Tupolev Tu-144 | The Soviet Concorde

The Tupolev Tu-144 was the world’s first supersonic passenger jet. Despite this, the Tu-144 is much less well know that its western European cousin, the Concorde. The Tu-144 was plagued by questionable design choices, noise issues and economic inefficiency.

But these issues were also faced by Concorde, eventually leading to it’s retirement in 2003. However, the Tupolev was retired from passenger service all the way back in 1978 – only 10 years after its maiden flight.
Why did the Concorde outlive the Tupolev? It’s complicated…

Background

During the 1960s, the race was on between Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union to build a supersonic passenger jet to replace the traditional subsonic jet. In 1947, Chuck Yeager, in the Bell X-1, became the first man to break the sound barrier. Just over a decade later, the first designs for supersonic passenger transport were being developed.

The first designs for the proposed Soviet jet were published in 1962.In the west, the British-French Concorde had been in theoretical development since the 1950s; the United States put forward their own plans in the late 1950s for their Boeing 2707. However, the US design never managed to get off the ground, literally and figuratively.

This would lead to the development of two stunningly similar designs from Western Europe and Eastern Europe.

The Tupolev Tu-144 vs. The Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde.

Development

The Tu-144, despite all the similarities to Concorde (which led to the nickname ‘Concordski’), is a markedly different plane to the western European jet. The Tu-144 was larger than Concorde and had a higher top speed (2.15 Mach against the European 2.04).

Other features of the aircraft that were similar to that of the Concorde included:

A Droop-snoot – perhaps the most distinctive feature of both aircraft, the Tu-144 and Concorde both featured a nose that slid downwards to provide the pilots a clear view of the runway during take-off and landing, whilst being able to slide up and improve the aircraft’s aerodynamics.

A Delta Wing – another distinctive feature, the delta wing design is the most efficient way to produce lift at supersonic speeds. Hence the design’s prevalence in supersonic fighter aircraft.

The Tu-144 however, had something its Anglo-French cousin did not. A moustache. Literally.

Two retractable lifting surfaces just behind the cockpit were referred to as ‘Moustache Canards’. These small wings increased lift at low speeds, helping the Soviet behemoth take to the skies at lower takeoff speeds.

Commercial Operation

The Tu-144 took to the skies for the first time in December 1968 – two months before Concorde.

Perhaps the most famous incident involving the Tu-144 took place before it entered regular service. In 1973 at the Paris Air Show, the Tupolev entered a steep climb before entering a dive during which the airframe broke apart and the plane crashed into the ground killing all crew members on board as well as 8 civilians.

The aircraft eventually entered regular service with Aeroflot in 1975 flying cargo between the capital, Moscow, and Alma-Ata (Almaty), the largest city in the Kazakh SSR.

There were few possible routes open to the Tu-144 – supersonic aircraft cause incredible noise through sonic booms. These are not single events but occur continuously throughout the flight along the aircraft’s flight path. The Concorde tackled this by only flying over the open ocean where the noise wouldn’t bother anyone.

As an (almost) landlocked country, however, the USSR could only operate over sparsely populated areas.

Passenger services began in November 1977, only to be ended in 1978 after a crash that caused the death of two crewmembers. The Tu-144 only flew scheduled passenger flights 55 times.

Questionable engineering and semi-regular failures during tests meant the Tu-144 was fully phased out of all commercial operations by 1983.

Fate of the Tupolev 144

The Tupolev Tu-144 continued to fly for specific purposes. The USSR used the aircraft to train cosmonauts to fly their version of the space shuttle: the Buran. The government also continued to use the aircraft for scientific research at high altitudes.

In the aftermath of the Cold War, NASA conducted various aeronautical experiments using a Tu-144 lent to the Americans by Russia as a testbed. This aircraft became known as the Tu-144LL Flying Laboratory. The US used the vehicle in an effort to develop a new generation of Supersonic passenger aircraft. Although this never came to fruition.

The Tu-144LL was decommissioned in 1999, and since then the aircraft has remained firmly grounded.

Only 3 years after the Tupolev 144 was grounded, the Concorde project officially ended, and the world bid goodbye to the idea of mass-market supersonic passenger aircraft.

Although they no longer fly, both the Concorde and Tupolev-144 remain objects of intrigue. There are various Concordes in museums around the world, as well as a permanent British Airways Concorde on display at Heathrow Airport.

Similarly, Tu-144s were donated to museums around Russia, including the Ulyanovsk Aircraft Museum which hosts an array of other rare Soviet-era aircraft; although the Tu-144 is no doubt its top exhibit!

Although she may never fly again, the Tupolev Tu-144 is a monument to Soviet ambition, often rushed by Cold War competition.