The Antonov An-124 f that we all know and love today, the gaze-bending behemoth of the skies is a product of its time which boasts an equally impressive history as sprawling across epochs in air cargo development. The Antonov An-124 was conceived at the peak of Cold War tensions and designed by Ukraine's giant aviation manufacturer, Antonov (then part of the Soviet Union), with a view to satisfying an urgent requirement within in USSR for a strategic airlifter capable transporting oversized military equipment or machinery over considerable distances. The story behind the An-124 begins in the late 1960s, when Soviet military officials sought a new breed of cargo aircraft that would outpace…