The Antonov An-225 Mriya was the biggest plane to ever take to the skies. Unfortunately, the colossal aircraft is no longer with us as it was destroyed during the open stages of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.
Often known simply as Mriya, which means “dream” or “inspiration” in Ukrainian, the plane had a length of 84 meters (275 feet) and a height of 18.2 meters (nearly 60 feet) with a wing span of 88.40 meters (290 feet).
Along with being the largest airplane by overall size, it was the heaviest plane to ever fly with a total weight of 629.89 tons. It also achieved the heaviest cargo ever lifted by a plane when it carried out a single piece of machinery weighing 189,980 kilograms (418,834 pounds) from Germany to Armenia.
Powered by six turbofan engines, the main skill of the almighty Mriya was its immense payload capacity. It was initially developed in the 1980s by the USSR as a means to carry spacecraft into orbit, similar to the US Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
While the USSR aimed to build two of the planes, only one was ever completed. It flew on its maiden voyage on December 21, 1988, taking off from the factory aerodrome in Svyatoshyn, an airfield near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. However, its use was suspended following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the plane spent the rest of its life as a rented-out cargo transport.
As touched on earlier, Mriya was destroyed in February 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine amid the Battle of Antonov Airport.
Pictured in April 2022, the world-famous AN-225 Mriya was destroyed in February 2022 during the Battle of Antonov Airport.
Image credit: Oleksii Samsonov/Shutterstock.com
On February 24, the Russian military delivered hundreds of troops via helicopter to the airport near Kyiv in an attempt to capture the site and use it as a key staging ground for an assault on the capital. Both sides vied for control, but Russian forces ultimately captured the airport. However, the Ukrainian resistance successfully scuppered the Russian’s plans for a swift takeover of Kyiv, plus the airport was too badly damaged to be used regardless.
Ukraine claimed that Mriya was intentionally destroyed by Russian forces and argued the iconic plane should be rebuilt entirely at the expense of Russia.
The Soviet Union produced some absolutely gigantic flying machines in its heyday. In the 1960s, they developed the Caspian Sea Monster, with an estimated length of 92 meters (302 feet). While the Caspian Sea Monster was longer than Mriya, it had a smaller wingspan and takeoff weight, so is generally considered to be smaller. It was also technically an ekranoplan, a hybrid vehicle that combines features of a plane and a boat, and could not fly at high altitudes like traditional aircrafts or Mriya.
