When the Soviet Tu-144 supersonic passenger plane, expected to be a rival to Concorde
first appeared to the world at the 1971 Paris Air Show, everyone was impressed
In the heated race to develop a supersonic passenger plane, it was the Soviet Union that got off to a good start
The then President of France, George Pompidou, put nationalism aside, calling the Tu-144 "a beautiful plane"
The Concorde manufacturer also admitted that the Soviet aircraft was "quieter and tidy"
The Tupolev Tu-144 looks very much like its Anglo-French-made rival, giving it the nickname "Concordski"
but the aircraft is somewhat bizarre and more mysterious
It came about in the context of the Soviet aerospace industry that made truly remarkable strides:
in 1971, Moscow successfully made the Mars program, and launched the first space station into orbit
The Soviet Union seemed in a perfect position to beat the West in supersonic passenger transport
The Soviet supersonic passenger plane made its maiden flight on December 31, 1968 (sorry)
two months before Concorde's similar flight, and then won the title of the world's first supersonic flight
in June 1969, ahead of the competition by four months
Those were the iconic victories of the Soviet Union
Overall, the Tu-144 had the same quality as its Western European counterpart, but was superior in terms of top speed and service ceiling
This helped the Tu-144 reduce noise for cities it flies over compared to Concorde
Both planes were ahead of their time
The Tu-144 had a double delta wing
They also added two small retractable surfaces called a moustache canard
with fixed double-slotted leading-edge slats and retractable double-slotted flaps
These were fitted just behind the cockpit and increased lift at low speeds
The Tu-144 was operated by a crew of 3, designed to carry around 150 passengers
It was 65.7 m (215 ft 7 in) long, wingspan was 28.8 m (94 ft 6 in), and height was 12.55 m (41 ft 2 in)
Its empty weight was 99.2 tons, and maximum take-off weight was 207 tons
The Tu-144 was powered by four Kolesov RD-36-51 turbojet engines, or Kuznetsov NK-144 turbofan afterburning engines
with 240 kN thrust each.
In theory, the Tu-144 could reach a top speed of 2,500 km/h (Mach 2.15),
cruise speed of 2,125 km/h, range of 6,500 km, service ceiling of 20,000m, and rate of climb was 50 m/s
After an impressive debut at the biggest aviation event in 1971, the Tu-144 continued to gain attention in 1973, this time due to tragedy, not victory
That year, the opponents once again faced off
At first, the Concorde completed its launch without a hitch
But the Soviet representative opted for a much bolder performance, with deadly turns
Suddenly the Tu-144 broke in midair and crashed into the village of Goussainville, killing 6 people on board and 8 on the ground
The Paris incident delayed the Soviet program for four years, and Concorde went commercial first
But the tragedy still did not completely convince the Soviets that the plane needed more testing
When the Tu-144 finally entered passenger service in 1977, it turned out that the plane was cramped, messy and unbearably noisy, unlike Concorde
It was only able to maintain supersonic speeds when using afterburner, like a jet
The pilots used the Tu-144 to serve a 2-hour flight route
However, flights were mostly half empty
Eventually the Tu-144 turned to post and freight instead of passenger
And then the service was also suspended after 6 months
The short life of the Tu-144 ended with only 55 flights
Tu-144s suffered hundreds of problems, most of them in flight
even the passengers had to communicate with each other in writing because it was too noisy
On May 23, 1978, a plane caught fire near Moscow and had an emergency landing, killing two flight engineers
The crash resulted in a complete flight ban on the Tu-144
Soviet leaders lost interest in the Tu-144 program
They had endured all the headaches associated with this intricate program
Over the next few years, the aircraft quietly retired and production of the aircraft halted