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Antonov An-124

It took a while before the Soviet Union had a heavy transport airplane similar to the Lockheed Galaxy. Like the US counterpart the Antonov An-124 Ruslan (NATO code name Condor) is a high wing aircraft with four jet engines attached to pylons under the wings. The cockpit was placed well above the cargo area to enable cargo loading through a nose door. Also similar to the C-5 is that the cockpit profile is extended down the length of the fuselage, giving it an egg-shaped cross section. It is well visible when viewing the aircraft from the front. At the rear the fuselage slopes up and ends in a pointed tail cone. The An-124 has a conventional tail, with the horizontal stabilisers being attached to the rear fuselage. Below is a cargo door with loading ramp. The landing gear consists of five double-wheel bogeys on each side, retracting in pods at the side of the fuselage, and two double wheel nose gears next to each other.

The nose contour of the An-124 has a typical shape: the underside is not continuous.

The main landing gear of the An-124 has five separate legs on each side, all with two wheels.

Different versions

Essentially, to date there are only two versions, the An-124 military transport and the An-124-100 civil variant. Externally, they seem the same though, and therefore we make no distinction here.

Confusion possible with

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy

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The C-5 is similar in size as the An-124 and also has an egg-shaped fuselage cross section and a cargo door in the nose. However, there is one big difference, namely the location of the horizontal stabiliser: The Galaxy has a T-tail. Also, the C-5 has four six wheel main landing gears and a four wheel nose gear.

Antonov An-225

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The An-225 is basically an enlarged version of the An-124, with six engines, fourteen main landing gear legs and an H-tail. All those features make the An-225 easy to recognise from it smaller brother.