IIRC, there was only ever one. It was a one-off custom job (basically a 125 on steroids) designed to transport Buran. But wouldn't it just be so cool if someone started mass-producing that monster?

Hi, The cost of fuel is going to drive aircraft design, now and into the future.
I see the blended flying wing design as the hands down champion without
peer. And once you make enough of them, the price comes down.
And with the potential to store more carry-on baggage, the world will beat a path to it's door.
We shall see.
Best regards, Dan

Yep, it was one of a kind. Amazing aircraft though.

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I second that. I actually had the privilege of seeing it in person, when it stopped here (Everett, WA) on the way to an airshow somewhere else. I was just wishing they could have towed a 747 over to park next to it, for comparison.

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When it first appeared in the West, the 225 evoked quite a stir. Everyone was amazed by the size. I remember a cartoon in Air International magazine, set at the Farnborough airshow. It featured a sign which said "Due to poor weather, the aerial display will take place inside the An-225"!

Earlier in the thread, it was mentioned that you get into trouble with propellers when the blade tips are supersonic. Obviously, the end of a blade, and in all likelihood the whole blade, must be moving faster than the vehicle it propels, but we've got supersonic jets with fans in the front of them, sucking air in and throwing it back just like propellers do, making them essentially differently-shaped propellers in a tubular enclosure, except that they can get away with doing it supersonicly. (The RPMs in there must be horrendous.) Why is this not a problem?

Supersonic jets have inlets designed to slow the flow to subsonic before reaching the moving parts. "Supersonic combustion", especially in "Supersonic Combustion Ramjets" or Scramjets, has been a goal for a long time but has not reached anything like practicality.

I'm not sure how the fan, compressor, and especially turbine blades deal with the flow which must be supersonic relative to them but obviously they do.

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