The Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest plane ever built, was destroyed at Hostomel airport during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Posted by Dmitri Alperovitch on Twitter, the sad photos in this post show the remains of the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest plane ever built, destroyed on Feb. 27, 2022 at Hostomel airport.
The following video instead was posted on Twitter by Aldin and comes from Russian state TV report from Gostomel Airport, Ukraine showing the wreckage of the An-225.
Ukrainian Government confirmed via Twitter on Sunday that the Antonov AN-225 “Mriya” (The Dream) had been destroyed.
The news was first reported by our friends at Horizon.mt on their Facebook page, that on Feb. 27 wrote;
‘As fighting continues between Ukrainian and Russian Military Forces, it seems that the life of the Antonov An-225 Mirya aircraft has come to a sad end when its hangar was hit a few minutes ago at Antonov/Gostomel/Hostomel Airport. The Antonov Company via Twitter confirmed on February 25th that the aircraft was parked at Gostomel Airport and was still intact.
‘While this day will be marked in history for the loss of this aircraft iconic aircraft, we cannot forget the pain, sadness and loss of life due to this conflict.’
The Antonov An-225 Mriya was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft that was designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Ukrainian SSR within the Soviet Union during the 1980s. It was powered by six turbofan engines and was the heaviest aircraft ever built. It also had the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service. The single example built had the Ukrainian civil registration UR-82060. A second airframe with a slightly different configuration was partially built. Its construction was halted in 1994 because of lack of funding and interest, but revived briefly in 2009, bringing it to 60–70% completion. On Aug. 30, 2016, Antonov agreed to complete the second airframe for Airspace Industry Corporation of China (not to be confused with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China) as a prelude to commencing series production.
The Antonov An-225 was an enlargement of the successful Antonov An-124 that was initially developed for transporting the Buran spaceplane. The only An-225 airplane was completed in 1988. After successfully fulfilling its Soviet military missions, it was mothballed for eight years. It was then refurbished and re-introduced, and was in commercial operation with Antonov Airlines carrying oversized payloads. The airlifter held the absolute world records for an airlifted single-item payload of 189,980 kilograms (418,830 pounds), and an airlifted total payload of 253,820 kg (559,580 lb). It had also transported a payload of 247,000 kg (545,000 lb) on a commercial flight.
H/T: Christian Nentwig
Photo by: Dmitri Alperovitch Twitter Profile
Video: Russian state TV via Aldin Twitter Profile