Part 1: Extreme Machines - air

Have you ever wondered, what is the biggest airplane, truck or ship in the world? Have you ever seen it? Do you know the answers of all questions, because these are the main questions, which every engineer lover asks himself. I will try to answer these questions in my presentation.

"Spruce Goose"

When America entered the second world war its geographic isolation from the areas of conflict gave a distinct advantage over enemies. This advantage left the time and manufacturing power to deliver unending supply of the materials necessary to wage war. America also had to overcome the vast distances and find safety ways to deliver these materials. At the time, ships were the only way to get the job done. But it was very dangerous because of enemy submarines. America had lost about 800 000 tons of her supply ships to German U-boats. In the heat of World War II America needed a new type of transport witch could haul soldiers and gear across the Atlantic.

The idea for the flying boat came from Henry Kaiser head of one of the largest shipbuilding firms of thee day. Kaiser thought a ship that could fly over the danger might be the answer. Howard Hughes was known as an innovator in aircraft construction and design. So these two men, both legends, began designing a superplane in 1942. The new plane's official name was the Hughes H4 Hercules. But press called it "Spruce Goose" because it was so big no one thought it would fly. The plane took five years to design, build and assemble. Due too war time shortages, the plane was made out of wood. Although the plane was made out of wood, it wasn't spruce like nickname suggest, the plane was in fact made of birch. It was the largest plane ever built at the time weighting 190 tons. Even today it has the largest wingspan of any plane in the world at 97.5 meters. It is also one of the tallest plane ever built. Obviously unusual size and the magnitude of the project was amazing. But there were some unique innovations on the plane that are unusual for that era. For example hydraucli powered low pressure system to move heavy elements like the elevator and hydraulic powered fly controls. Moreover it has eight huge three thousand horsepower engines! It cruise speed would be 220 mph and a flight range of 3000 miles.

Hughes would prove to be a demanding taskmaster during the period of development and construction. His attention to detail, was largely responsible for not being ready to fly until after the war had ended. Howard Hughes was called to Washington D.C. to defend both the project and himself. He had one last thing to prove... that Hercules would fly. On November 2, 1947 the Hughes H4 Hercules flew for 1 mile at 220 kilometers per hour at an elevation of 22 meters. It was it's one and only flight. Spruce Goose still made a huge impression and still famous today. It rests at the Evergreen Aviation museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

Antonov 225

Another flying monster is Antonov 225, world's largest transport aircraft. The Antonov 225 was involved in competition with United States in the race for space. It was designed for the Soviet space program as a machine able to airlift rocket's boosters and carry Buran space shuttle. This metal monster was build in Ukraine in 1988 and in the same year performed its first flight. After that in 1989 An-225 made its international debut by landing at the Paris Air Show with the Buran space shuttle on its back! It also flew during the public days at the Farnborough Air Show in 1990. But a few mounths earlier An -225 made its own history with one orbital flight an unmanned mission in which it circled the Earth twice. Unfortunately to 225 size is not everything. In 1991 Soviet Union collapsed and even size could not save the Antonov 225 from economic problems. The Buran space program was canceled and jet was decommited and placed in storage in 1994. And then reborn from the economic ashes of Soviet Union. The Antonov Group began searching for a way to make the plane profitable.

The plane is now in commercial use. It is used by Antonov Airline for exceptional transport missions. It can carry ultra heavy and oversize transporting objects, such as locomotives and hundreds of tons generators. It has ability to quickly transport huge quantities of emergency supplies or an expeditionary force into combat.

The dimensions of the An-225 are staggering - nearly a football field from nose to tail and wingtip to wingtip. It stands nearly seven storeys height and two heavy duty tractors are required to trawl it from hangar to airfield. Eight avarange sized houses could be stacked inside. If it is comming to lifting havy weight cargo, An-225 can lift up to 250 tons internally or 200 tons on the upper fuselage. To make it possible Ukrainian engineers equipped the An-225 with six turbofan jets. In fact the plane is also rear because it is only one in existence today.

Check if Antonov ever landed in Poland and if answer is 'yes' how many times and where?

What was the heaviest single cargo loaded onto an Antonov 225?

Intentionally I haven't written anything about passenger planes. So what is the largest passenger plane?