Education Aircraft

  MILITARY POP MECH PRO SUBSCRIBE SIGN IN Flight Monster Machines With wingspans longer than football fields, and payload capacities that can support blue whales, it’s amazing these big boys can even get off the ground. BY  JAY BENNETT  AND  JENNIFER LEMAN PUBLISHED: MAR 4, 2023 SAVE ARTICLE Christopher Furlong // Getty Images The  marvel of flight  never ceases to amaze, and the spectacle is that much more unbelievable when the aircraft are longer than Olympic swimming pools, heavier than the  world’s biggest tanks , and taller than five-story buildings. From NASA’s go-to  Super Guppy  to the enormous 747 Dreamlifter, we’ve compiled a list (in no particular order) of the biggest planes in the world that are flying today. ✅ More From  Popular Mechanics : - How Cheap Drones Replaced Fighter Jets in the Battle for Ukraine’s Skies - Why the F-105 Thunderchief Is Such a Badass Plane - Why the B-2 Bomber Is Such a Badass Plane Advertisem...

  Yamaguchi Yoshiaki/Wikimedia In the 2000s, Boeing found it needed a cargo plane with an enormous amount of storage to transport components for the 787 Dreamliner, which has parts made all over the world. The solution was to take its biggest plane, the 747, and build a custom cargo hold around it. Read More Here: 50 Years On, Boeing’s 747 Is Fighting for Survival At 65,000 cubic feet,  the Dreamlifter  has the largest cargo hold in the world, capable of carrying three times the volume of a 747-400F freighter. The four Dreamlifters Boeing made also use the longest cargo loader in the world, and can haul payloads up to 125 tons.

  Stocktrek Images // Getty Images With a payload capacity of almost 135 tons, the  C-5 Galaxy  is the largest aircraft routinely operated by the U.S. military. The Air Force announced it was  reactivating the monster airlifter  in May 2017, and as of 2019, it was considering turning the plane into a  massive ambulance —basically a hospital in the sky. The C-5 has enough cargo space to carry two  M1 Abrams tanks ,  16 Humvees , three  Black Hawks , or a  variety of other vehicles . Without cargo, the C-5 can fly up to 7,000 miles without refueling, making it the longest-range military airlifter in the world. When the Air Force needs a lot of tonnage moved quickly, it turns to the C-5.

NASA/Tom Tschida A guppy might be prey, but the  Super Guppy is a predator. The bloated aircraft has been retired by every institution in the world except for one: NASA. The U.S. space agency finds the Guppy’s wide dimensions perfect for transporting spacecraft and rocket components.  The first Super Guppy was constructed from a ballooned fuselage taken from a Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, which first flew in 1965. The turboprop cargo plane was largely replaced by the Airbus Beluga for large and awkwardly shaped cargo delivery, but as long as NASA still has a use for the Super Guppy, it will continue to baffle people in the sky—and  NASA l oves  the Super Guppy .