The first supersonic aircraft Tu-144

The big surprise at the Russian Air Show 2008 was the intact Tupolev Tu-144 passenger supersonic aircraft. This aircraft only produced 16 aircraft and currently only 7 aircraft in museums across Russia.

The first Tu-144 was put into service at the end of 1975 and began a series of cargo and mail flights between Moscow and Alma Ata. Two years later, passenger transport also began between those cities. But flights last only for seven months. After the second catastrophic accident resulted in the end of the Tu-144 operation, the remaining seven Tu-144 were either put into warehouses or given to museums.

After many modifications, such as adding a nose wing can be retracted to improve low-speed flight, design a new access path, increase wingspan, an extended fuselage and remove the pilot's ejection seat. inherent in the first model, the aircraft seems to be reliable.

Although it was first advertised with the public in 1965, most of the world still did not look at the new plane until a Tu-144 appeared at the Paris Air Show. Unfortunately, this plane crashed into the ground in front of the world press.

The development of the Tu-144 is alleged to be related to the industrial espionage against the manufacturer of aircraft Concorde Aérospatiale of France, although the Tu-144 was shipped first.

Like Concorde, the engines are paired close to the tail drive parts under each wing, and the anterior body uses a downward nose mechanism to improve the pilot's visibility when taking and landing.

The exterior resembles Concorde, the larger Tu-144 can accommodate 140 passengers. Its design was inspired by previous studies of the Tu-125 and Tu-135 bombers.

The Tupolev Tu-144 was built under the direction of the Soviet Tupolev design bureau, headed by Alexei Tupolev. The first one took off on December 31, 1968 in Moscow. Tu-144 first crossed the sound wall on June 5, 1969. On July 15, 1969 it became the first passenger plane to reach the fastest speed of 2,500km / h.