They are the grey eminence of aviation . They are doing what they have to do without any ado . We hardly notice them when we take a flight from A to B. However , consignment aircraft can be as interesting and special as combatant planes or rider aircraft . We are blend in to prove this .
We compared the following astonishing transport aircraft by these means : Name – Country – elemental use – First flight – Powerplant – Empty weight – Payload – Specialty / playfulness fact .
USS Macon (ZRS-5) – United States – rigid airship, flying aircraft carrier (launched biplane fighters from its exterior riggings) – 1933 – 8 × 420 kW (560 hp) internal combustion engines – 108,000 kg – 72,000 kg – The USS Macon and the USS Akron (ZRS-4) were among the largest flying objects ever built.
photograph : U.S. Naval Historical Center
Martin JRM Mars – United States – cargo transport seaplane – 1942 – 4 × Wright R-3350-24WA Duplex Cyclone 18-cylinder radial engines – 34,279 kg – 15,000 kg – It was the largest Allied flying boat, although only seven were built.
exposure : Naval Air Station Jacksonville / Wikimedia Commons
Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant – Germany – heavy military transport – 1942 – 6 × Gnome-Rhône 14N-48/49 two-row air-cooled radial engines – 27,330 kg – 12,000 kg. It was the largest land-based transport aircraft of the 2nd world war.
exposure : San Diego Air & Space Museum
The Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the “Spruce Goose”) – United States – heavy transport aircraft prototype (1 built) – 1947 – 8 × Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engines – loaded weight: 180,000 kg – This is the largest flying boat ever built and it has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in history.
Mil Mi-6 – Soviet Union – heavy transport helicopter – 1957 – 2 × Soloviev D-25V turboshaft – 27,240 kg – 12,000 kg – The Mi-6 was the world’s largest and fastest helicopter when it was introduced.
icon sources : Repülés , 1966 . július / Utak és járművek , Magyar - Szovjet Baráti Társaság , 1975
Antonov An-12 – Soviet Union – civil and military transport aircraft – 1957 – 4 × Progress AI-20L or AI-20M turboprops – 28,000 kg – 20,000 kg – Over 900 had been built, in both military and civilian versions.
exposure : Björn Strey
Canadair CL-44 – Canada – turboprop airliner and cargo aircraft – 1959 – 4 × Rolls-Royce Tyne 515/50 turboprops – 40,348 kg – 29,959 kg – Innovative fuselage design.
Image rootage : Repülés , 1964 . február
Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy – Great-Britain – military transport/cargo aircraft – 1959 – 4 × Rolls-Royce Dart RDa.8 Mk 101 turboprops – 25,401 kg – 13,150 kg – Its unusual “pod and boom” structure earned its nickname “The Whistling Wheelbarrow.”
Image source : Flieger - Jahrbuch , 1965 . Transpress Veb Verlag Für Verkehrswesen Berlin , 1964 .
Mil Mi-10 – Soviet Union – heavy military transport aircraft – 1960 – 2 × Soloviev D-25V turboshaft – 27,100 kg – 3,000 kg internally or up to 15,000 kg payload on platform or8,000 kg max slung payload – A transport helicopter of flying crane configuration.
Image reference : Utak és járművek , Magyar - Szovjet Baráti Társaság , 1975
Aero Spacelines B-377PG Pregnant Guppy – United States – wide-bodied cargo aircraft – 1962 – 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-4360-59 “Wasp Major” radials – 41,275 kg – 22,670 kg – This aircraft was built to transport outsized cargo for NASA’s Apollo program, primarily portions of the Saturn 5 rockets.
Photo : NASA
Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe – United States – heavy-lift cargo helicopter – 1962 – 2 × Pratt & Whitney T73-P-700 turboshaft engines – 8,980 kg – 9,072 kg – A highly successful aerial crane used in Vietnam for transport and downed-aircraft retrieval.
Photo : U.S. Defense Imagery / Wikimedia Commons
Antonov An-22 – Soviet Union – heavy military transport aircraft – 1965 – 4 × Kuznetsov NK-12MA turboprops driving contra-rotating propellers – 114,000 kg – 80,000 kg – The world’s largest turboprop-powered airplane.
Bonus pic – nice view with a bus:
prototype source : Repülés , 1965 . augusztus
Mil V-12 – Soviet Union – heavy lift helicopter – 1968 – 4 × Soloviev D-25VF turboshaft engines – 69,100 kg – 40,000 kg – The largest helicopter ever flown, although only two prototypes were built of this transverse rotor system aircraft.
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy – United States – USAF strategic airlifter – 1968 – 4 × General Electric TF39-GE-1C high-bypass turbofan – 172,370 kg – 122,470 kg – One of the largest military aircraft in the world used to move vehicles and equipment.
Photo : fourth-year Airman Perry Aston / U.S. Air Force
Bonus pic – C5-A, the original version of the C-5 Galaxy:
Image rootage : Repülés , August 1969 .
Ilyushin Il-76 – Soviet Union – multi-purpose strategic airlifter, commercial freighter – 1971 – 4 × Aviadvigatel PS-90-76 turbofans – 92,500 kg – 60,000 kg – It has also been modified into an airborne refueller, waterbomber, and simulated weightlessness trainer for cosmonauts.
photograph : Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP
A-90 Orlyonok – Soviet Union – ekranoplan (a ground effect vehicle) – 1972 – 2 × Kuznetsov NK-8-4K turbofan, 1 × Kuznetsov NK-12MK turboprop – N/A – 28,000 kg – The A-90 uses ground effect to fly a few meters above the surface. It is a Class B Ekranoplan, it can achieve an altitude of 3,000 m.
Photo : Ivan Sekretarev / AP
Mil Mi-26 – Soviet Union – heavy transport helicopter – 1977 – 2 × Lotarev D-136 turboshafts – 28,200 kg – 24,000 kg – The largest and most powerful production helicopter.
Photo : AP//Dmitry Lovetsky / AP
Boeing 747-100 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft – United States – two modified airliners NASA used to transport Space Shuttles – 1977 – 4 × P&W JT9D-7J turbofans – 144,200 kg – 68,585 kg – Piggybacking Space Shuttle orbiters.
Photo : German postcard , 1983 .
Myasishchev VM-T Atlant – Soviet Union – strategic airlift airplane – 1981 – 4 × RKBM/Koliesov VD-7MD turbojets – 75,740 kg – 50,000 kg. The VM-T was designed to carry rocket boosters and the Soviet space shuttles of the Buran program.
Photo : buran.ru
Antonov An-124 Ruslan – Soviet Union – strategic airlift jet aircraft – 1982 – 4 × Ivchenko Progress D-18T turbofans – 175,000 kg – 150,000 kg – The world’s largest military aircraft.
Photo : Bombardier Transportation / Getty Images
Antonov An-225 Mriya – Soviet Union – strategic airlift cargo aircraft – 1988 – 6 × ZMKB Progress D-18 turbofans – 285,000 kg – 253,820 kg – The largest and heaviest airplane in the world, carrier of the the Soviet space shuttle Buran.
Bonus pic – because it deserves the exposure:
Photo : Michel Lipchitz / AP
Boeing C-17 Globemaster III – United States – strategic/tactical airlifter – 1991 – 4 × Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 turbofans – 128,100 kg – 77,519 kg – The C-17 is used to transport the Presidential Limousine and security detachments.
exposure : Staff Sgt . Jonathan Snyder / U.S. Air Force
Antonov An-70 – Ukraine – medium-range transport aircraft – 1994 – 4 × Progress D-27 propfans – 66,230 kg – 47,000 kg – The first large aircraft to be powered by propfan engines.
pic : Efrem Lukatsky / AP
Airbus Beluga – France (and Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain) – wide-bodied outsize cargo freight aircraft – 1994 – 2 x GE CF6-80C2A8 high-bypass turbofans – 86,000 kg – 47,000 kg – It is basically an Airbus A300-600 airliner modified to carry aircraft parts and oversized cargo, and well, it really looks like a Beluga.
photograph : Christopher Furlong / Getty Images
Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter (LCF) or Dreamlifter – United States – wide-body cargo aircraft – 2006 – 4 x Pratt & Whitney 4062747 high-bypass turbofans – 180,530 kg – N/A – Used exclusively for transporting 787 aircraft parts to Boeing’s assembly plants from suppliers around the world. Able to land and takeoff from Col. James Jabara Airport, Wichita, Kansas.
Photo : Brett Deering / Getty Images
Boeing 747-8F – United States – wide-body freighter aircraft – 2010 – 4 x GEnx-2B67 high-bypass turbofans – 195,800 kg – 140,000 kg – The second largest cargo jet after the Mrya.
Photo : Boeing Dreamscape / Wikimedia Commons
Top pic : The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ’s Super Guppy . The awkwardly shaped aircraft is specifically designed to bear outsized shipment and has been in service since August 1965 . – Tech . Sgt . Christine Jones / U.S. Air Force
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