My guess, if I found myself in such a situation, would be to firstly have my breath taken away in sheer admiration of such a monstrous mechanical beast, then I would be filled with admiration at the sheer brilliance in engineering, which would swiftly be followed with a feeling of panic and a fear for the worst. Here is a list of ten of history’s biggest planes for you to marvel at.
01. Dornier Do X
Officially the mother ship of all of the largest planes ever built; the Dornier Do X (nicknamed The Flugschiff meaning The Flying Ship) was the largest, heaviest, and most powerful flying boat in the world when created by Dornier in Germany 1929. Work first began on building this enormous plane in 1925; 240,000 hours later, June 1929, and the plane was complete. Because the engines got so overheated and because of its weight the flying boat could only reach an altitude of 425 m (1,400 ft). The engines were later modified and fitted with water-coolers so that a higher altitude of 500 m (1,650 ft) could be reached. The Dornier Do X could carry 66 passengers long distance or 100 on shorter flights.
02. Handley Page H.P.42
A British four-engine long-range biplane airliner designed in 1928. Four of these were built in total, along with four of the similar H.P.45s. One of the eight planes was destroyed in an airship hangar fire in 1937 but the rest survived and went on to be used by the Royal Air Force during World War II. An impressive track record is attributed to the airplanes in that they suffered no crashes during their flights, making them some of the largest and safest planes of their time. Sadly though by 1940 all had been destroyed in the war.
03. Tarrant Tabor
This British bomber triplane was designed towards the end of the First World War and was briefly regarded as the biggest aircraft in the world. Unfortunately though it crashed on its first flight. The reason behind this was the placement of the engines, which were positioned too high above the wings. The weight of the engines forced the nose of the plane downwards during lift-off.
04. Saunders-Roe (Saro) Princess
During the 1950s the Saunders-Roe Princess was one of the largest aircraft in existence. It was powered by ten Bristol Proteus turboprop engines, which powered six propellers: the four inner propellers were double contra-rotating propellers driven by a twin version of the Proteus, while the two outer propellers were single and powered by single engines.
05. Bristol Type 167 Brabazon
A beast of an airliner that was built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company for the purpose of transatlantic flights between the USA and the UK. The prototype was finished in 1949 but was doomed for failure when airlines felt that it was too big and too expensive to fly. The huge airliner was comparable to a Boeing 767 but despite its size it could only carry 100 passengers. Only a single flight ever took place. In 1953 the plane was broken up for scrap metal, along with an unfinished second fuselage.
06. Ilya Muromets
A four-engine bomber used during World War I by the Russian Empire, the Ilya Muromets was based on the world’s first four-engine aircraft – the Russky Vityaz or Le Grand, which was designed by Igor Sikorsky. What made this heavy bomber so unique though was that it had a passenger saloon and washroom onboard, a revolutionary design. Unrivalled during the early stages of the war the aircraft was named after a famous Russian hero.
07. Kalinin K-7
An experimental heavy bomber that was designed and tested in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. The design for this aircraft was very unusual: it featured twin booms and large underwing pods that housed fixed landing gear and machine gun turrets. Even more bizarrely the passenger seats were situated inside the 7 ft 7 in thick wings. It first flew in August 1933 but experienced a crash in November the same year. This was due to structural failure of one of the tail booms. 14 people aboard were killed as well as one on the ground. Despite two more prototypes ordered the project was scrapped in 1935 before they were finished.
08. Convair XC-99
The largest piston-engined land-based transport aircraft ever built, the XC-99 was a heavy cargo aircraft built by Convair for the United States Air Force. It was created from a B-36 bomber, which itself was no small airliner. It shared the wings and some other structures as well. The first test flight took place on 23 November 1947 in San Diego, California. Further testing took place for the next two years exactly before it was finally delivered to the Air Force on 23 November 1949.
09. Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
An advanced, long range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12 aircraft by the Lockheed Skunk Works as a Black project. The SR-71, unofficially nicknamed the “Blackbird”, holds the record of highest sustained flight for a man-powered aircraft (25,929 m) as well as the record for the fastest air breathing manned aircraft. It has held this latter record since 1976, which was previously held by the YF-12.
10. Boeing 747
One of the more modern of history’s largest ever planes, the Boeing 747 – often referred to as the “Jumbo Jet” – it has become one of the most recognised airplanes in the sky today. It’s a widebody commercial airliner and cargo transport that has been flying since 1970. The 747-400 passenger version is able to accommodate 416 passengers in a typical three-class layout or 524 passengers in a typical two-class layout. via : chrocodiles
