Address by Alexey Isaykin

Victor Tolmachev, the aircraft designer and creator of a legend airplane which was far ahead of its time and still remains unrivalled in the world – the unique AN-124 ‘Ruslan’ airlifter, passed away.

Victor Tolmachev, as chief designer of Antonov Design Bureau, had designed a strategic military transporter for the great country, the USSR, and later on, as technical director of one of Russia’s first commercial cargo airlines, gave life to a newly born commercial air freighter, owing to which the global economy discovered a new segment of air logistics – the air delivery of unique outsize and heavy cargo.

He had relentlessly worked on improvement of his brain child and led dozens of changes in the airplane and its cargo systems. But the project of giving a new lease of life to the AN-124-100 design became the top priority of his last years, to which he devoted all his knowledge and energy.

Victor Tolmachev sadly left us prematurely without seeing a successful new story of AN-124 life, but he had dedicated all of himself and done everything to make it come true and enable engineers in Volga-Dnepr, who had luck to work with such a distinguished aircraft designer, to realize his dream – make AN-124 fly in the skies for another 25 years until some new, qualitatively superior design evolves.

On behalf of myself and everyone in Volga-Dnepr Group I extend my sincere condolences to the family and close ones of Victor Tolmachev, his colleagues, friends and like-minded people in Russia, Ukraine and worldwide.