Antonov's Heavy Transports: Big Lifters for War & Peace (Red Star)

The An-22 created a veritable sensation when it entered flight test in 1965. The aircraft soon made its mark in several major airlift operations, as well as in the Afghan War. It was also used for develoing remote regions of the Soviet Union and relief operations. The Soviet answer to the C-5 Galaxy came in 1982 with the all-new An-124, named Ruslan after a Russian epic hero. With its 392-ton take-off weight and 120-ton playload, the An-124 overshadowed everything that had existed before. Originally a military freighter, it soon found itself a stable niche on the civil market due to its ability to haul outsize and ultra-heavy loads. The Antonov OKB astounded the world again in 1989 with the 600-ton An-255 Mriya designed to carry components of the Energiya/Buran space transport system piggy-back.