Plane spotters from all over the country descended on Brize Norton on Friday to watch the arrival of the biggest plane in the world.

The Antonov An-225 Mriya has a wingspan of 290ft and a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes, making it the heaviest aircraft in the world too.

The gargantuan aircraft, which has six engines, arrived after a flight from Karachi.

It flew on to runway 07 at around 14:40pm local time.

Only one AN-225 was built by Antonov, a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company, making it a very rare sight indeed.

It last paid a flying visit to RAF Brize Norton before flying off to Greece in 2018. It was developed as part of the Soviet space programme before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The BBC reported that it was carrying three helicopters being brought back from Afghanistan and the power of its engines blew down a fence.

A spokesperson for the MOD said: “I can't give details, but the Antonov is often used for oversized loads due to its size.

“It arrived at 1435 and left later yesterday.”