You may be familiar with the bucket-wheel excavator Bagger 288 – the largest land vehicle in the world. That’s just one of many extraordinary, super-sized vehicles out there. Here we take a look at some of the largest land, sea and air vehicles ever created.
10 – NASA-Crawler-Transporter
In 1965, NASA developed two crawler-transporters to carry rockets to their launch pads. At the time, these massive space shuttle transporters – measuring 39,929 metres long by 34,747 metres wide, and over 6,096 metres in height – were the largest self-powered land vehicles in the world. The transporters, which are named Hans and Franz, are now used to transport shuttles between the Vehicle Assembly Building and Launch Complex 39.
9 – Bagger 288
On its completion in 1978, Bagger 288 – a bucket-wheel excavator that stands 94 metres tall, is 214 metres long and weighs 45500 tonnes – superseded NASA’s Crawler Transporter as the largest land vehicle in the world. It still holds the title today. This monstrous machine is used in the Hambach strip mine in Germany, and excavates up to 240 000 tons of coal a day. That’s equivalent to the size of a 30,5 metre-deep soccer field!
8 –Caterpillar 797B
The 797B is the second-generation model in Caterpillar’s 797 range of mechanical powertrain haul trucks manufactured specifically for high-production mining and heavy-duty construction application. Following in the footsteps of its mammoth predecessor, this model has a payload capacity of 345 tonnes – one of the largest in the world.
7 –Dodge Power Wagon
This gigantic pick-up truck is a super-sized replica of a classic 1950s Dodge Power Wagon. Roughly eight times the size of the original Dodge, this gigantic vehicle weighs more than 50 tonnes and features an entire apartment inside. Commissioned by wealthy Sheikh Hamad, the truck’s interior boasts four air-conditioned bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a tailgate terrace. Not surprisingly, this monstrous vehicle holds the title of largest pick-up truck ever made.
6 –Prelude FLNG
Part of joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell, KOGAS and Inpex, the Prelude is the world’s first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project. It was built to access new natural gas fields at sea that were previously either too difficult or too expensive to develop. At 488 metres long – longer than the length of four soccer fields – and 74 metres wide, the Prelude FLNG is the world’s largest floating offshore facility, as well as the largest ship ever built.
5 –Antonov an-225
This hulking strategic cargo plane was designed by the Soviets in the 1980s. It has 32 wheels in its landing gear. It has a wingspan of 290 ft, meaning you could just barely fit it on a football field. It has flown multiple times as well, making it more useful than planes almost it’s size.
4 –LeTourneau TC-497 Overland Train
This thing was an experimental creation back in the 50’s to try to reduce dependency on railroads to ship things, especially to more back-country places where building rail might not be preferred. The longest reached 600ft.As you can see here, it can pretty much go anywhere, and as such it is considered an offroad vehicle, which makes it the largest offroad vehicle too!
3 –World’s Longest Limo
This world record long, 100ft limousine created by Jay Ohrburg in Burbank, California, has 26 wheels and requires two trained drivers to actually maneuver it around. Inside it has a heated Jacuzzi, a swimming pool, a king-sized bed and a sun deck. It’s even got a helipad on the back, as you can see the helicopter landing. Why you would need to land a helicopter on a limo though, nobody knows.
2 –Schwerer Gustav
This bad boy can fire 7 ton shells almost 30 miles away. It is the king of siege weapons, used in the second world war to take down one of the strongest French fortifications. The shells are almost as big as a tank.You can see the size of it better here. It’s a railway gun (meaning it needs to be on a railroad to move at all) so the usefulness is limited for combat, but it certainly makes for good morale to have a gigantic gun on your side
1 – SPMT
“Self-Propelled Modular Transporter.” Each individual wheel is it’s own unit, but when you slap a bunch of them together…. they can carry the heaviest objects in the world, and can be longer than any other vehicle in the world.You can see the sets of tiny wheels at the bottom of the picture, but together they are managing to carry this whole oil rig. Impressive.
