The largest and most powerful helicopter has been in service since 1977
World’s biggest helicopter is so huge it once carried a gigantic ‘frozen woolly mammoth’(Image: Getty)
The Mil Mi-26 (codename: Halo) is a Russian-built helicopter and currently holds the title of the world’s largest. Having taken its maiden flight in 1977, the Mi-26 was initially built to transport heavy cargo to isolated locations inaccessible by conventional aircraft.
This huge helicopter boasts rear-loading doors and can carry up to 20 tonnes. Aviation specialists at Key Aero have named it the “undisputed king of military heavy lift helicopters”.
It measures 40 metres in length, making it “taller than a giraffe”, and is also the world’s most powerful helicopter.
“Two 11,400bhp engines allow it to carry loads weighing up to 20 tonnes. In 1982, the aircraft set the world record for the heaviest mass lifted to 2,000 metres by carrying a load of 56,768 kilograms, a record that still stands today.”
Aviation experts said it is “so big it can operate as a mobile hospital”. Perhaps the Mi-26’s most extraordinary cargo was a 20-ton, frozen woolly mammoth, reports the Express.
Back in 1999, the helicopter airlifted the preserved remains of a 23,000-year-old frozen Woolly Mammoth retrieved from Siberia’s frozen Taimyr Peninsula.
Fair Lifts notes: “The Mi-26 is often the first choice for missions that involve transporting heavy machinery, including armoured vehicles, generators, and even small aircraft.
“Its eight-blade main rotor and twin-turbine engines deliver a unique blend of raw power and flight stability, enabling it to operate in some of the world’s harshest environments, from Siberian tundras to Middle Eastern deserts.”
The helicopter continues to serve actively today, mainly deployed by the Russian Aerospace Forces, but it’s also used across other nations, including China and India.
The largest aircraft in the world is the Antonov An-225 Mriya, a remarkable plane built by the Soviet Union, capable of transporting “52 mature elephants “.