The round table "The biggest planes of the era" took place in the State Polytechnic Museum at NTUU "KPI" on December 12. It was devoted to the 100 anniversary of the I. I. Sikorskyi’s first flight by plane named "Ilya Muromets" (23.12.2013) and to the 25 anniversary of the first flight by plane named An-225 "Mriya" (21.12.1988).
Exactly 75 years are between these two events. They became a symbol of domestic aviation, because the most perfect and powerful planes of the beginning and the end of the XX century were developed by residents of Kyiv. The tradition of a multi-engined heavy aircrafts construction, which was established by Ihor Sikorskyi, young KPI student of that time, was maintained and carried on by his successors from the Antonov Design Bureau in Kiev and the Kiev aviation manufacturing group (nowadays both are a part of the "Antonov" National enterprise).
The technical solutions implemented in air giants which was discussed during the round table, were really innovative. Suffice it to recall that it was Ihor Sikorskyi who became first ever aircraft designer who increased power and increased aircraft reliability at the same time, having supplied it with several engines instead of one. Design team, a part of which, by the way, were Sikorskyi's classmates from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, improved diligently the airplane which was admitted subsequently as the best aircraft of World War I. Our contemporary "Mriya" – An-225 is unique also. This six-motor hero is still aircraft that has the largest weight-lifting ability in the aviation world. It's no coincidence the International association of aeronautics entered it in the Guinness World Records for its 240 world records in 2004. Since records number has increased.
Therefore it is clearly enough why round table meeting caused the most intense interest of KPI students and upper-form pupils who are not indifferent to aircraft.
Organizers included to the program the report on origin and exploitation of the aircraft named Ilya Muromets which was created by Ivan Obodovskyi and Maria Lyubarska, pupils of the Aerospace center of Kyiv children and youth palace. Actually, it was two reports: one is devoted to origin of the first heavyweight in the world aviation world and its modifications, the second – to features of its exploitation.
Memoirs of the people who are directly involved in its construction were devoted to the aircraft named “Mriya”. Anatolyi Vovnianko, the An-225 design project leader of the Antonov Design Bureau in Kyiv, told about An-225 creation from the first plan, design engineering, preproduction and component manufacturer operation until its first flights. Then first cockpit crew An-225 gave a speech. Its members were Oleksandr Halunenko, the legendary pilot, honored USSR research pilot, the Hero of Ukraine, who was the commander of this cockpit crew; Serhiy Nechaev, research aeronavigator and Viacheslav Belousov, research airborne spare. They told not only about "Mriya's" flight test activity, but also about its record flights, and about that this aircraft impressed (and still impresses) both ordinary people, and aviation experts of the whole world.
"During our first flight on an exhibition to America we had many visitors. People stood on an hour or two only to look closer, to touch, and to make photos near our aircraft. Local newspapers wrote that "Mriya" created precedent in America – huge queue", – Oleksandr Halunenko remembered one of the small episodes of An-225 participation in one of the air show in the USA.
Vitaly Tatarchuk, the head of history department of State Polytechnic Museum at NTUU “KPI”, delivered also the interesting report on “105 years of KPI Aeronautic circle" about association of the Kiev polytechnicians which became a cradle of domestic aircraft building science and education.
And of course the participants paid attention to the report on “Mikhailo Yefimov is the first Russian airman”, in which Yevheniya Koroleva, grand-niece of the domestic air pioneer, told about her famous ancestor.