It was huge, one of the biggest aircraft Tret'yak had ever seen.
You take a big aircraft, something like the Tomcat, and you've got all the power in the world.
"We certainly have bigger and better aircraft you could use."
They looked too small for such a big aircraft.
So it involved a big aircraft, with a crew of at least two.
With any big aircraft later than that it's going to be marginal.
"To try to picture an aircraft big enough to get those up in the air requires a real stretch of the imagination."
As the big aircraft continued to follow the ships, the weather became worse and fuel ran low.
It was a big aircraft for its power, and as a result very lightly built.
In 1973 the airport was expanded again to handle bigger aircraft.