It must be nice to be filthy, stinking rich. I’m not talking ‘comfortable retirement’ kind of rich, I’m talking ‘build your own bloody plane’ rich. Paul Allen, net worth $17,5 billion, definitely falls into the latter category.

So how big are we talking here? Well right off the bat we can tick off the largest aeroplane in history. The plane has been named the Stratolaunch carrier aircraft, nicknamed the ‘Roc’. These dimensions taken from Gizmodo:

[It has] a 385-foot (117-meter) wingspan beast designed to carry and launch a giantrocket to space, with a combined weigh of 1,200,000 pounds (540,000 kg).

The above two pics are artist impressions. Here is what the beast currently looks like.

So how does that stack up against the other big-winged metal birds of the sky then? PC Mag has this comparison:

Take that ‘Spruce Goose’, although your name is way cooler than ‘Roc’.

The plane has a range of 1000 nautical miles (1 850 km) and has been built to carry the Orbital Sciences Pegasus II rocket, also known as “Thunderbolt,” to a height of nearly six miles. At this point the rocket will be released and head for space, making it (according to designers) the safest way to get crewed and uncrewed missions into space.

That’s pretty cool, Mr Allen, we’ll give it to you. Maybe not what I would spend my riches on but to each their own, right?

Why not buy yourself a ticket for tomorrow’s EuroMillions lottery, R1,3 billion jackpot, and you can spend your money on whatever the hell you like. You may not be quite as wealthy as the Microsoft co-founder but you won’t be going hungry any time soon.

[sources:gizmodo&pcmag]