Nicknamed 'Roc' after a giant bird in Arabian mythology, the Stratolaunch Carrier Aircraft (N351SL) is perhaps the most distinctive aircraft flying today. At 114.3m, its wingspan is the widest of any aeroplane ever built. To give it an aviation context, that is three times the length of the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk on December 17,1903 Its relevance, however, is more current. After the sole Antonov An-225 Myria (Dream), registration UR-82060, was destroyed at Hostomel Airport Kyiv in February 2022 during the initial stages of the Ukraine invasion (see Casualty of War, p34), the enormous one-of-a-kind 'Roc' is now the world's largest airworthy aircraft.
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