The result is an aircraft that is extremely maneuverable.
Making the An-225 equally agile in the air is the reason behind the plane's signature wide split-tail. While most of the An-225 follows the lines of the smaller An-124, the modified split-tail was added to maintain the plane's maneuverability when it carries large exterior loads.
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