Manufacturer: Antonov

Model: An-222

Name: "Custard" (NATO codename)

Type: Airliner

Date: 1983

Status: Production

Country: Soviet Union

Service: Aeroflot

Designation: none

The rare Antonov An-222 (NATO: "Custard") is seen here doing a low pass over Odessa Airport, in Ukraine.

The idea was to turn the large An-22 Antei transport (see photo below right) into a commercial airliner (I didn't know at that time that similar projects had existed on paper).

After removing some of the blue hue that was too present in the original picture, I reshaped the nose, added windows from a genuine Aeroflot airliner, then grafted the tail of the An-225 Mriya in place of the original H-tail which I thought didn't look streamlined enough. I then colored the propellers' cones in red, then placed the aircraft onto a photograph of Odessa Airport for more realism.

I think the Custard would have made a great airliner, but I guess the Ilyushin Il-86 family of aircraft, being jet-powered, would have made the An-222 obsolete very quickly...

• I love the idea of the 'Custard' but it looks a tad short at the rear, maybe slide the tail group back a few feet? (PR19_Kit)
• One comment though. Under the ASCC rules, prop planes had single-sylable words so the designatiion would need to be "Carp" or "Crank" or "Cow". (David R. Townend)