Antonov An-124
Designed in the 1970s as successor to the same bureau's An-22 in the heavy logistic transport and strategic airlifter roles, the An-124 was sized to be able to lift a whole SS-20 'Saber' missile system in a single load.
The first of two prototypes flew in December 1982, and the type entered service in January 1986 as a truly prodigious machine of typical transport configuration with a hold 118 ft 1 in (36.00 m) long, 21 ft 0 in (6.40 m) wide and 14 ft 5 in (4.40 m) high. The roof of the hold has two longitudinal traveling gantries each rated at 22,046 lb (10000 kg) and fitted with two transverse moving winches each rated at 11,023 lb (5000 kg), and like the comparable but smaller Lockheed C-5 Galaxy the An-124 is designed for straight-through loading from the hydraulically operated rear ramp/door to the upward-hinged visor nose.
The type is also notable for its good field performance, which is attributable to the advanced landing gear and the wing high-left devices. The tricycle landing gear includes a side-by-side pair of twin-wheel nose units, and the main unit on each side comprises a longitudinal row of five independent twin-wheel units that retract into external fairings. The high-lift devices include three-section single-slotted Fowler flaps over much of each trailing edge and six-section flaps over the full span of each leading edge, all operated via a fly-by-wire control system that also controls the ailerons, spoilers, rudder and elevators.
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