In the world of Slavic folk tales there are giants in Ukraine but as aviators the ones we are interested are the giants that the fabled aircraft designer Oleg Antonov designed. This is his story.

The OKA1 glider

 

Antonov at the Leningrad Polytechnic

 

The OKA38 Stork

 

The An-2

 

The An-12 Cub

 

The An-24 Coke

 

The vast An-22 Cock

 

The huge An-124 Condor

 

The flight deck of the An-124

 

The mighty Mryia, An-225, carrying a Buran project space shuttle

 

The destruction of a dream, the Mryia was a victim of the Russian invaders who recently attacked Ukraine

 

Oleg Antonov

 

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Antonov Design Bureau, the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, the Central Design Bureau for Gliders, Arpingstone, Igor Dvurekov, Dmitriy Pichugin, Toshi Aoki, Yevgeny Pashnin, Vasiliy Kob and Дизайнер: А.Безменов.