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Europe Had Concorde Supersonic Jet, But Before Them, Russia Had Tupolev Tu-144 Nicknamed “Concordski”
Europe had Concorde Supersonic Jet, but before them, Russia had Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144 nicknamed “Concordski”.
Tupolev Tu-144 was test-flown in December 1968, two months before the Anglo-French Concorde.
Soviet-built Tu-144 first went supersonic on 5 June 1969, four months before British-French Concorde
On 26 May 1970, Tupolev Tu-144 became the world’s first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
But the planes were pulled from service following another crash in 1978, the first happened at the 1973 Paris Air Show.
Tu-144 remained in commercial service as a cargo aircraft until the cancellation of the Tu-144 program in 1983.
Europe had the supersonic Concorde, an ultimate luxury turbojet-powered jet operated by British Airways and Air France for 27 years before being retired in 2003 following a crash that killed 109 people in 2003.
But before them, Russia had the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144 nicknamed “Concordski”, which was the world’s first supersonic transport aircraft to enter service and the first to leave it.
Tupolev Tu-144, designed by the veteran Soviet aircraft designer Andrey N. Tupolev and his son Alexey, was test-flown in December 1968, two months before the British-French Concorde.
It first went supersonic (faster than speed of sound) on 5 June 1969, four months before Concorde, and on 26 May 1970 became the world’s first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
The Tu-144 was put into passenger service with Aeroflot between Moscow and Almaty on 26 December 1975, but withdrawn in 1978, following a second Tu-144 crash on 23 May 1978. The first crash happened to the first production Tu-144, which crashed at the 1973 Paris Air Show.
Tu-144 remained in commercial service as a cargo aircraft until the cancellation of the Tu-144 program in 1983.
During its time, the Tu-144 conducted 102 commercial flights, 55 of which carried passengers. It cruised at a speed of around 2,200 kilometres per hour (1,400 mph) (Mach 2).
Revised models of the Tu-144 were later used by the Soviet space program to train pilots of the Buran spacecraft, and by NASA for supersonic research until 1999.
The Tu-144 made its final flight on 26 June 1999. The surviving aircrafts were put on display across the world or into storage.
