Supersonic aircraft. Supersonic passenger aircraft: from the president’s idea to reality First flight of the TU 144 supersonic

The TU-144 supersonic aircraft is a pioneer among passenger airliners with hypersonic speed, designed by USSR engineers in the late 1960s of the last century. The first Soviet supersonic passenger aircraft took off on December 31, 1968. Eduard Elyan, who has the title of Honored Test Pilot, flew at his helm.

The world's first supersonic passenger aircraft, the TU-144, was built in 1971 in the city of Zhukovsky, after which its production began at the aircraft plant in Voronezh. A total of 16 airliners were created.

History of creation

Aeronautics developed rapidly in the middle of the last century. The USSR and the USA tried to overtake each other in the invention of fighters and sought to build hypersonic airliners.

Pros for airlines:

reduction of time in the air;
no need for intermediate landings to refuel the engine;
possibility of transporting goods on long routes.

Soviet aviators studied the experience of their colleagues during international air shows.

In 1963, work began on a passenger airliner. The USSR Council of Ministers recommended that it meet the following requirements:

the flight distance should reach 4-4.5 thousand kilometers;
cruising speed of the Tu-144 is 2300-2700 kilometers per hour;
Cabin capacity is up to 100 passengers.

This model began to be created in 1964, and in 1965 it was exhibited in Le Bourget, France. Designer Alexei Tupolev emphasized that it should take off a couple of months before Concorde, which is what happened.

The new car was built on the basis of the MiG-21.

The design of which was modified: the horizontal tail was eliminated, the length of the fuselage was reduced and the wing span was increased.

In 1971, after a test flight between large European states, experimental use of the machine by Aeroflot began. The Voronezh aircraft plant began serial production.

Designer of the Soviet supersonic passenger aircraft TU-144

The son of aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev, Alexey Tupolev - Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes, awarded three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the "Badge of Honor" - since 1942 he worked in his father's design bureau, developed the TU-2, TU-16.

His biography says that in 1953, Alexey Andreevich defended his candidate’s dissertation, and in 1963, his doctoral dissertation. For the next decade, he worked as the chief designer of the Moscow machine plant "Experience" and deputy general designer of OKB A.N. Tupolev.

With the participation of A.A. Tupolev created many samples of technology.

Aviation technology	a brief description of
	It had 2 turbojet 2-circuit engines, T-shaped tail. Used as a passenger aircraft and in Air Force schools
	Low-wing aircraft with 4 mid-flight 2-circuit turbojet engines in the lower part of the fuselage. 3-wheel landing gear with retractable safety tail. Air-cooled disc brakes. Made more than 100 flights under the Aeroflot flag
	3-engine jet passenger aircraft, one of the fastest in the world. Created according to the design of a cantilever low-wing aircraft with a swept wing, T-shaped tail, rear-mounted engines and APU. Mass production stopped in 2013
	Soviet pilots called this strategic bomber the “White Swan”. The largest and most powerful combat aircraft in the history of aviation and the heaviest combat aircraft. Integral low-wing aircraft with 3-leg landing gear, all-moving stabilizer and cue
	Soviet supersonic passenger aircraft with a narrow fuselage, manufactured to replace the TU-154 on the lines. Fly-by-wire control system, electronic digital engine control system, supercritical wing profiles, digital computers on equipment units. Operates regular flights around the world
	Spaceship-rocket plane. It was intended to deliver astronauts and cargo to orbital stations. The only flight into space was made on November 15, 1988 without a crew on board in automatic mode.
	2-engine jet multi-role monoplane, long-range bomber with swept wings. A vector-synchronous optical sight connected to an autopilot was used to throw bombs. TU-16 naval aviation accompanied US air strike groups and participated in the Arab-Israeli and Afghan wars
	The first jet bomber of the Soviet Union, it was used to train Air Force flight personnel during retraining for new equipment.
	A laboratory vehicle with a turbojet engine, take-off weight - 100-150 tons. In May 1990, records were set: the altitude was reached 6000 m in 4 minutes 23 seconds, 9000 m in 6 minutes 3.5 seconds, the “ceiling” was 12530 m. Suffered a disaster in the 1990s, after which it was cut into scrap metal
	Under this designation, 2 projects were developed: 1 - the creation of a manned rocket plane "Zvezda"; 2 - construction of the first drone of the Soviet Union of the Yastreb-2 system. Equipped with a rescue system

Flight characteristics of Tu-144

Engine	TRDTSFx4, NK-144 A
Thrust, kgf	afterburner - 13000; afterburner - 17500
Wingspan, m	28
Wing area, sq. m	503
Length, m	67,05
Height, m	12,50
Maximum take-off weight, kg	195000
Empty weight, kg	85000
Payload, kg	15000
Maximum speed of Tu-144 at altitude, km/h	2500
Cruising speed, km/h	2200
Practical ceiling, m	18000

TU-144 device

9 series were designed, including 1 prototype of series 0, 1 - 1, 2 test gliders of series 1 and 16 aircraft.

Passenger cabin of Tu-144

The airframe material is heat-resistant aluminum alloy AKCH-1 and alloys VAD-23 and OTCH-1. Portholes – with heat-resistant fluorocrylate plexiglass.

The fuselage is divided into 3 parts:

Nasal. It is electrically deflected by 11 degrees during takeoff and by 17 during landing. The backup drive operates from a nitrogen cylinder under a pressure of 150 kg/sq.m. cm.
Central. It has a cabin that forms a sealed compartment with the bow and is divided into 3 salons. In the right row there are blocks of 3 seats, in the left - 2. In the rear part there are blocks of both 3 and 2 seats. In 1 salon there are comfortable double chairs. On the left side there are 2 doors for passengers and 4 service doors. For emergency exit to the wing there are hatches on the right and left. Some models are equipped with a lower hatch for the crew to exit.
Tail. There is a fuel tank and a parachute compartment.

The Tu-144 cabin is designed for 4 people, for whom anti-g suits and oxygen masks are provided.

Tu-144 cockpit

Wing area – 503 sq. m, span - 28 m. Tail with 2-section rudder.

Each engine has an adjustable air intake; during the assembly process, the engines were modified to install one of the types - NK-144 or RD3651A (the aircraft with which later became known as TU-144D).

The fuel system consists of 8 groups of tanks. Fuel - T-6 or T-8 aviation kerosene. Tanks of 4 hydraulic systems are combined. Anti-icing is provided.

The chassis is a front support with 2 paired wheels.

Equipment components:

power supply system;
dashboard;
recorders;
radio-electronic equipment;
auto control AVSU-144;
navigation and flight control complex;
electronic engine control system;
fuel automatics.

Modifications of the passenger TU-144

Title and picture	Description	Brief technical characteristics
TU-144 (“044”) - prototype	The first of two hypersonic airliners for passengers. First flight - in 1968. On June 3, 1971, it crashed during a demonstration flight at Le Bourget, killing 6 crew members.	4 NK-144 turbofan engines, retractable front horizontal tail for the duration of the flight, allowing you to reduce speed when landing. Supersonic flight range - 2920 km
TU-144 (“004”) - pre-production	Pre-production prototype No. 77101 with NK-144 engines. In 1968-1970 9 aircraft were produced. 1 flight was carried out on July 1, 1971	The fuselage diameter is increased, the long nose section is deflectable, there are PGOs and main landing gear
TU-144 VTA (military transport)	Project
TU-144D (“004D”) - long-range	An experimental and production aircraft with an RD-36-51A engine, built since 1969. 5 cars were produced. First flight - November 30, 1974. May 23, 1978 - accident near Yegoryevsk	Fuselage length - 64.45 m, aircraft height - 12.5 m, wingspan - 28.8 m
TU-144DA (modernized)	Project	Fuel capacity increased to 125 tons, take-off weight - to 123 tons. Engines "61"
TU-144K (missile carrier)	Project, worked on it in the 1970s
TU-144LL (“Moscow”) - “flying laboratory”	Development began in 1988 from the TU-144D model. By 1996, 3 of them had been converted. First flight – November 29, 1996. 19 experimental flights were completed and 8 with the participation of test pilots from the USA	NK-231 engines were installed, the wing was strengthened. Equipped with research equipment. Some of the equipment was taken from TU-204 and TU-160
TU-144P - “jammer”	The project was developed on the basis of the TU-144D for the Navy in the 1980s
TU-14PR - “reconnaissance jammer”	The project was developed in the 1970s
DP-2 - long-range interceptor	1970s project

Disasters on TU-144

During a flight demonstration in Le Bourget, France, on June 3, 1973, a tragedy occurred with the TU-144 aircraft, which was witnessed by 350 thousand citizens. The airliner was descending when a Mirage fighter appeared in the sky.

To avoid a collision, the commander decided to climb higher, but lost altitude. As a result of the resulting load, the right wing cracked and fell off, a fire started, and the plane crashed onto a street in the suburb of Goosenville. 6 crew members and 8 spectators on the ground were killed, and buildings were damaged.

Video of the Le Bourget disaster, 1973

5 years later, on May 23, 1978, a plane crash occurred during a test flight of a TU-144D near the city of Yegoryevsk in the Moscow region.

A fire started on board, the pilots were able to land, but 2 crew members died and the plane burned down.

This was the reason for removing the TU-144 from passenger flights.

Airplane in popular culture

The memory of beautiful aircraft is kept in museums:

Air Force Museum in the village of Monino, Shchelkovo district, Moscow region;
Ulyanovsk Museum of Civil Aviation;
The Museum of Technology in Sinsheim, Germany, where the most high-quality restored exhibit is located, located next to the Concorde.

Cinematography also did not stand aside:

the film “Mimino” (1977), where, according to the authors’ plans, the TU-144 flew to Delhi and San Francisco;
children's film “A Drop in the Sea” (1973);
"Incredible adventures of Italians in Russia." It was planned to show the TU-144 in the final frames, but due to the recent disaster at Le Bourget it was urgently replaced by the IL-62;
"The Tale of the Human Heart" (1974);
"Poem of Wings" (1979).

The TU-144D model is used in computer games, where the aircraft can be controlled virtually.

Advantages and disadvantages

pros	Minuses
Front horizontal tail, improving flight maneuverability and reducing speed during landing	Flight cost for passengers is 20 rubles. more than on a regular plane
Ability to operate from different runways	High specific fuel consumption in cruising mode
Use of the TU-144D model by NASA specialists as a flying laboratory	Difficult to maintain
Setting 13 world records	Short flight range, due to which there were restrictions in operation
High passenger capacity of the Tu-144 cabin	Low strength of structural panels
Convenience and comfort for flight participants	Tragic cases

To date, there are no remaining TU-144s in flying condition. Some of them can be seen as museum exhibits, the rest were dismantled or cut into non-ferrous metals in the 1990s of the 20th century.

Exactly 35 years ago, the aircraft that became the pride of our aviation industry, the Tu-144, was taken out of constant service. The world's first (there were only two of them, together with Concorde) supersonic passenger aircraft. Another battle between the USSR and the capitalist world has sunk.

It seems that the battle was completely lost. During its operation, the Tu-144 made 102 commercial flights, of which 55 were passenger flights. In total, the Tu-144 transported 3,284 passengers, which is on a civil aviation scale, on a USSR scale, on a global scale, in general, nothing. For comparison: the main competitor of the Tu-144, Concorde, transported more than 2.5 million people during its operation.

But every story has nuances. It's worth talking about them.

The end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s of the last century were marked by an unprecedented flowering of air traffic and civil aviation throughout the world. At the same time, the idea of using supersonic machines for long-distance flights arose in Europe and the USSR. In the first case, high speeds were needed in order to reduce the time of crossing the Atlantic between Europe and the United States; in the second, the decisive role was played by the vast expanses of the Soviet country, which it was also desirable to overcome as quickly as possible.

As a result, Europe and the USSR almost simultaneously began to develop unique supersonic airliners, conceptually similar, but structurally noticeably different from each other: Concorde and Tu-144.

Experts to this day argue about whether there was any “borrowing” of ideas, technologies and design solutions when creating these two unique aircraft. The French at one time tried very furiously to prove that the Tu-144 was “ripped off” from the Concorde, but all attempts ended in nothing. The cars were really different.

Of course, aircraft developers, as they say, looked towards competitors, but primarily proceeded from their own technical and technological capabilities. And in the USSR, unlike the French, who created Concorde from scratch, there was something to rely on.

It is generally accepted that all promising models of Soviet (and Russian) civilian equipment, from trucks to supersonic aircraft, are based on successful or failed military models. And the Tu-144 is no exception here.

The creation of a supersonic passenger aircraft was a “multi-step” process; the design bureaus of Tupolev, Sukhoi and Myasishchev, who at that time already had not only theoretical developments in the field of creating large supersonic aircraft, presented their developments here. And in the Tu-144, if desired, one could find separate components and circuits from the M-50, T-4 and Tu-135.

Most of all, of course, the Tu-144 took from the unrealized project of the Tu-135 bomber and its passenger version, the Tu-135P. But there was no actually flying military analogue of the Tu-144.

One way or another, in the 1950s, supersonic aircraft, including heavy ones, were already created. Therefore, there were not too many exceptional ideas in the project. The Tu-144 absorbed quite a lot of what was invented by the military. And we knew how to invent and build military aircraft. Fact.

Takeoff of the first Tu-144 from the VASO airfield.

Wings appeared only on the third specimen. There were none on the first two samples

The main problem for aircraft manufacturers was that at supersonic speed there would be extreme heating of the surface. And this problem needs to be solved not in relation to a small plane or bomber with a small crew, but in relation to a huge passenger airliner. Which should not only fly at high speed over long distances, but also provide the necessary comfort for passengers.

Crew workplaces.

Since I live in the city where all Tu-144s were born, it was almost not difficult to find the person who took part in its assembly and flight. I was able to talk with Irina Fedorovna Vyakhireva, who in those years worked at VASO as an electrical engineer. And she participated in test flights several times, monitoring tens of kilometers of wiring and hundreds of aircraft servos. Including when flying at supersonic speed.

So, according to Irina Fedorovna’s recollections, the noise during the flight was simply terrible, especially in the tail section. We had to yell in each other’s ears, without exaggeration. The noise from the engines in the rear of the aircraft in the middle was compensated by the howl of the motors of the body cooling system. And these problems were solved, starting from the first flight of the Tu-144, and we can say that they were eventually solved.

Passenger cabin 2nd class

Passenger cabin 1st class

Kitchen block

There were also more serious issues of controllability over the entire speed range, as well as balancing of the airliner. This is how the front wings appeared on the Tu-144, which were used in takeoff and landing modes. A deflectable nose cone was implemented, which improved visibility from the cockpit during takeoff and landing. Many new developments have been applied to automated control systems that provide automation of basic procedures. In any case, the Tu-144 became an outstanding achievement for the USSR in terms of technology, materials, avionics, and control systems.

It’s a pity, but the Tu-144 was not destined to become a real conqueror of distances. The reason for this was the eternal headache of our aircraft industry: the engine.

The first version of the Tu-144 with NK-144A engines did not satisfy Aeroflot at all in terms of flight range - it could be operated on lines up to 4000 km long.

Therefore, the Tu-144 was used only on one regular line: Moscow-Alma-Ata. But even here the plane only had enough fuel “from threshold to threshold.” The trouble was that if the Almaty airport for some reason could not accept the plane, the only alternate airfield capable of receiving the Tu-144 was Tashkent. In the event of a closure due to weather conditions, there was simply nowhere to land the plane with passengers. It is not surprising that the pilots themselves compared flying on the Tu-144 to “kissing a tiger.” And every Tu-144 flight to Alma-Ata and back turned into one continuous stress for the crews, dispatch services and aviation officials.

The T-144 received its first strike on June 3, 1973, at the Le Bourget air show. A very strange and tragic flight, never fully investigated.

After performing a demonstration flight at low altitude and low speed, with the landing gear and front wing extended, the Tu-144 comes in for landing.

What happens next does not fit into the canons of common sense: some two hundred meters above the ground, the strained howl of boosted engines is heard, and the plane soars up like a candle, retracting the landing gear and front wings as it goes. When the altitude reaches about 1200 meters, it goes into horizontal flight for a split second and... falls into a sharp dive. Four seconds later, at an altitude of 750 meters, the Tu-144 tries to exit the dive and even release the front wings.

As it turns out later, the overload has currently reached a value of 4-4.5 units. The attempt to level the car continued for another four seconds. At the 5th second after the start of recovery from a dive at an altitude of 280 meters at a speed of 780 km/h, the left front wing cannot withstand the load. A structure of substantial size separates from the fuselage and hits the main wing, piercing the fuel tank. The mortally wounded car spins to the left, colossal overloads begin to tear the plane apart right in the air.

The flaming debris crashed into the nearby village of Goussainville, completely destroying five buildings and killing eight people. Another 25 people on the ground were seriously injured.

The crew of the aircraft, consisting of Mikhail Kozlov (commander), Valery Molchanov (2nd pilot), Vladimir Benderov (test manager), Anatoly Dralin (flight engineer), Georgy Bazhenov (navigator), Boris Pervukhin (lead test engineer) were completely killed.

The investigation, conducted by a joint Soviet-French commission, lasted more than a year, but the exact cause of the disaster could not be determined. The commission found that all aircraft systems were operating normally. The only cause of the disaster, according to the commission members, could have been the crew’s attempt to divert the plane from an alleged collision with the French Mirage III R reconnaissance aircraft, from which photography and filming of the Tu-144 flight was carried out.

The trajectories of the Tu-144 and Mirage did not intersect. The planes were moving in the same direction and at different altitudes. However, according to the commission’s conclusions, the Soviet crew, not being able to visually assess the direction of the Mirage’s flight, could have undertaken a sharp evasive maneuver. At the same time, the test director standing in the cockpit of the Tu-144 with a movie camera, without being fastened, could fall and block the pilot’s actions.

A “sharp maneuver” performed by a 200-ton vehicle... Hmmm...

However, work on the Tu-144 continued. A new modification of the engine made it possible to increase the flight range of the airliner. The Tu-144D was almost ready for operation on long-haul lines.

However, on May 23, 1978, a new Tu-144D crash occurred. And not a prototype, but an aircraft intended for transfer to the Moscow-Khabarovsk line. During the flight, due to the destruction of the fuel line, fuel ignited in the area of the 3rd engine. The crew was forced to make an emergency landing on a field near Yegoryevsk near Moscow. A fire started. The crew commander, co-pilot and navigator left the plane through the cockpit window. The two engineers on board escaped through the front exit door. Two of their colleagues were less fortunate - being trapped in their seats when the plane crashed, they were unable to get out of the plane and died in the fire.

On July 31, 1980, during the next test flight of the aircraft with tail number 77113 in supersonic mode at an altitude of 16,000 meters, one of the engines was destroyed. With great difficulty, the crew managed to bring the car out of the dive and land it.

The country's leadership really wanted to start commercial operation of the Tu-144D, since the prestige of the USSR as an advanced aviation power was at stake. Especially in light of the fact that Concorde is firmly established on flights across the Atlantic.

The last attempt to put the Tu-144D on line was made at the end of 1981. The plane was supposed to begin flights on the Moscow-Krasnoyarsk route. But... Another destruction of the engines during ground tests, and regular flights had to be postponed. Forever.

And after Brezhnev’s death, the attitude towards the Tu-144 changed dramatically. Aeroflot tried with all its might to get rid of the plane, from which it had nothing but a headache. As a result, the Tu-144D was removed from passenger flights with an official conclusion about “a bad effect on people’s health when crossing the sound barrier.”

And yet the Tu-144 was not completely lost. 4 out of 5 aircraft located on the VASO stocks in Voronezh were completed. The further fate of these aircraft is peculiar, and will allow me to put a rather optimistic point at the end.

The base of the Tu-144 was the airfield in Zhukovsky, where the planes were not only based, but even flew periodically. Tu-144D was used to deliver urgent cargo and correspondence, and also as flying laboratories.

The joint program between Roscosmos and NASA involved a modified Tu-144D with tail number 77114 called Tu-144LL (Flying Laboratory). The main goal of the research was to develop a plan for creating a supersonic passenger aircraft of the 21st century. When NASA “had enough of playing”, the research was curtailed in 1999.

Today, all remaining Tu-144s (8 units) are in storage or as museum exhibits. Only examples in Zhukovsky Tu-144D No. 77115, which is exhibited at MAKS, and Tu-144LL No. 77114 can be brought to flight condition.

It would seem that everything, the story is over. And it ended not in favor of the Tu-144, which lost the battle with the Concorde, which flew longer and further, and carried a significant number of passengers. Yes, commercially Concorde won.

However, work to improve the Tu-144, and, in particular, the Tu-144K and Tu-144KP projects, made it possible to achieve what we have today.

The same 1981 became the milestone. The year when the unrisen star Tu-144 was setting. But it was this year, on December 18, that the “70-01” model made its first flight. Test pilot Boris Veremey flew the first example of what would become the White Swan, the Tu-160.

There is something in common, isn't there?

The basis for the Tu-160 was the Tu-144 and the work carried out throughout the history of this aircraft.

Yes, the Tu-144 was an innovative aircraft. Engine engineers were not prepared for its appearance, and there were many difficulties with the ground infrastructure. But the Concorde, which won the Tu-144 commercial competition, is now consigned to history, and it is unlikely that it will have any continuation. But the Tu-160, which has absorbed much from the Tu-144, still carries out its service to protect our peace and security. And it still has no analogues.

And for some reason, the developers and creators of Concorde did not even try to repeat what the Tupolev team did, moving from the Tu-144KP to the Tu-160. Is it not necessary because it will not bring benefits? Maybe.

In any case, the question of whether or not we have lost the battle for supersonic flight for large aircraft is not as clear-cut as it seems at first glance. A glance at the figures of passengers transported and money earned.

But really, who won? Large aircraft capable of flying at supersonic speeds now remain only in Russia...

Supersonic passenger July 14th, 2015

After they have sunk into oblivion" Concords" and Tu-144 there was no one left in the field of supersonic aviation. It is not clear whether such aircraft are not needed (unprofitable), or whether our civilization has not yet achieved such technical perfection and reliability in this direction.

Small private projects are gradually beginning to appear.

The American company Aerion Corporation from the small town of Reno, Nevada, began accepting orders for the creation of a private supersonic aircraft AS2 Aerion, which is being created with the support of Airbus

It’s not yet clear what will come of this, but here are the details...

The manufacturer says its patented laminar flow technology reduces aerodynamic drag over the wings by up to 80%, allowing the tri-engine powerplant to cover distances quickly. For example, a plane will fly from Paris to Washington in just three hours, and from Singapore to San Francisco in just six hours. Supersonic flights over US territory are prohibited, but this does not apply to flights over the ocean. The body of the aircraft is made mainly of carbon fiber and is “sewn” along the seams with a titanium alloy. Without refueling, the aircraft can fly up to 5,400 miles. The production of the first aircraft is planned for 2021.

Which supersonic aircraft projects have not been implemented in reality? Well, for example, some of the most serious ones:

Sukhoi Supersonic Business Jet (SSBJ, S-21) - a project of a supersonic business class passenger aircraft developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. In search of financing, Sukhoi OJSC collaborated on this project with Gulfstream Aerospace, Dassault Aviation, as well as a number of Chinese companies.

The development of the S-21 and its larger modification, the S-51, began in 1981 on the initiative of the chief designer of the Sukhoi Design Bureau at that time, Mikhail Petrovich Simonov. The project was headed by Deputy Chief Designer Mikhail Aslanovich Pogosyan.

An analysis of the commercial operation of Tu-144 and Concorde aircraft showed that with rising prices for aviation fuel, supersonic aircraft cannot compete with more economical subsonic airliners in the mass transportation segment. The number of passengers willing to significantly overpay for speed is small and is determined mainly by representatives of large businesses and senior officials. At the same time, the priority routes are airlines connecting world capitals. This determined the concept of the aircraft as intended to transport 8-10 passengers over a range of 7-10 thousand kilometers (to ensure non-stop flight between cities on the same continent and with one refueling when flying from any to any capital of the world). It was also important to reduce the flight length so that the aircraft could be accepted by all international airports in the world.

During the work on the aircraft, various layout options were studied - with 2, 3 or 4 engines. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the cessation of government funding for the program. Sukhoi Design Bureau began searching for independent investors for the project. In particular, in the early 1990s, work was carried out in collaboration with the American company Gulfstream Aerospace - while an option with 2 English engines, designated S-21G, was being developed. However, in 1992, the American side withdrew from the project, fearing unaffordable costs. The project was suspended.

In 1993, investors for the project were found in Russia and the project was resumed. The $25 million received from investors made it possible to reach the design completion stage. Ground tests of engines were carried out, as well as tests of aircraft models in wind tunnels.

In 1999, the aircraft project was presented at the Le Bourget air show, at the same time Mikhail Petrovich Simonov stated that about 1 billion more dollars would be required to complete all work on the aircraft and begin production of serial airliners. With timely and full funding, the aircraft could have flown for the first time in 2002, and the cost per unit would have been about $50 million. The possibility of continuing collaboration on the project with the French company Dassault Aviation was considered, but the contract did not materialize.

In 2000, the Sukhoi Design Bureau tried to find investors for this project in China.

Currently, investments to complete the development and creation of aircraft have not been found. There is no mention of the aircraft in the state program “Development of the Aviation Industry for 2013 - 2025” adopted at the end of 2012.

ZEHST(short for Zero Emission HyperSonic Transport- English High-speed, zero-emission transport) is a supersonic-hypersonic passenger airliner project, implemented under the leadership of the European aerospace agency EADS.

The project was first presented on June 18, 2011 at the Le Bourget air show. According to the project, it is assumed that the aircraft will accommodate 50-100 passengers and reach a speed of up to 5029 km/h. The flight altitude should be up to 32 km.

The aircraft's jet system will consist of two turbojet engines used during takeoff and acceleration to 0.8 Mach, then rocket boosters will accelerate the aircraft to 2.5 Mach, after which two ramjet engines located under the wings will increase the speed to 4 Mach.

Tu-444- a project of a Russian supersonic passenger business aircraft developed by Tupolev OJSC. It replaced the Tu-344 project and was a competitor to the Sukhoi Design Bureau SSBJ project. There is no mention of the project in the state program “Development of the Aviation Industry for 2013-2025” adopted at the end of 2012.

The design of the Tu-444 began in the early 2000s, and in 2004 the preliminary design of the project began. The development was preceded by a calculation of the most advantageous technical characteristics for an aircraft of this class. Thus, it was found that a range of 7,500 kilometers is enough to cover the main business centers of the world, and the optimal take-off run length is 1,800 meters. The potential market was estimated at 400-700 aircraft, the first flight was scheduled to take place in 2015

However, despite the use of old developments from a number of design bureaus in the project, including Tupolev itself (for example, Tu-144, it was supposed to use AL-F-31 engines), the need for a number of technical innovations became clear, which turned out to be impossible without significant financial investments who could not be attracted. Despite the development of a preliminary design by 2008, the project stalled.

In the early 60s, it became clear that the USSR needed a supersonic passenger aircraft, because The main jet airliner of that time, the Tu-104, flew from Moscow to Khabarovsk with two intermediate landings for refueling. The Tu-114 turboprop operated non-stop flights on this route, but was in flight for as long as 14 hours. And the supersonic Tu-144 would cover a distance of 8,500 kilometers in 3.5 hours! To ensure growing passenger flows on long transcontinental routes, the Soviet Union needed a new modern supersonic passenger aircraft (SPS).

However, a detailed analysis and study of the proposed SPS projects based on the first supersonic bombers showed that creating an effective competitive SPS by modifying a military prototype is an extremely difficult task. The first supersonic heavy combat aircraft, in their design solutions, mainly met the requirements of a relatively short-term supersonic flight. For the SPS, it was necessary to ensure a long cruising flight at speeds of at least two speeds of sound - Mach number equal to 2 (M = 2). The specifics of the task of transporting passengers additionally required a significant increase in the reliability of all elements of the aircraft structure, subject to more intensive operation, taking into account the increase in flight duration in supersonic modes. Analyzing all possible options for technical solutions, aviation specialists both in the USSR and in the West came to the firm opinion that a cost-effective ATP must be designed as a fundamentally new type of aircraft.

During the creation of the Soviet SPS, domestic aviation science and industry were faced with a number of scientific and technical problems that our subsonic passenger and military supersonic aviation had not encountered. First of all, to ensure the required flight performance characteristics of the SPS, this is a flight at a speed of M = 2 at a distance of up to 6500 km with 100-120 passengers, in combination with acceptable takeoff and landing data, it was necessary to significantly improve the aerodynamic quality of the aircraft at cruising flight speeds. It was necessary to solve the issues of stability and controllability of a heavy aircraft when flying in subsonic, transonic and supersonic regions, to develop practical methods for balancing the aircraft in all these modes, taking into account minimizing aerodynamic losses. A long flight at speed M=2 was associated with research and ensuring the strength of the airframe structure and components at elevated temperatures close to 100-120 degrees C, it was necessary to create heat-resistant structural materials, lubricants, sealants, as well as develop types of structures capable of operating for a long time under conditions of cyclic aerodynamic heating.

The aerodynamic appearance of the Tu-144 was determined mainly by obtaining a long flight range in supersonic cruising mode, subject to obtaining the required stability and controllability characteristics, as well as the specified take-off and landing characteristics. The aerodynamic quality of the Tu-144 at double the speed of sound was 8.1, on the Concorde - 7.7, and for most supersonic MiGs of the mid-60s of the last century, the aerodynamic quality did not exceed a coefficient of 3.4. The airframe design of the first SPS mainly used traditional aluminum alloys; 20% of it was made of titanium, which can withstand heat up to 200 degrees C. The only aircraft in the world that also used titanium was the SR-71, the famous “Blackbird” ", American supersonic reconnaissance aircraft.

TU-144D No. 77115 at the MAKS 2015 air show / Photo (c) Andrey Velichko

Based on the conditions for obtaining the required aerodynamic quality and optimal operating modes of the airframe, aircraft systems and assemblies at subsonic and supersonic speeds, we settled on the design of a tailless low-wing aircraft with a composite delta wing of an ogive shape. The wing was formed by two triangular surfaces with a sweep angle along the leading edge of 78° and 55° for the rear base part. Four turbofans were placed under the wing. The vertical tail was located along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. The airframe's design mainly used traditional aluminum alloys. The wing was formed from symmetrical profiles and had a complex twist in two directions: longitudinal and transverse. This achieved the best flow around the wing surface in supersonic mode; in addition, such a twist helped to improve the longitudinal balancing in this mode.

Construction of the first prototype Tu-144 (“044”) began in 1965, while a second prototype was being built for static testing. The experimental "044" was initially designed for 98 passengers, later this figure was increased to 120. Accordingly, the estimated take-off weight increased from 130 to 150 tons. The prototype machine was built in Moscow in the workshops of the MMZ "Experience", some of the units were manufactured at its branches. In 1967, the assembly of the main elements of the aircraft was completed. At the end of 1967, the experimental "044" was transported to the Zhukovsky flight test and development base, where throughout 1968, development work was carried out and the vehicle was equipped with missing systems and units.

At the same time, flights of an analogue of the MiG-21I (A-144, “21-11”), created on the basis of the MiG-21S fighter, began at the LII airfield. An analogue was created in the Design Bureau of A.I. Mikoyan and had a wing geometrically and aerodynamically similar to the wing of the experimental “044”. A total of two "21-11" aircraft were built; many test pilots flew on them, including those who were to test the Tu-144. The analogue aircraft successfully reached a speed of 2500 km/h; the materials from these flights served as the basis for the final development of the Tu-144 wing, and also allowed test pilots to prepare for the peculiarities of the behavior of an aircraft with such a wing.

December 31, 1968 - first flight of the Tu-144

At the end of 1968, the experimental "044" (tail number 68001) was ready for its first flight. A crew was assigned to the vehicle, consisting of: the ship's commander, Honored Test Pilot E.V. Elyan (who later received the Hero of the Soviet Union for the Tu-144); co-pilot - Honored Test Pilot Hero of the Soviet Union M.V. Kozlov; leading test engineer V.N. Benderov and flight engineer Yu.T. Seliverstov. Considering the novelty of the aircraft, the design bureau made an extraordinary decision: for the first time, they decided to install ejection crew seats on an experimental passenger aircraft.

During the month, engine races, jogging, and ground system checks were carried out. From the beginning of the third ten days of December 1968, “044” was in pre-launch readiness, the vehicle and crew were completely ready for the first flight, during all these ten days there was no weather over the LII airfield, and the experienced Tu-144 remained on the ground. Finally, on the last day of the year 1968, 25 seconds after the start, “044” took off for the first time from the runway of the LII airfield and quickly gained altitude. The first flight lasted 37 minutes, during the flight the car was accompanied by an analogue aircraft "21-11". The Tu-144 managed to take off two months earlier than its Anglo-French “colleague” - the Concorde airliner, which made its first flight on March 2, 1969.

According to the crew's reviews, the vehicle proved to be obedient and "flyable." The first flight was attended by A. N. Tupolev, A. A. Tupolev, and many heads of OKB departments. The first flight of the Tu-144 became an event of world significance and an important moment in the history of domestic and world aviation. For the first time, a supersonic passenger plane took off.

On June 3, 1973, the first production vehicle crashed during a demonstration flight in Le Bourget. Commander test pilot M.V. Kozlov, co-pilot V.M. Molchanov, deputy chief designer V.N. Benderov, flight engineer A.I. Dralin, navigator G.N. Bazhenov, engineer B.A. Pervukhin were killed. A commission was created to investigate the disaster, in which specialists from the USSR and France took part. Based on the results of the investigation, the French noted that there was no failure in the technical part of the aircraft, the cause of the disaster was the presence of unfastened crew members in the cockpit, the sudden appearance of the Mirage aircraft in the field of view of the Tu-144 crew, the presence of a movie camera in the hands of one of the crew members, which If it fell, the control wheel could become jammed. E.V. Elyan spoke most succinctly and accurately about the Tu-144 crash at Le Bourget in the 90s: “This disaster is a bitter example of how a confluence of small, at first glance, insignificant negligence, in this case on the part of the French flight control services, led to tragic consequences."

However, the Tu-144 began to make regular flights. The first operational flight was carried out on December 26, 1975 on the Moscow-Alma-Ata route, where the plane transported mail and parcels, and in November 1977, passenger transportation began on the same route.

The flights were carried out by only two aircraft - No. 77108 and No. 77109. Aeroflot pilots flew only as co-pilots, while the crew commanders were always test pilots from the Tupolev Design Bureau. A ticket cost a lot of money at that time - 82 rubles, and for a regular Il-18 or Tu-114 flight on the same route - 48 rubles.

From an economic point of view, after some time it became clear that the operation of the Tu-144 was unprofitable - supersonic aircraft flew half empty, and after 7 months the Tu-144 was removed from regular flights. Concorde experienced similar problems: only 14 planes flew from Europe to America, and even expensive tickets could not compensate the airlines for the huge fuel costs. Unlike the Tu-144, Concorde flights were subsidized by the governments of France and Great Britain almost until the beginning of the 90s. The cost of a ticket on the London-New York route in 1986 was 2,745 USD. Only very wealthy people could afford such expensive flights, for whom the formula “time is money” is the main credo of their existence. There were such people in the West, and for them, flying Concordes was a natural saving of time and money, as evidenced by their total flight time on intercontinental routes in 1989 of 325,000 flight hours. Therefore, we can assume that the Concorde program for the British and French was quite commercial, and subsidies were allocated to maintain prestige in relation to the Americans.

On May 23, 1978, the second Tu-144 crash occurred. An improved experimental version of the Tu-144D aircraft (No. 77111), after a fuel fire in the engine nacelle area of the 3rd power plant due to the destruction of the fuel line, smoke in the cabin and the crew turning off two engines, made an emergency landing on a field near the village of Ilyinsky Pogost, not far from the city Yegoryevsk. Crew commander V.D. Popov, co-pilot E.V. Elyan and navigator V.V. Vyazigin were able to leave the plane through the cockpit window. Engineers V.M. Kulesh, V.A. Isaev, V.N. Stolpovsky, who were in the cabin, left the plane through the front entrance door. Flight engineers O. A. Nikolaev and V. L. Venediktov found themselves trapped in their workplace by structures that were deformed during landing and died. The deflected nose cone touched the ground first, it worked like a bulldozer knife, entering the ground, turned under the bottom and entered the fuselage. On June 1, 1978, Aeroflot permanently stopped supersonic passenger flights.

Subsequently, the Tu-144D was used only for cargo transportation between Moscow and Khabarovsk. In total, the Tu-144 made 102 flights under the Aeroflot flag, of which 55 were passenger flights, in which 3,194 passengers were transported.

Photo: Tu-144 board USSR-77115 / (c) Baskakov V.D.

Later, the Tu-144 made only test flights and several flights with the aim of setting world 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. Due to the lack of serviceable NK-144 or RD-36-51 engines, the Tu-144LL was equipped with NK-32, similar to those used on the Tu-160, various sensors and monitoring and recording equipment.

A total of 16 Tu-144 aircraft were built, which made a total of 2,556 sorties and flew 4,110 hours (among them, aircraft 77144 flew the most, 432 hours). The construction of four more aircraft was never completed.

Tu-144 board USSR-77114 parked at the Flight Research Institute named after. Gromov, airfield in Zhukovsky / Photo (c) Andrey Velichko, MAKS 2003

There are currently no aircraft that remain in flying condition. Only the Tu-144LL aircraft No. 77114 and TU-144D No. 77115 are almost completely complete with parts and can be restored to flight condition. Aircraft No. 77114, which was used for NASA tests, is stored at the airfield in Zhukovsky. TU-144D No. 77115 is also stored at the airfield in Zhukovsky. Once every two years, these machines are shown in a static parking lot during the MAKS international aerospace show.

	Tu-144 of various modifications				Concorde
	Tu-144 (“044”)	Tu-144S	Tu-144D	Tu-144LL	Concorde
Specifications
Crew, people	4				3
Length, m	59,40	65,70			61,66
Height, m	12,25	12,50			12,2
Wingspan, m	27,65	28,00	28,80		25,60
Wing area, m²	438	503	507		358,6
Maximum take-off weight, kg	180 000	195 000	207 000	203 000	185 000
Payload weight, kg	12 000	15 000			13 380
Fuel weight, kg	70 000	98 000		95 000	95 680
Engines
Quantity	4
	NK-144	NK-144A	RD-36-51A	NK-32-1	Olympus 593
Thrust, maximum, kN	171,6	178,0	196,1	245,0	170,0
Supersonic thrust, kN	127,5	147,0		137,5
Flight characteristics
Maximum speed, km/h	2 443	2 500	2 285	2 500	2 330
Cruising speed (supersonic), km/h	2 300	2 200	2 120	2 300	2 150
Landing speed, km/h	270				295
Practical range (fully loaded), km	2 920	3 080	5 330	4 000	6 470
Service ceiling, m			20 000		18 300
Run length, m			2 930
Run length, m			2 570

It is interesting to compare the fate of the Tu-144 and the Anglo-French Concorde - machines similar in purpose, design and time of creation. First of all, it should be noted that Concorde was designed primarily for supersonic flights over the deserted expanses of the Atlantic Ocean. According to the conditions of a sonic boom, this is a choice of lower altitudes of cruising supersonic flight and, as a consequence, a smaller wing area, a smaller take-off weight, a lower required cruising thrust of the power plant and specific fuel consumption.

The Tu-144 had to fly mainly over land, so high flight altitudes and corresponding aircraft parameters, as well as the required thrust of the power plant, were required. This should include less advanced engines. In terms of their specific parameters, the Tu-144 engines came close to the Olympus only in the latest versions, plus the worst specific parameters of domestic equipment and aircraft components compared to Western ones. All these negative initial aspects were largely compensated by the high perfection of the aerodynamics of the Tu-144 - in terms of the obtained aerodynamic quality when flying in supersonic cruising mode, the Tu-144 was superior to the Concorde. This was due to the complication of the aircraft design and a decrease in the level of manufacturability in production.

There were no rich business people in the USSR, so there was no natural market for services that was supposed to satisfy the Tu-144. The aircraft obviously had to become largely subsidized and unprofitable in operation, which is why the program for creating the Tu-144 should be attributed to the concept of the country’s prestige. There were no real economic prerequisites for the use of ATP in the aviation services market of the USSR in the 60-70s of the twentieth century. As a result, on the one hand, the heroic efforts of the A. N. Tupolev Design Bureau and other enterprises and organizations of MAP to develop the Tu-144, and on the other, the initial emotional uplift and support from the country’s leadership, which gradually turned into indifference and, to a large extent, inhibition on the part of the Aeroflot management, which, by and large, simply did not need the low-income headache of mastering the complex Tu-144 complex. Therefore, in the early 80s, when the features of the coming economic and political crisis began to clearly appear in the USSR, the Tu-144 program was one of the first to suffer.

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

It was not commercial considerations or the experience of international airlines, but the vast expanses of the Soviet Union that became the rationale for the emergence of 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 an analogue confirmed that the new vehicle can do without horizontal tail surfaces.

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 at 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 ducts.

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 a characteristic difference is the glazed lowered nose of the body, providing pilots with visibility at high angles of attack during the takeoff and landing regime, 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 the passenger compartment while the air conditioning system was cooling at supersonic speed.

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