When did the operation of Tu 144 begin? Russian Aviation. Why are supersonic aircraft no longer in use?

The Tu-144, which according to NATO codification was called the Charger, is a supersonic Soviet passenger aircraft developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau.

Built in the 1960s, it was the first supersonic airliner to be operated by airlines for commercial air travel.

History of Tu-144

The first flight of the Tu-144 prototype aircraft was carried out on December 31, 1968. During the creation, work was carried out simultaneously in two directions. The first implied the creation of a non-afterburning, economical turbojet engine of the RD-36-51 type, the second was aimed at improving the aerodynamic characteristics of the Tu-144.

As a result, they planned to complete the task of achieving supersonic flight. In 1969, by decision of the USSR Council of Ministers commission, the option of equipping the aircraft with the RD-36-51 power plant was adopted.

In parallel, the MGA organization made a decision to build six Tu-144s with more fuel-efficient NK-144A engines. The modernization with new engines met the requirements for the supersonic flight range of the first stage (4-4.5 thousand km); it was planned to equip production models with RD-36-51 engines.

The first pre-production modernized Tu-144 aircraft began to be assembled in 1968 at the MMZ “Experience”. According to calculated data, NK-144 engines could provide a supersonic flight range of 3275 km, and NK-144A - 3500 km.

To improve the aerodynamic characteristics of the car, the shape of the wing was changed. The degree of sweep was changed: along the leading edge it was 76°, and along the base - 57°. Unlike “044”, the wing area was increased, and intensive conical twist of the end parts of the wing was introduced. But the main thing that improved aerodynamics was the change in the central part of the wing, which ensured self-balancing in cruising speed modes. The changes affected the length of the fuselage, which could accommodate up to 150 passengers. The improvement of aerodynamic data was facilitated by reworking the shape of the forward fuselage. The twin engines along with the engine nacelles were moved apart, thereby freeing up space in the lower part of the fuselage. This arrangement entailed changes in the chassis system: the main landing gear supports were placed under the engine nacelles, and the retraction took place inside between the air ducts of the engines.

As a result of design improvements, an increase in fuel reserves and payload, the aircraft’s take-off weight increased to 190 tons (in the “044” project this figure was 150 tons).

The first pre-production copy of the Tu-144 was released at the beginning of 1971, and its first flight took place on June 1, 1971. According to the factory test program, 231 flights were carried out, 55 flight hours were completed in supersonic mode.

On September 20, 1972, the plane flew along the route Moscow - Tashkent, which was covered in 1 hour 50 minutes. During the flight, the cruising speed of the vehicle reached 2500 km/h.

Serial production of the Tu-144 airliner was established at the Voronezh Aviation Plant.

The production model, which was equipped with NK-144A engines, was first flown on 03/20/1972. Unlike the pre-production vehicle, the wing area was slightly added, which resulted in an increase in take-off weight to 195 tons.

On June 3, 1973, the first production aircraft crashed in front of 350 thousand spectators. The crew wanted to repeat the feat of the Concorde, which had performed a “fighter” maneuver the day before - to fly over the runway and take off again. However, this could not be done. Starting from an altitude of 1200 m, the plane suddenly began to dive and, only reaching 120 m above the ground, began to slowly rise. The overload far exceeded the permissible level, as a result of which first the left wing fell off, and then the tail section. The aircraft's structure was completely destroyed. The crash occurred near a small French city Goussainville. As a result of the disaster, the entire crew of the liner and 7 local residents, 28 people were injured.

The first passenger flight with the participation of the Tu-144 took place on October 1, 1977. Until May 1978, the aircraft operated 55 passenger and 47 cargo flights.

A total of 17 copies of the Tu-144 supersonic airliner were produced, 14 of which were produced in Voronezh. The equipment for the passenger compartments was ordered from the GDR. Currently, two Tu-144 aircraft are stored in the aviation museums of Monino and Ulyanovsk.

Design

The Tu-144 is an all-metal low-wing aircraft, which was made according to the “tailless” design. The fuselage of the aircraft is made as a semi-monocoque and has a smooth working skin with stringers and a set of frames. The Tu-144 has a tricycle chassis and a nose strut.

Part power plant includes four NK-144A turbojet engines, the Tu-144D modification includes the afterburning RD-36-51A. Each of the engines has its own air intake. The air intakes are arranged in pairs. The nose landing gear retracts into the space at the front of the fuselage between the air intakes.

Variable sweep aircraft wing. The wing skin is made of aluminum alloy sheets. Titanium elevons are located on the trailing edge. They, together with the rudders, perform deflection due to irreversible boosters. The cabin is made movable like a “duck” to ensure better review during takeoff and landing of an airplane.

Most of the fuel is stored in 18 wing tanks. A balancing tank was placed at the rear of the fuselage. It receives fuel at the stage of transition from subsonic speed to supersonic. The landing could be carried out at any time of the day and in any weather conditions. A new technical solution was the debut application in the history of Soviet aircraft construction on this aircraft of an automated system for monitoring the performance of on-board systems. This in turn reduced the time and labor intensity of machine maintenance.

Tu-144 aircraft were used not only as airliners. They were involved during research solar eclipses, ozone layer, focused sonic boom. These aircraft became training centers for cosmonauts who trained under the Buran program. In 1983, test pilot S.T. Agapov set thirteen world aviation records on the Tu-144D, which have not been broken to this day.

Tu-144 characteristics:

aircraft length without PVD - 64.45 m;

wingspan - 28.8 m;

aircraft height - 12.5 m;

wing area with influx - 506.35 m2;

maximum take-off weight - 207000 kg;

empty weight of the aircraft for the 150-passenger version - 99200 kg;

cruising supersonic flight speed - 2120 km/h;

practical flight range, with commercial load:

7 tons (70 passengers) - 6200 km;

11-13 tons (110-130 passengers) - 5500-5700 km;

15 tons (150 passengers) - 5330 km.

Tu-144 video

On December 31, 1968, the experimental supersonic aircraft Tu-144 (tail number USSR-68001) made its first flight. The Tu-144 managed to take off two months earlier than its Anglo-French competitor, the Concorde airliner, which made its first flight on March 2, 1969.

Tu-144 is a supersonic passenger aircraft developed in the 1960s by the design bureau of Andrei Tupolev (now Tupolev OJSC, part of the United Aircraft Corporation).

Research into the development of a supersonic passenger aircraft (SPS) began in the late 1950s in the USA, England and France. In the early 1960s, the first preliminary designs of the SPS already appeared. This was the reason for the development of a similar aircraft in the USSR. On July 16, 1963, a decree was issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the creation of the A.N. Tupolev Design Bureau SPS Tu-144 with four jet engines and on the construction of a batch of such aircraft.” Alexey Tupolev was appointed lead designer for the aircraft (since 1973 Boris Gantsevsky, since 1979 Valentin Bliznyuk). General management was carried out by Andrey Tupolev. The development of the engine was entrusted to the Nikolai Kuznetsov Design Bureau.

When working on the project, the developers had to face a number of complex technical problems: aerodynamics, kinetic heating, elastic and thermal deformations of the structure, new lubricants and sealing materials, new life support systems for passengers and crew. The development of the design and aerodynamics of the wing required a lot of effort (200 options were studied in the wind tunnel). The use of titanium alloys in construction required the creation of new machines and welding machines. These problems, together with the Andrei Tupolev Design Bureau, were solved by specialists from the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), the Central Institute of Aviation Engine Engineering (CIAM), the Siberian Scientific Research Institute of Aviation (SibNIA) and other organizations. Since 1965, regular consultations have been held with the designers of the French company Aerospatial, which developed the Concorde SPS. During the preparation of working drawings, more than 1,000 specialists were seconded from the design bureau of Oleg Antonov and Sergei Ilyushin. When designing the aircraft, two analogue aircraft of the MiG-21I were used as a working model (now one of them is stored in the Air Force Museum in Monino).

In July 1965, the preliminary design of the Tu-144 was ready. In the same year, a model of an aircraft with a wingspan of about two meters was exhibited at the air show in Le Bourget (France). On June 22, 1966, a full-size mockup of the aircraft was approved. In parallel with the design, the experimental production of the OKB in Zhukovsky was producing two prototypes (flight and for static tests). The Voronezh and Kuibyshev aircraft factories also participated in their production.

On December 31, 1968, the crew led by test pilot Eduard Elyan took it into the air for the first time. On June 5, 1969, the prototype reached the speed of sound, and on June 26, 1970, it doubled it. For testing the Tu-144, Eduard Elyan was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Simultaneously with the flight tests, research was carried out at 80 ground stands, where all the most important design and layout solutions were worked out. With the help of these stands, for the first time in the USSR, a comprehensive system for assessing failures taking into account their consequences was developed. State tests continued until May 15, 1977. On October 29, 1977, the aircraft received an airworthiness certificate (for the first time in the USSR).

The Tu-144 was first shown at an aviation festival at Sheremetyevo Airport on May 21, 1970. In the summer of 1971, trial operation of the prototype began at Aeroflot. Flights were made from Moscow to Prague (Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic), Berlin (GDR, now Germany), Warsaw (Poland), Sofia (Bulgaria). In 1972, the Tu-144 was demonstrated at air shows in Hanover (Germany) and Budapest (Hungary).

The first production Tu-144 was assembled in the spring of 1971 in Zhukovsky. In 1972, production began at the Voronezh Aviation Plant. A total of 16 aircraft were built. Another one remained unfinished. Production aircraft differed from the prototype by having a fuselage length increased by 5.7 meters, a slightly modified wing shape and the presence of retractable front wings. The number of seats for passengers increased from 120 to 140. The first flight of the production aircraft took place on September 20, 1972 on the route Moscow - Tashkent - Moscow. In March 1975, the Moscow-Alma-Ata high-speed airline opened (mail and cargo were transported). On October 20, 1977, the first flight with passengers was carried out.

The Tu-144 is an all-metal low-wing aircraft designed according to the “tailless” design. The aircraft's wing is triangular, of low aspect ratio, and has a variable sweep angle (76° at the root and 57° at the ends of the wing). The wing skin is made of solid aluminum alloy plates. Along the entire trailing edge there are elevons made of titanium alloys. Elevons and rudders are deflected using irreversible boosters (an auxiliary device to increase the force and speed of the main mechanism).

The aircraft has four turbojet bypass engines with an afterburner NK-144A designed by Nikolai Kuznetsov's OKB (on the Tu-144D - non-afterburning RD-36-51A designed by Peter Kolesov's OKB-36), which are located close to each other under the wing. Each engine has its own separate air intake. The air intakes are grouped in pairs.

The main volume of fuel is located in 18 wing tanks. A balancing tank is installed at the rear of the fuselage. Fuel was pumped into it during flight to shift the center of mass during the transition from subsonic to supersonic speed.

The aircraft has a tricycle landing gear with a nose strut. The main supports have a two-axle eight-wheel bogie. All wheels are equipped with brakes. The supports are retracted forward along the flight into niches between the air intake channels.

The cockpit is integrated into the contours of the fuselage and does not have the usual protruding canopy. Therefore, the forward unsealed part of the fuselage with the radar and antenna systems tilts down during takeoff and landing, opening the cockpit windshields for visual viewing. To improve takeoff and landing characteristics, a retractable front horizontal tail was used.

To increase the reliability of operation on the aircraft, quadruple redundancy of all major systems was used. An on-board electronic computer was used to control the aircraft. The landing approach could be carried out automatically at any time of the day and in any weather. For the first time in the USSR, an automatic control system was used on the Tu-144. technical condition on-board systems, allowing to reduce the labor intensity of maintenance. Baggage on the plane was placed in containers in the luggage compartments.

Basic technical data of the serial SPS Tu-144D:

The length of the aircraft without PVD is 64.45 m;

Wingspan - 28.8 m;

Aircraft height - 12.5 m;

Wing area with overflow - 506.35 sq. m;

Maximum take-off weight - 207000 kg;

The empty weight of the aircraft for the 150-passenger version is 99,200 kg;

Cruising supersonic flight speed - 2120 km/h;

Practical flight range, with commercial load:

7 tons (70 passengers) - 6200 km;

11-13 tons (110-130 passengers) - 5500-5700 km;

15 tons (150 passengers) - 5330 km.

Crew - 4 people.

The main disadvantages of the Tu-144 aircraft were the high cost of production and operation, increased noise, and it was not economical and consumed a large amount of fuel.

The creation and development of the Tu-144 became the largest and most complex program in the history of Soviet aircraft construction. As a result of long work, it was possible to create aircraft of the highest world class, in its fundamentals flight performance not inferior to the corresponding aircraft created in the West.

However, fate was unfair to the unique car. The first major failure was the crash on June 3, 1973, during a demonstration flight at the Le Bourget air show, in which 14 people were killed - six crew members and eight Frenchmen on the ground - and 25 were injured.

May 23, 1978 - an improved prototype version of the aircraft, Tu-144D, equipped with improved engines, flew forced landing near Yegoryevsk near Moscow due to a fire caused by the destruction of one of the fuel lines. Two of the seven crew members on board were killed.

On June 1, 1978, Aeroflot management decided to cancel Tu-144 passenger flights. In addition to the disasters, the fate of the Tu-144 was affected by its commercial unprofitability.

One of the improved Tu-144Ds was used for some time on the Moscow-Khabarovsk line to deliver urgent cargo. In total, the Tu-144 made 102 flights under the Aeroflot flag, 55 of which were passenger flights.

Until the mid-1990s, Tu-144 aircraft were used for various tests, as well as for research into the ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere, solar eclipses, and focused sonic boom. Cosmonauts undergoing training under the Buran program trained on the Tu-144. In July 1983, the Tu-144D set 13 world aviation records.

From 1995 to 1999, one significantly modified Tu-144D (No. 77114) called Tu-144LL was used by the American space agency NASA for research in the field of high-speed commercial flights in order to develop a plan for the creation of a new, modern supersonic passenger aircraft.

The experience gained during the creation of the Tu-144 was used in the development of heavy supersonic aircraft Tu-22M and Tu-160.

At the request of the Ministry of Science and by decision of the MAP, several aircraft were installed as exhibits on the territory of the Air Force Museum in Monino, the museum civil aviation in Ulyanovsk, aircraft factories in Voronezh, Kazan and Samara. One aircraft was sold to a private technology museum in Sinheim (Germany).

Several aircraft were melted down in the 1990s.

Two aircraft TU-144LL No. 77114, which was used for NASA tests, and TU-144D No. 77115 are stored at the airfield in Zhukovsky. One of them was exhibited at the MAKS air show, most recently in 2013.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Tu-144 is a supersonic passenger aircraft created in the USSR in the late 60s. It was put into production and was used for some time for commercial passenger transportation. In the USSR, very high hopes were placed on the Tu-144 - this machine was supposed to connect the regions of a huge country, and later reach international routes. However, this did not happen.

The Tu-144 is undoubtedly a legendary and unique aircraft. This is the first passenger aircraft in the world with supersonic speed. At the same time, another supersonic jet passenger aircraft was being created - the legendary Anglo-French Concorde. In fact, the development of these two aircraft was another competition of the era Cold War. Soviet designers were in no way inferior to their Western counterparts, but the project of the Soviet supersonic aircraft lost to Concorde economically.

Flights on supersonic planes were very expensive, and in the USSR, as you know, there were no rich people. The tickets covered only a small part of the cost of fuel and maintenance of these aircraft. The Western passenger was ready to pay for comfort and speed, which is why the Concordes became a successful commercial project, and the Tu-144 soon sank into oblivion. For comparison, we can give two figures: during the entire period of operation, the Tupolev aircraft carried 3,284 passengers, and the Concorde - more than 2.5 million.

The Tu-144 was used as a passenger airliner for less than a year; later the aircraft were used for other purposes, they were used for testing or transporting urgent cargo over long distances. A total of sixteen aircraft were produced (twenty Concordes were made), the last flight of the Tu-144 took place in 1999.

Tu-144 set 13 world records.

History of creation

The 50s and 60s of the last century became an era of rapid development of jet aviation. In 1947, the American experimental aircraft Bell X-1 was able to break the sound barrier. In the mid-50s, the USSR and the USA began to create serial fighters with supersonic speed.

In the mid-60s, the technologies for creating such machines had already been tested and designers were seriously thinking about creating passenger aircraft with supersonic speed. Then it was truly the call of the times. In addition, the use of such machines promised significant advantages to airlines: flight time was reduced, and there was no need to make intermediate landings to refuel the aircraft.

Create supersonic passenger airliner turned out to be a very difficult technical task. The Americans, having weighed all the pros and cons, abandoned this idea, recognizing it as inappropriate. In Europe, the development of such a passenger aircraft was carried out by the British (Bristol 223 project) and the French (Super-Caravelle project). In 1962, they decided to join forces, and the joint project of a supersonic airliner was named “Concord” (“Concord”). The Soviet Union also became interested in such an aircraft, especially since the Europeans made no secret of their developments - mock-ups of future airliners were exhibited at international aerospace shows.

In the USSR, the creation of a supersonic passenger airliner was entrusted to the Tupolev design bureau, whose specialists had the richest experience in building jet passenger aircraft. In addition, it was the Tupolevites who created the Tu-22 bomber, which had supersonic speed.

In 1963, a resolution of the Council of Ministers appeared, which ordered the creation of a passenger airliner with a flight range of 4000-4500 km, a cruising speed of 2300-2700 km/h and a passenger capacity of 80-100 people.

The appearance of a supersonic passenger airliner in the USSR became a real world sensation. In 1971, the Tu-144 performed several test flights between Moscow, Sofia, Berlin and Paris. During this period, experimental operation of this aircraft began at Aeroflot.

Serial production of the vehicle was launched at the Voronezh Aircraft Plant.

Description of design

The Tu-144 is an all-metal monoplane with a low wing, manufactured according to the “tailless” design. The fuselage is semi-monocoque, with skin supported by stringers and frames. The landing gear is tricycle, there is a nose strut.

The aircraft's power plant included four turbojet engines NK-144A or RD-36-51A, which were arranged in pairs. Each engine had its own air intake. The engine nozzles protruded beyond the edge of the wing.

The fuselage of the aircraft was conventionally divided into three parts: nose, central and tail. The nose section housed the cockpit, its canopy was integrated into the contours of the fuselage and the nose fairing, which could be raised and lowered. In the central part of the liner there were passenger cabins, which, together with the bow, formed a single whole. In the tail section of the Tu-144 there was a fuel tank-caisson, and at its tip there was a container for a braking parachute.

The aircraft's wing had a variable sweep angle, it was 76° at the root and 57° at its ends. The wing skin is made of special aluminum alloy plates. At the trailing edge of the wing there are elevons made of titanium alloy.

The cabin of the aircraft was made lowering to improve visibility during takeoff and landing. The cabin was raised and lowered using a hydraulic drive.

The fuel was located in 18 fuel tanks located in the wings of the airliner. The Tu-144 also had a special balancing tank installed at the rear of the fuselage. It took in fuel as the aircraft transitioned from subsonic to supersonic flight.

The Tu-144 was controlled using an on-board computer; the landing approach was automatic in any weather and at any time of the day. The automation also monitored the status and operation of all on-board systems, which was new for the Soviet aircraft industry.

The aircraft's landing gear consisted of a nose strut with two wheels and two main struts with four twin bogies.

An interesting feature of the Tu-144 was the front retractable horizontal tail unit (FH), which was located in the front part of the fuselage, immediately behind the cockpit. The PGO created additional lift and increased the maneuverability of the aircraft. Also using horizontal tail it was possible to reduce speed more quickly when landing, which allowed the Tu-144 to use shorter runways.

The crew of the Tu-144 consisted of three people. Passenger capacity ranged from 98 to 150 people, depending on the modification of the liner.

Aircraft operation

One of the most important (and most tragic) days in the history of the Tu-144 was June 3, 1973. On this day, the first Tu-144 crashed during a demonstration flight in Le Bourget. The tragedy happened in front of 350 thousand spectators.

The disaster occurred near the French town of Goussainville. Five crew members, seven local residents were killed, and almost thirty people were injured.

The Soviet airliner was trying to demonstrate the maneuver that the Concorde had performed the day before - flying over the runway and then gaining altitude again. However, it did not work out as planned: the plane began to dive sharply, and at an altitude of 120 meters it began to fall apart. First one wing fell off, then the tail section. Then the structure of the liner collapsed completely.

The causes of the disaster have not been fully clarified to this day. There is a version that the crew was forced to make a sharp maneuver to avoid a collision with the Mirage fighter, which was photographing the Tu-144 in flight.

According to another hypothesis, the aircraft's control system failed during the maneuver. Many years later, one of the leaders of the Tupolev Design Bureau admitted in an interview with journalists that there were some untested blocks on the plane.

There is also a version that during the maneuver one of the crew members’ camera fell out of his hands, blocking the steering column, but this is not confirmed by the flight recorder records.

IN official conclusion it is indicated that the disaster could have been caused by a person falling in the cabin of the airliner, but it is emphasized that no material evidence of this was ever found.

As a result, the causes of the disaster were said to be unknown, and the pilots were buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Despite the 1973 crash, the Tu-144 was shown at the Le Bourget air show in both 1975 and 1977.

During Secretary General Brezhnev's visit to France in 1977, he was shown the Concorde, which by that time was operating international and intercontinental flights (Rio de Janeiro and Bahrain). After arriving home, Brezhnev ordered the start of commercial operation of the Tu-144 in the USSR.

Even earlier, work began on increasing the flight range of the aircraft. The Tu-144 was equipped with new, more economical RD-36-51A engines. The modification of the aircraft was named Tu-144D. On December 26, 1975, the liner made its first flight from Moscow to Alma-Ata, carrying mail. At the end of 1977, passenger transportation began.

The most experienced pilots were selected to pilot the aircraft; they had previously undergone special training. They also hired the most beautiful flight attendants to work on the Tu-144.

Two planes flew on the route Moscow - Almaty, they were equipped with NK-144A engines, which allowed the Tu-144 to fly no more than 3 thousand km. The cost of a ticket for a Tu-144 was 80 rubles, while the price of a ticket for a regular plane was 62 rubles.

The fuel supply was barely enough to reach the destination; the pilots had no reserves. If for some reason the plane was denied landing in Almaty (and at the reserve airport in Tashkent), then there would be nowhere to land the plane. Each flight of the Tu-144 turned into a real test for both the pilots and the aviation authorities.

The Soviet leadership had serious plans for the Tu-144. They wanted to launch the modification of the Tu-144D on the routes Moscow - Khabarovsk, and then bring it to international flights. However, this was not destined to come true.

On May 23, 1978, an experimental Tu-144D aircraft crashed. Due to the destruction of the fuel line, the third engine caught fire and smoke filled the cabin. The crew made an emergency landing. As a result of this incident, two flight engineers were killed; they were unable to leave the plane after landing.

On July 31, 1980, another emergency situation occurred with the Tu-144D, which almost ended tragically. On supersonic speed one of the engines was destroyed. The crew managed to land the car, and the engines were sent for modification. During testing they again showed unsatisfactory performance. In addition, there was a change of power in the country - Brezhnev died, and the new government leadership was skeptical about the new aircraft project. In the end, it was decided to continue carrying out transportation with simpler and cheaper subsonic aircraft, and the Tu-144 project was closed.

For some time, the airliners were used to deliver urgent cargo and conduct test flights. Pilots involved in the program of the first (and last) Soviet shuttle, Buran, even trained on the Tu-144.

The main reason for the termination of the Tu-144 project was not technical problems or even disasters, but its economic unprofitability. Even for the Soviet Union, where they were not too fond of counting money, the operation of this airliner was too expensive and pointless.

With old engines, its flight range was about 3 thousand km, which was very short for a high-speed supersonic aircraft. On long routes the airliner had to make landings to refuel - this negated all its advantages. After all, the essence of creating such a machine was to make fast non-stop flights between distant settlements. For comparison: the Concorde's flight range exceeded 6,400 km. But the RD-36-51A engine, which provided a flight range of up to 5300 km, was never brought to fruition.

In addition, the cost of tickets for the Tu-144 did not even to a small extent cover the costs of flights and maintenance of the aircraft. The country's leadership did not want to take more money from Soviet citizens (and they didn't have any), so the airliner became just an expensive toy, another proof of the achievements of Soviet designers.

Tu-144 – research laboratory

In the mid-90s, the passenger airliner took part in a research program that the Tupolev Design Bureau conducted jointly with the Americans. NASA has been studying the possibility of creating a new generation of supersonic airliner.

For research, the Tu-144LL aircraft was used, which was a highly modernized version of the Tu-144D. It was equipped with new NK-32-1 engines to replace the RD-36-51A, which had long been out of production.

The Americans were interested in many issues related to flying at high speeds: studying the temperature of the skin and the structure of the airliner, the operation of the power plant, assessing the stability and controllability of the aircraft in different flight modes, friction coefficients and much more. In addition, customers studied the characteristics of the atmosphere at high altitudes, the degree of exposure of the crew and passengers to cosmic radiation, and ways to protect the cabin and interiors from the noise of on-board systems.

It is often said that the Soviet Tu-144 aircraft is a clone or copy of the Concorde. It is not true. These machines are very different both structurally and even externally. The Tupolev aircraft is much more powerful, it has a greater take-off weight and is capable of carrying more passengers. The Tu-144 has a number of interesting technical features (for example, PGO). This allowed the Soviet airliner to use shorter runways.

However, at the same time, the Tu-144 was inferior to its competitor in the most important characteristic - flight range.

After the 2000 disaster, Concorde was also taken out of service. The era of passenger supersonic aircraft is suspended. However, we can confidently say that humanity will return to the idea of ultra-fast passenger flights, but this will happen at another stage of scientific and technological progress. Today, work in this direction is being carried out in several countries around the world.

Characteristics

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Modification
Weight, kg
empty plane	91800
normal takeoff	150000
maximum takeoff	195000
engine's type	4 NK-144A turbofan engines
Max. speed, km/h	2500 (M=2.35)
Cruising speed, km/h	2200
Practical ceiling, m	18000-20000

Many Western experts saw Tu 144 only a copy of the English-French Concorde, but the Soviet airliner is heavier, much more powerful and faster. The aircraft, manufactured in the Soviet Union, was superior in a number of technical aspects to similar developments that were still at the design stage in the West.

The history of the creation of the Tu 144 aircraft

Not commercial considerations or experience international airlines, and the vast expanses of the Soviet Union became the rationale for the emergence Tu 144. It has been calculated that each flight creates an average time savings of 24.9 hours, which is important for passengers such as doctors, scientists and military officers. Only supersonic airliners could increase this savings to 36 hours. This provided the basis for the production of 75 aircraft.

The order was entrusted to the OKB department, which was headed by A.A. Tupolev in July 1963. At OKB N.D. Kuznetsov developed a new NK-144 engine, made of high-strength materials that can withstand high temperatures and equipped with an afterburner chamber with an adjustable nozzle.

At the Mikoyan Design Bureau at the base MiG-21 built A-144– flying analogue Tu-144, the wing of which is a smaller copy of the wing of a supersonic airliner. Test flights on the analogue confirmed that new car can do without horizontal tail.

On the last day of 1968, accompanied by an analogue aircraft A-144 the first prototype flew for the first time Tu-144- much earlier than Concorde. The crew is test pilot E. Elyan and right pilot M. Kozlov, engineer Yu. Seliverstov and head of flight tests V. Benderov.

On June 5, 1969, the speed M=1 was exceeded. At the end of May 1970, they reached speed M=2 at an altitude of 16,300 m.

Finally, the car reached a speed of M=2.4 with a calculated cruising speed of M=2.35 (2500 km/h). Of course, this prototype is far from a passenger car, since the interior of the cabin was filled with testing equipment, and the crew members sat in ejection seats under shootable hatches.

After the demonstration Tu-144 at Sheremetyevo on May 21, 1970, nothing was heard about this project until the appearance of the first production aircraft in 1973. To the surprise of many, the plane was almost completely rebuilt.

Description of the design of the Tu 144 aircraft

Aerodynamic design Tu-144- this is a low-wing aircraft without horizontal tail, the fin with a rudder was located along the axis of the aircraft, engines were installed below the wing, the landing gear was two main struts with four wheels and one two-wheeled front one.

The new wing had leading edges formed by two straight lines, with trapezoidal tips, in addition, it received a pronounced twist and curvature with curved leading and trailing edges, especially at the tips. Wing area expanded to 438 m 2 . The elevons with a redesigned control system were extended to the tips and modified.

Titanium alloys were used in large quantities in the wing design, the areas of honeycomb cladding and stiffening elements were increased, and there were more welds instead of rivets. The fuselage was lengthened by 6.3 m.

The power plant was completely reconstructed, the left and right engine nacelles (two engines each) were moved apart. The air intakes were redone, changing their profile. The engines were moved to the rear of the vehicle, so that the nozzles protruded beyond the wing edge.

The front landing gear was lengthened and moved 9.6 m to the nose, retracting forward into an unpressurized niche. The main landing gear was converted into eight-wheeled trolleys, attached to trusses in the engine nacelles and retracted forward with a rotation of 90 0 between the air intake tracts.

A completely new and most noticeable element was the addition of a retractable high-lift front horizontal tail unit. This folding wing was attached to the top of the fuselage behind the cockpit.

The main volume of fuel is located in the wing caissons, and in the rear part of the hull there is a balancing tank, used to pump fuel into it from other tanks to eliminate a strong alignment shift during the transition from subsonic speed to supersonic and vice versa.

U Tu-144 characteristic difference - glazed, retractable bow body, providing pilots with visibility at high angles of attack during takeoff and landing, which is typical for a low aspect ratio wing. This lowering part does not in any way violate the tightness of the crew compartment, but the interface with the fuselage skin is made in such a way that the smoothness of the joint is preserved.

The cockpit accommodated three crew members, two pilots in front, and a flight engineer slightly behind them. The on-board computer and autopilot maintained the specified flight parameters, the display showed the location of the aircraft and the rest of the route to the arrival point. Automation brought the plane onto the landing glide path in difficult weather conditions, day and night.

The three cabins of the liner could easily accommodate 150 passengers. There was a luggage compartment at the tail of the plane, the passage between the seats was free, and was 1.93 meters high.

Flight characteristics of the Tu 144 aircraft

Wing span – 28.8 m.
The length of the aircraft is 64.45 m.
The height of the aircraft is 12.5 m.
Wing area – 506.35 m 2 .
The empty weight of the aircraft (150 pax version) is 99.2 tons.
Maximum take-off weight – 207 tons.
Supersonic cruising speed is 2120 km/h.
Range with commercial load: 7 tons (70 passengers) – 6200 km.

11 – 13 t. (110 – 130 passengers) – 5500 – 5700 km.

15 tons (150 passengers) – 5330 km.

Interesting facts about the Tu 144 aircraft

An interesting solution for Tu-144– this is the use of the front horizontal tail in takeoff and landing modes. The release of the PGO and the part of the hull deflected in front made it possible to reduce the landing speed to normal.

At engines Tu144 there was no reverse - this was compensated for by powerful chassis cooling fans and a braking parachute.

Two sad facts: on June 3, 1973, at an air show in France, there was a dangerous collision between a plane and a Mirage fighter. Having performed a collision avoidance maneuver too quickly, Tu-144 fell on residential areas. The crew members were killed and 8 people in the city with them, 25 residents were injured.

During the next tests on May 23, 1978, a fire occurred in the fuel supply system. The pilots had to land on the first available field, two crew members were pinched by fragments of the aircraft structure and could not be saved, the remaining six people remained alive, the plane was completely burned out.

Tu-144 became the first passenger airliner to reach supersonic speed.

Fatal flaw Tu-144 there was a constant noise in passenger compartment during supersonic cooling of the air conditioning system.

High top speed Tu-144 Unlike "Concord", was a compelling factor for its use as NASA's flying laboratory.

Video: Tu 144 take off

Photo from "Tu-144 in Almaty". Tu-144S - USSR-77106 (transport flights to Alma-Ata, USSR-77109, USSR-77110 ( passenger flights)
“Tickets for the Tu-144 cost twenty rubles more than for a regular flight (68 versus 48); according to other sources, tickets cost six rubles more. A regular flight to Moscow cost 62-50, “flight 500” on Wednesdays on Tu -144 - 68-50. One of the lucky ones who flew on the TU-144 recalls that the first passengers at Domodedovo airport were seen off like cosmonauts... On June 1, 1978, just seven months after the start of commercial operation, Aeroflot ceased forever supersonic passenger flights. The immediate reason for this was the crash of a prototype Tu-144D that occurred on May 23, 1978. But, most likely, the Ministry of Civil Aviation did not want to deal with such complex machines anymore and bring them to fruition - there were too many problems... " http://max-sky.livejournal.com/3935.html

Original taken from oboguev in Tu-144, part 2

After project termination

The USSR government decree of July 1, 1983 on the termination of the Tu-144 program also established that the produced Tu-144 aircraft could be used as flying laboratories.

Tu-144s were indeed used in this capacity. Since 1985, the Tu-144D has been used to train pilots of the Soviet space shuttle Buran. In 1986-1988 Tu-144D No. 77114 was used for medical and biological studies of the radiological situation in the upper layers of the atmosphere. Further planned research on this topic was canceled due to lack of funding.

In 1996-1999 Tu-144LL No. 77114 was used as a flying laboratory for experiments conducted by NASA together with Russian and American enterprises aviation industry to develop technologies intended for a second-generation supersonic passenger aircraft. (NASA's High Speed Civil Transport program ended in 1999 due to lack of economic prospects for this category of aircraft.)

Due to the unclear condition of the aircraft's engines after it had been in storage for a long time, it was decided to replace them. Since the RD-36-51 engines were no longer produced, NK-321 engines produced for the Tu-160 bomber were installed on board 77114, which also required the installation of larger engine nacelles. The Tu-144LL made a total of 27 flights in 1996-1997.

Immediately after the termination of the Tu-144 program in 1983, Tu-144 No. 77114 (aka aircraft 101 or 08-2) made flights on July 13-20, 1983, in which it set 13 world records registered with the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI) . A list of records can be found in the FAI database available online. In short, these records set the maximum altitude reached at 18,200 meters with a set of loads ranging up to 30 tons, and speed when flying in a closed loop up to 2,000 km long. at 2032 km/h at the same load range.

The point about loads is probably not of great significance, because the increase in payload was almost certainly compensated by a decrease in the weight of the refueled fuel, in order to maintain the total take-off weight of the aircraft within the limits provided for by the regular flight regime and technical characteristics. This is indicated not only by the coincidence of ceiling figures for all declared loads, but also by common sense: it would be difficult to imagine an aircraft unexpectedly carrying a load three times greater than it was designed to carry, while simultaneously carrying a maximum fuel load. Further, the closed-loop speed records recorded by the FAI cover a range of loop lengths up to 2000 km, but do not go further: the fact that the USSR did not attempt to provide record records for longer loop lengths indicates that the aircraft was carrying only a partial load of fuel.

However, the figures stated in the recorded records appear to be low, and it seems doubtful that they truly represent the maximum achievable by the aircraft. To put these numbers into perspective, Concorde's ceiling for scheduled commercial flights with a typical trans-Atlantic load of about 10 tons is set at 60,000 feet (18,290 meters), higher than the record set by the Tu-144D, however Concorde can certainly fly higher than the ceiling for commercial flights. if the goal was to set a record. According to sources requiring verification, during a test flight on March 26, 1974, Concorde reached a maximum speed of 2,370 km/h (1,480 mph, Mach 2.23) at an altitude of 63,700 feet (19.4 km), and on subsequent test flights it rose to an altitude of 68,000 feet (20.7 km). It remains unclear why the maximum altitude achievable on the Tu-144D should be less than the height of regular commercial flights of the Concorde, given that the Tupolev Design Bureau claims a higher lift-to-drag ratio of the Tu-144D than the Concorde (8.0). -8.1 versus 7.3-7.7 at speed M 2.x), and the thrust of the RD-36-51 engines installed on the Tu-144D exceeds the thrust of the Olympus 593 Concorde engines.

It should be noted that although Concorde has set more than 170 world records since its first flight in 1969, it apparently has not registered any records in the closed-loop flight category, but it remains unclear why the sustained speed of 2032 km/h (M1. 91) declared as a record for the Tu-144D is lower than even the cruising speed of the Concorde M2.02 up to 2.05 used during commercial flights, not to mention the maximum cruising speed of the M2.2 provided by design, or the maximum speed achieved during test flights (cited .unverified source) M2.23.

It should be noted that both the Tu-144 and the Concorde are limited in their maximum speed not by air flow resistance or engine thrust, but by the heating of the airframe in a supersonic flow, and by the limitations of the structural integrity of the airframe built from aluminum alloys, despite the fact that the alloys used in both airplanes are very similar in their characteristics. The Tu-144 prototype (aircraft #68001) may have had a slight advantage in the temperatures it could withstand, because about 15-20% of its elements were made of titanium. Indeed, Tu-144 No. 68001, during one of the test flights on May 15, 1968, briefly reached a speed of 2443 km/h (M2.26). However, the use of titanium has been sharply reduced in serial aircraft

Tu-144 and Tu-144S/D are made almost entirely of aluminum alloys.

Considering that the alloys used in both aircraft are almost identical in characteristics, and that the aerodynamics and thermodynamics of the critical surfaces of both aircraft are very similar, one would expect that the speeds developed by both aircraft with the same level of structural safety would also be the same.

NASA's Tu-144LL page states that the Tu-144D, equipped with Kolesov RD-36-51 engines, could reach a cruising speed of M2.15 at an altitude of 59,000 feet and had an absolute ceiling of 62,000 feet (18,900 meters). After aircraft 77114 was re-equipped with NK-321 engines in 1996, the cruising speed increased to more than M2.3.

Military versions under development

The earliest configurations of the Tu-144 were based on the unbuilt Tu-135 bomber and retained its wings, pre-wings and engine nacelles. In the initial phase of development of a supersonic passenger aircraft, the project was codenamed Tu-135P, before it received the name Tu-144. Throughout the Tu-144 project, the Tupolev Design Bureau carried out the initial development of a number of military versions of the Tu-144. Neither of these versions were built., when accelerating the aircraft to maximum speed before releasing the rocket. The initial version of the Tu-144R was based on the Tu-144S, but was later redesigned to use the Tu-144D as a basis. Another version of the Tu-144R carried cruise missiles similar to the Kh-55; The afterburner of the engines was powered by liquid hydrogen. The NK-144 engine with cryogenic afterburner has passed bench tests.

At the end of the 1970s. Tupolev began developing the DP-2 long-range heavy interceptor based on the Tu-144D, which was also supposed to accompany bombers on long-distance routes. This project was later developed into the Tu-144PP electronic countermeasures aircraft designed to jam radars and help bombers penetrate enemy air defense systems. In the early 1980s, these functions were complemented by strategic reconnaissance and theater reconnaissance capabilities (Tu-144PR). The gloomier the civilian prospects of the Tu-144 became, the more actively the Tupolev Design Bureau tried to “sell” the aircraft to the military. One of the last attempts to “sell” the Tu-144 to the military was the project of the Tu-144MR long-range reconnaissance aircraft for the Soviet Navy. Such a reconnaissance aircraft was supposed to transmit target designation to ships and submarines of the Navy in ocean and sea theaters of military operations. Another proposed version included strike capabilities (two X-45 air-to-surface cruise missiles) along with reconnaissance functions.

The military remained impervious to Tupolev's attempts. Vasily Reshetnikov, who was then the commander of Soviet long-range aviation and then deputy commander of the Soviet Air Force, recalls how in 1972 he was painfully impressed by Tupolev’s attempts to sell for military use an aircraft that “in its technical and flight characteristics did not reach the specified levels, sinned at a low level reliability, was uneconomical and difficult to operate."

Reshetnikov continues to recall:

But the passenger supersonic aircraft, it seems, did not go well and could, to the horror of its curator, upset Brezhnev’s expectations, after which Dmitry Fedorovich seized on someone’s happy idea of palming off the “unwed Aeroflot bride” to the military. Having found herself rejected in the guise of a bomber, she was offered through the military-industrial complex to Long-Range Aviation as a reconnaissance aircraft or a jammer aircraft, or even both. It was clear to me that these aircraft would not be able to interface with any combat formations of bombers and missile carriers, and I could not imagine them in the form of single “flying Dutchmen” in combat conditions and therefore decisively abandoned them.

The Commander of the Navy Aviation, Alexander Alekseevich Mironenko, with whom we always maintained “family ties,” did the same.

But it was not there! One day D.F. Ustinov persuaded the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy S.G. Gorshkov, and he, without consulting anyone, agreed to adopt the Tu-144 into naval aviation as a long-range naval reconnaissance aircraft. Mironenko rebelled, but the commander-in-chief took the bit between his teeth and the issue was resolved. Having learned about this, I was seriously alarmed: since they took Mironenko, they will impose it on me too. I call Alexander Alekseevich, urging him to take decisive steps, but he already gives no rest to his commander-in-chief. Finally, Ustinov finds out about Mironenko’s riot and calls him to his place. The conversation was long and tense, but Alexander Alekseevich still managed to prove to the Minister of Defense that his insistence was unjustified. The Tu-144 never appeared anywhere else.

Some Myths and Misconceptions

The Landing Speed Myth

“The Tu-144 could land and take off at 18 airports in the USSR, while Concorde, whose takeoff landing speed was 15% higher, each airport required a separate landing certificate.”

This often quoted myth goes back to the statement of Tupolev designer A.L. Pukhov in an interview with Ogonyok magazine:

“The front wing is a unique invention of our craftsmen. I did a lot on this plane, but, unfortunately, I was not involved in this brilliant solution. What's the genius of this thing? In a hundred years of aviation, no one could come up with such a front wing?

The Concorde's takeoff and landing speed is 15 percent greater than that of the Tu-144. He must have a landing certificate for each airfield. And the Tu-144 landed at eighteen airports in the Soviet Union, we didn’t have these problems. Because of which? Due to the fact that the brilliant Tupolev team invented such “rabbit ears” in the nose: they fit very well in flight and are invisible at supersonic speed. That is, the result was a smooth nose. But upon landing they stick out and stand there. And this wing produces very powerful lift.”

Alas, all parts of this statement are not confirmed in the available aviation documents and known facts, starting with the claim that the Tu-144 had a lower landing speed than the Concorde. A NASA report on test flights carried out on the Tu-144LL, which examined the characteristics of the aircraft during landing and its interaction with the ground air cushion, indicates the range of final approach speeds at which tests were carried out from 170 to 181 knots (315- 335 km/h), however it should be borne in mind that these were test flights that investigated precisely the limiting regimes in which the maximum sustained speed was “squeezed out”, regardless of the landing hardness and with the assumption of test risks.

As for regular landings, the FAA circular indicates the approach speed for the Tu-144C at 178 knots (330 km/h), and for the Concorde (BAC/Aerospatiale Concord(e)) at 162 knots (300 km/h). h), apparently based on the characteristics declared by aircraft manufacturers to aviation regulatory authorities Western countries, however, the question remains to what extent the Tu-144S remained stable at a given landing speed. In any case, when NASA contracted the Tupolev bureau to conduct research flights on the Tu-144LL, the landing procedure established by the Tupolev Design Bureau for these flights (except for flights in which the ground effect was specifically studied) provided for an approach at a speed of approximately 360 km/h, depending from the weight of the remaining fuel supply.

Brian Calvert, Concorde's technical flight manager and Concorde's first commercial pilot on several inaugural flights, indicates that Concorde's typical approach speed was 155 to 160 knots, i.e. from 287 to 296 km/h.

Thus, if the usual landing speed of the Tu-144 was 330 km/h or more, then the usual landing speed of the Concorde was 290-300 km/h.

Pukhov's claim that Concorde's landing speed was 15% greater than that of the Tu-144 is therefore incorrect; in fact, the opposite picture took place: the landing speed of the Tu-144 was 10-15% higher than that of the Concorde.

For these reasons, it is also not true that the Tu-144 was potentially capable of landing in more airports than Concorde. Reflecting this circumstance, the FAA circular cited above classifies the Concorde as an aircraft that could be certified for airports of category D-III (landing speed from 141 to 165 knots), and the Tupolev Tu-144 only for the much narrower airports of category E-III (166 and more units, mainly military and experimental aircraft fall into this category). It should also be borne in mind that the possibility of landing an aircraft on a runway is determined not only by its length, but also by its smoothness. The Concorde's landing gear had a double hydraulic shock absorber to ensure the softest possible landing on not too smooth runways (and the Concorde landed on many airfields in the world, significantly more than 18). Design features The Tu-144 chassis is not described in the literature, although Western sources sporadically mention that individual complex blocks of the Concorde chassis were copied over time by the Tu-144.

Concorde's lower landing speed is ensured by Concorde's more developed wing profile than that of the Tu-144. The wing profile of the Tu-144 was rougher and optimized for supersonic flight. The Concorde's wing profile provided higher lift at low speeds without sacrificing supersonic cruise performance - this feature is often mentioned in Western literature and is also recognized by Tupolev's designers (see Bliznyuk, p. 66).

Pukhov’s statement that "the front wing is a unique invention of our (Tupolev) craftsmen". Folding canards appeared in the Tu-144C released in 1972; they were absent in the Tu-144 prototype (aircraft 68001), which also did not have fixed canards. The canards themselves (slats) were used on aircraft decades before the development of the Tu-144. Many supersonic aircraft those developed before the Tu-144 had fixed (non-retractable) slats, in particular the B-70 Valkyrie aircraft, which had been developed since 1956 and made its first flight in 1964. The Sukhoi Design Bureau T-4 bomber, which copied many of the aerodynamic solutions of the Valkyrie and made its first flight in 1972 (developed from 1962-63), also had slats. The supersonic passenger aircraft Boeing 2707-200 (1968) designed by Boeing also had fixed slats. Slats were present in the designs of Myasishchev's M-53 supersonic passenger aircraft (1958), Myasishchev's M-56 (1957), M-59K (1959) and M-30 (1959) bombers. Fixed slats were also present in the Tupolev projects of the Tu-125 and Tu-135 bombers (1958-mid-60s) and in the Tu-135P project developed on the basis of the latter, which formed the initial composition during the development of the Tu-144.

Retractable slats first appeared on the Dassault Milan Mirage III (beginning of development in 1968, first flight in 1970) and on the F-14A, designs for which with retractable slats were published in Flight International magazine in January-March 1969, several years later. years before the appearance of retractable slats in the Tu-144S.

Thus, Pukhov’s statement that “the front wing is a unique invention of Tupolev’s craftsmen”, is incorrect.

Pukhov’s statement that canards (slats) is also incorrect or inaccurate "create powerful lifting force". In fact, the lifting force of canards compared to a wing is negligible due to their small size, and the absence of vortex lift only enhances this difference. The main purpose of canards during landing is to counteract the nose-down nose-down nosedown of the aircraft when the flaps are extended downwards, which increase the lifting force; those. The canards are not designed to hold the aircraft together as a whole, but to help balance it (it should also be borne in mind that a key element of balancing supersonic aircraft is the transfer of fuel from the front tanks to the rear or vice versa, and the elevons play a corrective role around the balance given by the mass fuel distribution). In fact, canards are more significant when an airplane is taking off than when landing.

The myth of titanium construction

In the same interview, Pukhov makes another incorrect statement:

“The airframe structure is 20% titanium. There is still not a single machine like this in the world, but we did it in the 60s.”

Only the Tu-144 prototype airframe (aircraft No. 68001) had a significant amount of titanium parts (15-20%). In production aircraft Tu-144S and Tu-144D, the use of titanium was very small; the aircraft were made almost entirely of aluminum alloys; Only the leading edges of the wing, elevons, rudder and the bottom of the rear fuselage (heated by the jet stream from the engines located close to the fuselage) were made of titanium and stainless steel. At the same time, there were aircraft in the world made with significant use of titanium: the B-70 was made of titanium back in the 50s, the A-12 and SR-71 in the 60s, the F-14 in the 70s.

The Myth of Engine Positioning

“According to some experts, if the Concorde engines had been placed in the same way as the Tu-144, then the accident on July 25, 2000 would not have happened.”

The Concorde accident on July 25, 2000 was caused by the fact that a titanium part of the thrust reverse flap (installed by the airline on the DC-10 without the approval of the aircraft manufacturer) fell off from a DC-10 aircraft taking off in front of the Concorde. A metal part that fell on the runway cut the landing gear tire of the Concorde taking off after the DC-10, and heavy pieces of rubber hit the Concorde’s wing. The dynamic impact caused the destruction of the gas tank located in the wing - not at the point of impact, but at some distance from it, as well as rupture of electrical wires and sparking. What exactly would have happened in this situation if the Concorde’s chassis had been positioned like the Tu-144’s cannot be said with certainty, of course, but heavy pieces of rubber would have hit the Tu-144 engine nacelle and could have caused destruction to the engine, or the fuel line, or pipes turbine gas outlets, with equally catastrophic consequences. Thus, the claim made by the myth is unfounded.

Following analysis of the Concorde disaster, the lower interior of the Concorde's tanks was reinforced with a Kevlar drainage layer, which prevents such failures without adding significant weight.

In addition, the engine arrangement adopted on the Tu-144 close to the fuselage (and even more so the package arrangement adopted on the 68001 prototype) also has other negative consequences. The close location of the engines increases the likelihood that if one of the engines surges, the propagating shock waves will lead to flow disruption in other engines. It also increases the likelihood that if the engine is destroyed, the structural elements of the airframe and on-board systems will suffer to a greater extent, as happened when the compressor disk was destroyed during the flight of the Tu-144D (aircraft 77113) on August 31, 1980. In addition, placing the engines close to the fuselage increases noise in the passenger cabin. By placing the engines away from the fuselage on the Concorde, the likelihood or effect of these factors is reduced.

The myth of the first in the world or ahead of Concorde

The legend that the Tu-144 was the world's first supersonic passenger aircraft, goes back to Soviet propaganda (which, by the way, often made a similar incorrect statement about the superiority of the Tu-104 in jet passenger aviation). When registering a Tu-144 at Domodedovo in 1977-78. There was an announcement: “The world’s first supersonic passenger airliner is boarding,” and then a carpet was laid.

In fact, Concorde began operating scheduled passenger flights on January 21, 1976 and flew for the next 27 years. By March 2, 1999, Concordes had flown more than 920 thousand hours of flight time - more than all other supersonic aircraft in the world combined.

The Tu-144 began operating scheduled passenger flights on November 1, 1977, almost two years later than the Concorde, and after completing 55 passenger flights with a total duration of less than 70 hours, it was withdrawn from service due to catastrophic reliability problems that were never resolved. by the time the project was closed in 1982-83.

Soviet propaganda claims were based on the fact that some intermediate technical milestones, such as the first flight of a prototype, were achieved in the Tu-144 project earlier than in the Concorde project, but these intermediate achievements were carried out in a hurry for propaganda ideological purposes and to the detriment of thoroughness, thoughtfulness and quality of development, culminated in the future not only with the later (compared to Concorde) introduction of the Tu-144 into operation, despite the fact that the aircraft was not even ready for operation, but also with the collapse of the entire Tu-144 project.

Moreover, these intermediate results were achieved at the cost of “cutting corners” not only with the reliability of the aircraft, but also with its design and flight characteristics. Taking a prototype into the air is a dubious achievement if this prototype is significantly worse successful aircraft lifted into the air three months later. To compare the key properties of the Tu-144 68001 and the Concorde 001, just look at the rough, linear and flat wing of the Tu-144 68001 (compared to the ogive-conical wing of the Concorde 001) and the stacked arrangement of its engines, the poor stability of its wings at low speeds, because of which the plane had to land at speeds that threatened its structural integrity. Released in 1972-73. The Tu-144S was significantly different from the 68001, and a much better designed aircraft, but in terms of its characteristics it still could not compete with the 1969 Concorde - neither in takeoff and landing characteristics, nor in flight range and fuel consumption, nor in the level of comfort for passengers (low noise inside the cabin during flight).

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