LARGEST AIRCRAFT




(World's Largest Aircraft)

Videos and illustrations list of the world's largest and world's largest planes throughout aviation history. Includes, specifications, and a guide to RC airplanes.

One of the questions most often asked of Aviation Trivia is to list the largest aircraft and planes. That brings up more questions. What factors should be used to determine which are the largest planes? Would they have the longest wingspan, the longest length, or the heaviest weight? Should they be the largest ever built, or the largest during a certain era? Maybe they should be classified by the number of engines, or number of wings, or even the size of their propellers. Or, should we list the largest planes by their type, such as fighters, bombers, seaplanes, or transports. We have decided to list them from the largest to smallest wingspans.
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TO FIND YOUR FAVORITE LARGEST PLANES ON THIS PAGE: Enter "Ctrl F" on your computer. A box will open on your screen that says "Find." Type in the airplane that you are looking for and it will be highlighted on the page.
 
LZ-129 HINDENBURG

The longest vehicle ever to take to the sky was the Hindenburg Air Ship. In its final configuration it carried a crew of about 60 and had 72 sleeping berths. Its cruising speed was 76 mph. Its first flight was on March 4, 1936. On May 6, 1937 it met its demise.
803.8 feet, 511,500 pounds 

Boeing ULTRA
boeing-ultra
Boeing ULTRA (Ultra Large Transport Aircraft), are concept planes being developed as high capacity cargo transports. Rather than flying high in the sky, similar to the the Russian Ekranoplanes, they are designed to use ground effect to skim over water or the ground at an altitude as low as 20 feet.  They can adjusting their altitude according to sea conditions, or obstacles, for a smooth ride.
500 foot wings, 2,800,000 pounds 
 

HAV 304 AIRLANDER


The Hybrid Air Vehicles HAV 304 Airlander has been built for long surveillance endurance of up to five days. Its engines produce a total of 10,000 shp and can push the vehicle at speeds up to 92 mph and altituded up to 16,000 feet. Range with a 2,000 lb. payload is about 3,000 miles.
365.5 feet length, 44,000 pounds 
SPRUCE GOOSE

If largest planes are determined by wingspan, one has to include the Hughes H-4 Spruce Goose. Although current planes weigh more than the Hughes H-4 Hercules, more commonly known as the Spruce Goose, no other seaplane or land based airplane produced has a longer wingspan. You can rank the Spruce Goose in the category of largest prop planes, largest seaplane, and largest passenger planes.
320.1 foot wings, 300,000 pounds 

ANTONOV AN-225

The Antonov An-225 has the longest wingspan of any plane flying today.  It is also the largest jet plane, by weight.
291.1 foot wings, 1,179,500 pounds 

AIRBUS A380

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dARK895Y5Ns

Airbus A380's are the largest commercial airliners, and largest passenger planes in their class.  They are the largest passenger planes now flying. The Russian An-225 cargo plane is larger overall.
261.7 foot wings, 608,400 pounds

ANTONOV AN-124

Antonov An-124's are the second largest jet planes ever mass produced after the A380. However, unlike the A380 passenger jet, the An-124 is used for hauling cargo.
240.5 foot wings, 385,00 pounds 

CONVAIR XC-99

The Convair XC-99 was a one of a kind experimental cargo transport, based on the B-36. It was the world's largest cargo plane ever built to operate from land, that was driven by propellers. Although very successful, the U.S.A.F. felt that they didn't need such large cargo carriers at the time and no other planes of its type were produced.
230 foot wings, 135,230 pounds 

LOCKHEED C-5 GALAXY

The still deployed Lockheed C-5 Galaxy planes have the ability to carry all air certified cargo and have among the greatest cargo capacity of any planes.

Some of the facts and trivia which make the C-5 interesting are its ability to fly great distances on internal fuel. Its tail rises some 65 feet in height. When fully loaded, the C-5 weighs about as much as five Washington Monuments, and a single engine of the C-5 can generate enough power to lift 43,000 lbs. straight up.
 

222.7 foot wings, 380,000 pounds 

SAUNDERS ROE PRINCESS

Saunders Roe Princess planes were the largest all-metal seaplanes ever built.
219.5 foot wings, 190,000 pounds 

DOUGLAS XB-19

Douglas XB-19's were the largest U.S. bombers when first produced.
212 foot wings, 140,250 pounds 

ANTONOV AN-22

Antonov An-22 are the largest planes being mass produced using turboprop engines, and one of the heaviest planes ever to fly.
211.3 foot wings, 251,350 pounds 

TUPOLEV ANT-20

Tupolev ANT-20 planes were the largest of their time.
206.7 foot wings, 62,700 pounds 

BOEING 777

Boeing 777's are the largest twin jet engine planes. They are even larger than three jet engine powered planes.  They are, however, smaller than the largest Boeing 747 jets.
199.9 foot wings 367,000 pounds 

LOCKHEED R6V CONSTITUTION

Note: Narration begins after 60 seconds.

Lockheed R6V Constitution are the largest planes ever deployed by the U.S. Navy. Two of the land based planes were built and flown as passenger and cargo transports from 1948 to 1953.
189.1 foot wings, 113,780 pounds 

Myasishchev 3MT

Two Myasishchev 3M-T (VM-T) planes were built. They were the largest planes used by the Soviet Union as transports until the An-225 went into service.
174.4 foot wings, 167,000 pounds 

Aero Spacelines Super Guppy

The Super Guppy is a Boeing C-27J with a lengthened fuselage and larger diameter cargo compartment. It's ability to carry the most massive cargo and has been used to transport parts for the International Space Station.
156.3 foot wings, 101,500 pounds 

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

Boeing B-29 Superfortress the largest planes flown as U.S.World War II bombers.
141.2 foot wings, 70,000 pounds 

Caspian Sea Monster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Nu94khHoo

The Soviet Caspian Sea Monster KM ekranoplan is the second heaviest plane to fly, and the heaviest and largest to fly in ground effect.
141,1 foot wings, 839,594 pounds 

Felixstowe Fury

felixstowe_fury

The Felixstowe Fury was the largest triplane seaplane ever built.  If you look carefully under its wing you will see a single engine airplane. It performed well, flying for seven hours without landing during its testing. The plane flew from Nov. 11, 1918 to Aug. 11, 1919 when it was damaged beyond repair during take off.
123 foot wings, 18,550 pounds

BRISTOL BRAEMER

bristol_braemer

The Bristol Braemer was the largest triplane bomber ever produced. During World War I, two Braemer planes were tested. Their test flights were successful, but the war ended and they did not go into mass production.
81.7 foot wings, 10,650 pounds

 

PZL M-15

PZL M-15 are the largest jet powered biplanes dedicated as  agricultural planes.
73.5 foot wings, 6,812 pounds

ANTONOV AN-2 COLT

Antonov An-2 Colt planes are the largest biplanes of their type, by weight. Popular with bush pilots, as parachuting planes, and as crop dusters, they have been in production since 1947 and are still being produced to this date.
59.7 foot wings, 7,600 pounds

Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft were the largest planes flown as a United States bombers. The B-36 is the world's largest bomber that was ever produced, if you go by wingspan.
230.1 foot wings, 171,000 pounds.

The Boeing 747 makes our list of largest planes because it was the largest passenger plane from 1970 to 2005. The 747-8 is the longest mass produced plane at 250.1'.
224.6 foot wings, 472,900 pounds

Airbus A340-600's are among the largest planes. They are the second longest mass produced planes currently produced.

208 foot wings, 392,000 pounds

Nakajima G10N Fugaku's were to be the largest planes that Japan intended to produce as a long range heavy bombers, able to attack the U.S. mainland from Japan. The war ended before they could be built.
206.7 foot wings, 96,600 pounds

The Martin Mars water bombers are the largest planes that were prop driven water bombers, and the largest production seaplanes. The planes, which were produced in 1945, were recently retired.
202.5 foot wings, 76,600 pounds

Blohm & Voss BV 238 The BV 238 was a one of a kind Luftwaffe WW II seaplane. It was their largest plane ever built during World War II.
197.4 foot wings, 120,600 pounds

The Boeing/Evergreen 747 Supertanker, a converted Boeing 747-200, is the world's largest air tanker. It has a capacity of 24,000 gallons.
195.7 foot wings, 358,000 pounds

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress are the largest planes used as U.S. jet bombers and the backbone of today's U.S. heavy bomber fleet.
184.9 foot wings, 185,000 pounds

Messerschmidt Me-323's largest planes were essentially gliders fitted with motors. They were used as Luftwaffe WW II transports.
183.1 foot wings, 34,000 pounds

Tupolev Tu-160's are the largest planes flown as the world's heaviest bombers.
182.8 foot wings, 242,500 pounds

Two Northrop XB-35's were produced. They were the largest prop driven planes ever manufactured as flying wings. They never went into production.
172.1 foot wings 90,000 pounds

Junkers Ju 390's were among the largest planes that Germany built as long range WW II bomber prototypes.
165.1 foot wings, 87,100 pounds

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 are among the largest planes flying today as cargo planes, water bombers, and USAF air-to-air refueling aircraft.
155.3 foot wings, 267,000 pounds

Blohm & Voss BV 222 Viking planes were mass produced and flew during WWII. They were the largest planes used by the Luftwaffe as production seaplanes deployed during the War.
151 foot wings, 67,575 pounds

Airbus A300's are among the largest planes flown as passenger carriers. They are the first ever two engine wide cabin planes to fly.
147.1 foot wings, 198,500 pounds

Mitsubishi Ki-20's were the largest planes that Japan produced as WW II bombers.
144.3 foot wings, 32,875 pounds

Linke-Hofman R.II Largest planes, single propeller driven biplanes. Two bomber prototypes of the planes were produced during WW1. They each had four engines linked together turning a single huge propeller.
138.3 foot wings, 17,640 pounds

Tupolev TB-3s largest planes were the first monoplane four engine heavy bombers of the Soviet Union.
137.1 foot wings, 24,700 pounds

Beriev A-40's are the largest planes currently flying as jet powered seaplanes. Thus far two prototypes have been produced.
135.5 foot wings, 127,270 pounds

The Tarrant Tabor largest airplane of the time, when produced.
131.1 foot wings, 24,750 pounds

CANT Z511 largest planes built as seaplanes during WW II.
130.8 foot wings, 45,000 pounds

Douglas DC-7 Largest planes with piston engines built by the Douglas Aircraft Co.
127.5 foot wings, 72,760 pounds

Curtiss C-46 Commando twin engine U.S. transports were among the largest planes with twin engines to serve as transports during World War II.
108 foot wings, 33,000 pounds

The Sikorsky Ilya Murometz were the largest planes used as four engine strategic bombers, when first deployed.
97.8 foot wings, 6,930 pounds

Tupolev Tu-144 largest planes flown as Russian supersonic airliners.
95.5 foot wings, 187,400 pounds

Tupolev ANT-4's largest planes flown as Soviet all-metal bombers of their time.
94.1 foot wings, 9,965 pounds

The Sikorsky Russky Vityaz largest planes with four engines when first flown.
88.6 foot wings, 7,500 pounds

Short Bombers were the largest planes produced as single engine biplanes. They also had a longer wingspan than any single engine monoplanes. They were deployed during World War I as both land based bombers and torpedo bomber seaplanes.
84 foot wings, 5,000 pounds