Wings: Flying Through Time

Episode Synopsis

In this episode we travel along the evelopment path of the Giants. The Antonov 124 is a giant among giants. On it's maiden fight in December 1982, it was the largest powered craft to fly. The Antonov is still the world's largest heavy lift aircraft. Surprisingly the largest aircraft ever built would dwarf the 124 Antonov. Airships took to the skies around 1900, when the aeroplane was a very basic contraption. After reviewing many types of giants we end this episode with a look at a plane that was deigned with the sole purpose of moving people and making air travel affordable to the masses. Seventy-five thousand engineering drawings were used to produce the first 747.