Air, Freight News

Upated: Russia’s veteran plane designer still going strong

[ August 11, 2014   //   Chris ]

Legendary chief designer of the An-124 ‘Ruslan’ and An-225 ‘Mriya’ transport aircraft, Victor Tolmache, has justcelebrated his 80th birthday. But rather than taking a well-earned retirement, the aviation stalwart is still hard at work as technical director of Volga-Dnepr Group. He can look back on an aviation career spanning over 50 years, which began in 1959 and participated in the development, creation and modification of almost every Antonov aircraft, as well as the giant freighters – and even now continues to supervise spearhead Volga-Dnepr’s project to revive series production of the An-124 and develop the transport aircraft of the future.

Volga-Dnepr Group will present a concept for a ‘future airlifter’ at the Third International Air Transport Forum (IATF) at Ulyanovsk-Vostochny in Russia, on 14-16 August . The winner of the Group’s “Advanced Transport Aircraft of the XXI Century” international contest will be announced on 15 August and the prototype of a future airlifter will be unveiled.

Tags: Victor Tolmache