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The Tupolev Tu-144 began design in the early 1960s, the prototype being flown on 31 December 1968. Of like configuration, and with similar performance to the Aerospatiale/British Aerospace Concorde, the aircraft has a matching ogival delta wing with the powerplants grouped at the rear of the wing and a drooping nose to improve the pilot's view in low-speed regimes. The production version had a flight crew of three and 140 passengers as standard, and began proving flights with cargo between Moscow and Alma Ata on 26 December 1975. This variant also had retractable but non-moving canard foreplanes, lengthened fuselage, redesigned intakes, increased span and removal of pilots' ejection seats. From 22 February 1977, the Tu-144 was used in a series of 50 proving flights between Moscow and Khabarovsk, and the first passengers services, between Moscow and Alma Ata, began on 1 November 1977. These were terminated on 1 June 1978 after a fatal accident. Reports were received in 1979 of a developed Tu-144D with more economical Kolesov turbofan engines but, since that time, there has been no evidence of any renewed airline activity with these supersonic aircraft, though several have been used as testbeds and trials aircraft at Zhukovskii. Two remain active. The NATO reporting name is 'Charger'.
| MODEL | Tu-144 |
| CREW | 3 |
| PASSENGERS | 140 |
| ENGINE | 4 x Kuznetsov NK-144 afterburning turbofans, 98kN |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 180000 kg | 396834 lb |
| Empty weight | 85000 kg | 187394 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 28.8 m | 94 ft 6 in |
| Length | 65.7 m | 215 ft 7 in |
| Wing area | 438 m2 | 4714.59 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 2500 km/h | 1553 mph |
| Ceiling | 18000 m | 59050 ft |
| Range w/max.payload | 6500 km | 4039 miles |
| R.Hunt, Greg(@)greghunt.freeserve.co.uk, 03.11.2008 if you look deep in to secret aircraft held at Groom Lake (area 51) one was taken there so the west has a captured one | | Stephen, stephenspears01(@)yahoo.com, 22.07.2008 The Tu-144 flew on Dec. 31,1969. Making it the world's first SST. Andrei Tupolev was there for the maiden flight too. There is film of the plane's maiden flight and Tupolev standing there in the snow watching the plane take and land. They even dubbed it the "Concordeski". In recent years, they took one out of mothballs and started flying it again, as a testbed for future SSTs. Now that the Concorde's grounded permanently. | | Stephen, stephenspears01(@)yahoo.com, 22.07.2008 The Tu-144 flew on Dec. 31,1969. Making it the world's first SST. Andrei Tupolev was there for the maiden flight too. There is film of the plane's maiden flight and Tupolev standing there in the snow watching the plane take and land. They even dubbed it the "Concordeski". In recent years, they took one out of mothballs and started flying it again, as a testbed for future SSTs. Now that the Concorde's grounded permanently. | | Toby, tw53(@)hotmail.com, 08.01.2008 Max, the tu144 was the WORLDS first supersonic civil transport! Concorde flewa month later. | | Max, undergraund2005(@)mail.ru, 10.10.2007 It's a first russian supersonik civil aircraft. |
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COMPANY
PROFILE
FACTS AND FIGURES© The air conditioning system
needed to keep the airframe cool
at Mach 2 was ineffective and the
cabin was uncomfortably hot. It
was also so noisy, along with the
engines, that passengers were
issued with earplugs during flight. © The last of 17 production models were
the five Tu-144Ds, which had larger
engines and greater range. One was later
converted to a flying laboratory and used
by NASA for studies of a future SST. © The production aircraft was longer
than the prototypes with a more
curved wing of greater span and had
moveable canard surfaces sometimes
called 'moustaches' behind the cockpit.
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