Antonov An-225 was a one-off
World’s largest cargo plane destroyed near Kiev
02/27/2022, 5:31 p.m
The war in the Ukraine now also falls victim to a jewel of aviation: the heaviest cargo plane in the world, the Antonov An-225 “Mriya”, is destroyed at the fiercely contested Hostomel Airport near Kiev.
According to a Ukrainian media report, the world’s heaviest cargo plane, the Antonov An-225 Mriya, was destroyed in the fighting near Kiev. The machine was parked at the contested Hostomel airfield northwest of the Ukrainian capital, the broadcaster Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty) reported, citing a former and a current employee of the aircraft manufacturer Antonov.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba confirmed the news on Twitter: “Russia may have destroyed our Mriya,” he wrote, noting that the Ukrainian word means “dream” in German. “But they will never destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European country.”
The Antonow An-225 “Mriya” is a one-off, it made its maiden flight at the end of 1988. It was used to transport the Soviet space shuttle Buran. After the space program was discontinued, the machine was initially decommissioned in 1994, but was reactivated in 2001 after the privatization of state-owned companies in the Ukraine. It was last overhauled in 2019 and 2020. The machine had its last known use in April 2020 at the beginning of the corona pandemic. At that time she brought masks, overalls and helmets from China to Europe.
She then set several records for transporting heavy cargo. In June 2004, for example, it brought oil pipeline equipment with a total weight of 247 tons from Prague to Tashkent. The heaviest single item ever transported was a 187-tonne generator for a gas-fired power plant in Armenia. The plane itself weighs 175 tons empty.