Rare Birds: Mriya, Airbus Beluga and Other Unique Aircraft Modifications

Airbus Beluga

The French perfectly guessed the name of their unusual plane: it's this size that really looks like a white whale. At present, there are only five airliners of this type, all operated by Airbus Transport International, the subsidiary of the manufacturer

The Beluga model is only required for the transport of parts to the rest of the Airbus aircraft. The network of suppliers is vast and dispersed throughout the world. For example, the wings of some models are made in the UK, the tails are in Spain and so on. All this is converted into a single liner in a factory in Toulouse, Hamburg or Tianjin (China). And that does not mean that many small details are still bulky – so they do not fit in the cargo hold of conventional cargo planes.

It would seem that the solution is obvious: if the room does not fit in the plane, it will have to be delivered water This is partially done. For example, for the transportation of the wing of the world's largest airliner Airbus A380, the builder ordered three barges. Each wears only one wing at a time, and the process is not fast enough. With smaller planes too, there are difficulties. As a result, Airbus introduced the Beluga model in the early 1990s.

The company took the A300 as a base. The badpit of the pilots was a little down, and the huge body was equipped with a powerful heating system, so that the sensitive parts were in a comfortable environment

The Beluga Outdoors, unlike the Concorde or the Tu- 144, is hardly admirable. But this is the case when we thought of aesthetics last: the essential thing is that the components of the other aircraft are placed in the cargo hold. After inflating the hull, the available luggage compartment volume increased to 1,400 cubic meters. Here you can place 36 cars, 671 people or 7 elephants. The load capacity is not a record: about 47 tons. The task was to carry less weight and detail.

Beluga steamers make about 60 flights a week: Airbus factories, one of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers, are still loaded. Since the beginning of the operation Beluga (1994), production volumes have increased about five times. The aircraft is placed A340 wings or fuselage part of the new A350 XWB, but this is not enough – for example, the two wings of the A350 are no longer in shape. This prompted Airbus to build an even bigger truck.

There was nowhere to increase the body of the A300. Perhaps the ideal solution would be a special version based on A380 freight, but it simply does not exist – potential customers (UPS and FedEx) are tired of postponing deadlines and refuse to buy. For its needs, Airbus has resumed the recovery of the A330. The result is Beluga XL, which from mid-2019 will take delivery of parts for the A350 XWB. In the new body, it will be possible to load two wings at a time. At the same time, the A380 lighthouse remains a headache for Airbus: apparently, the details will continue to be delivered on barges.

An-225 "Mriya"

In the 1970s, Soviet leaders voluntarily gave the go-ahead. Shuttle Buses. "The promising" Buran "appeared, we will say, slightly overestimated.He traveled in space only once – on November 15, 1988, then under the control of the electronics, without boarding. is clear that the Union had big plans: the new plane did not lack space for its transport.

It is inappropriate to talk about the colossal waste of budget money for the rare Burana traffic: to the States Also, shuttles were used to transport the shuttles, but there were modified Boeing 747s (SCA version) The union decided to turn the An-124 "Ruslan" into a new plane

" Mriya "received two additional engines – there were six in total – the liner is considered to be the largest at a length of 84 meters, a height of 18.2 meters and a wingspan of 88.4 meters. index, he is the second only to the flying boat H-4 Hercules (97.5 meters) – another unique ship, which also exists only in one copy. However, the invention of the inventor Howard Hughes has only made one flight. "Mriya" was more lucky.

Despite the exceptional dimensions, the volume of the cargo compartment has turned out to be even lower than that of the Airbus Beluga – 1100 cubic meters. At the same time, the French plane is much smaller: the length is 56 meters, the span is only 44.8 meters. However, in "Mriya" there is also a lounge for freight forwarders who accompany the cargo.

The An-225 was already ready after the "Buran" had visited the space. More boat to go out of the planet was not intended, but by the end of 1988 they did not know it yet. The liner transported the Buran several times for exhibitions and an air show, and on the outside of the fuselage – the ship simply did not come back inside.

Mriya is considered the record holder of freight capacity with a cargo of 253.8 tons. The maximum take-off weight is 640 tons, while the ship itself weighs 250 tons. There is no more robust aircraft yet. The rare liner, as already noted, exists in a single copy and is listed for Antonov Airlines cargo.

Boeing 747 Dreamlifter

The 787 model Dreamliner with an intensive use of composite materials attracted airlines – the number of orders approaching 1500, the tail is aligned for years to advance. In order for buyers to languish in advance, Boeing manufactured another new aircraft – specifically to deliver 787 pieces.

There was no need to develop a freight panel from scratch: Boeing has the 747s simply improved. In its ugly 747-400 LCF, also Dreamlifter, constitutes a serious competition for Airbus Beluga. But, as in the case of the French liner, the appearance is absolutely not important.

Collect all Dreamliner in the city of Everett (USA). The details of the coating are made all over the world, and they must be brought in quickly. For example, the wings are made in Japan, the horizontal stabilizers in Italy, the exterior doors in France. According to Boeing, with the advent of Dreamlifter, it was possible to speed up 30 times the delivery of certain components, shortening the period from one month to one day

The Dreamlifter company thus accelerated production of the Dreamliner and did not even paint the cargo panel. transported the details for the pbadenger liner in the "bare" form.

The refitted Boeing 747 received an impressive cargo compartment volume of 1840 cubic meters. According to other indicators, Dreamlifter is much lower than Mriya: it can only take 113 tons of freight, the take-off weight is almost halved – 364 tons

VM-T Atlant

At its appearance , Atlant is obliged to do the same "Buranu" and the launcher "Energia". In the late 1970s, when the shuttle project was approved, the question arose of carrying all the necessary parts to the Baikonur Cosmodrome. At that time, there was still no AN-124 Ruslan, let alone Mriya

There were various options for the delivery of components, up to the suspension cargo for two helicopters. This option was considered too dangerous: in case of bad weather, a disaster could occur. The Soviet space program was saved by the aircraft designer Vladimir Myasishchev.

As a solution, he proposed to re-equip the 3M bomber, which had long been operated by the Soviet Air Force. The aircraft from Myasischev's design office was well suited to a new task: it's a fairly heavy lifting and at the same time it has excellent aerodynamics – even the 'Buran' "attached to the outside of the fuselage does not seriously interfere with the flight. The idea was nice to the big ranks.

For the new version, engineers had to change lanes – "Atlant" received two rectangular pins. The ship could take a cargo weighing about 40 tons, the take-off weight was 210 tons. The empty VM-T weighed 74.5 tons

Of the three planes, one was destined to be tested, and the remaining two were used to deliver Buranov and other global equipment to the spaceport. In total, BM-T made about 150 flights. In 1989, when the Mriya appeared, Atlanta was abandoned.

Il-76 MDK

The transportation of the Il-76 is difficult to call a single liner, but the MDK version is an exception. He is represented only by three copies. The plane is used to train cosmonauts and entertain tourists.

The IL-76 MDK is designed to give lightness in the cabin – as in the superb video OK Go (in addition, they have other fantastic videos):

the plane climbs to an altitude of 6,000 meters first, then it raises its nose to 45 degrees and climbs to 9,000 meters for about 15 seconds. Meanwhile, pbadengers with strong nerves and stomachs experience a 2g overload. In addition, the crew aligns the sheath, reduces engine thrust to the minimum possible value, and the IL-76 MDK already flies by inertia. At this point, the gravity becomes zero. After the pilots tilt the steering wheel of their own, and the plane rushes to the ground. Then, it is leveled, increases the thrust of the engines and prepares for the next rise.

A similar modification, particularly to achieve weightlessness conditions, was made by the American Zero Gravity Corporation with the Boeing 727-200 purchased. The aircraft is also used for tourist flights

Model air-controlled aircraft in the catalog Onliner.by

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