Robert Malone

Robert Malone

6/04/2007 @ 6:00AM

The World's Biggest Planes

When Orville and Wilber Wright took to the skies in North Carolina, they made it 120 feet. They could have taken off and landed on the wings of the world’s biggest cargo plane.

The An-225 Cossack aircraft (wingspan 291 feet, 2 inches) was built to transport the Soviet Union’s Buran orbiter, their equivalent of the U.S. Space Shuttle. Only two were ever made, and just one is still flying.

The Buran is the kind of load the world’s biggest aircraft are called on to haul. They’re not normally, well, normal. They aren’t mass produced, and they often have limited lives (think Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose–the largest plane ever made, which flew just once).

In Pictures: The World’s Biggest Planes

In Pictures: The Biggest Planes Of The Future

But that’s changing. New technologies, including composite airframes, lighter engines and advanced avionics and design systems, are bringing a huge new generation of giants to life.

When the Airbus A380 enters service it will become the second-largest plane in the world and largest passenger aircraft. Built by EADS, it weighs in at 652.5 tons, is 239 feet long and has a fuselage 23 feet, 5 inches in diameter. Its four engines deliver about 300,000 horsepower. It has a maximum capacity of 840 people but may be configured for less. All this for $275 million.

The A380 has been plagued by delays and problems in production–another thing these monsters have in common. The first commercial flights are expected to begin in October, 2007 after Singapore Airlines takes delivery.

Boeing has continued to upgrade its 747 in response to the Airbus challenge and with a slight twist brought out its smaller 787 Dreamliner aircraft with an increased fuel-saving design. It has been designed and built in various load capacities ranging from 210 passengers up to 330–small by Airbus standards.

Next up could be the Boeing Pelican, an experimental concept aircraft from Boeing Phantom Works that makes everything else seem small. It has a proposed wingspan of 500 feet and a wing area that is more than an acre. It would, if built, be able to lift 1,400 tons of goods. It is referred to as the Ultra Large Transport Aircraft.

Also in design: the Fozzie, a concept plane by Boeing Phantom Works. It explores the idea of a low-fuel-use plane that uses open-rotor engines mounted on what is called a Pi-tail in the stern of the ship. The wings, being free of engines, have advantages aerodynamically. Despite a fuel-saving concept the plane is designed to go at a speed of 450 mph.

Both would dwarf the previous generation of giants. Driven by the Cold War, the last century saw the U.S. and Soviet Union playing a continual game of oneupmanship with airborne titans.

Beyond the An-225 Cossack, the results for the Russians included the KM Caspian Sea Monster or Ekranoplan. It flew only a few feet above the water and was a familiar Cold War sight flying over the Caspian Sea. It was very long at 348 feet and with a short wingspan of 131 feet, which suited its function. It weighed a hefty 1,080,000 pounds.

The U.S. had, and still has, the C-5 Galaxy. This giant was the world’s largest operating airplane when it was rolled out in 1968, and is still in use by the U.S. Air Force today. It weighs 840,000 pounds and is 247 feet, 10 inches long, with a wingspan of 222 feet, 9 inches. Its purpose: to haul military hardware, including tanks, anywhere in the world.

But nothing outdid the Hughes H-4 Hercules, or Spruce Goose. Made primarily of birch plywood (despite the nickname) it remains the largest plane ever flown. The plane weighed 400,000 pounds, plus the weight of Hughes’ ego. It still has the longest wingspan of any plane ever built, 320 feet. It only flew once and was piloted by Hughes for a mile–44 times farther than the Wright Brothers got.

In Pictures: The World’s Biggest Planes

In Pictures: The Biggest Planes Of The Future

Comments are turned off for this post.