Academy 1699 TU-144 SST

The Tupolev Tu-144 was a four-engine, all-metal, Soviet-made supersonic airliner. The drive was provided by four NK-144-A or RD-36-51-A engines. The flight of the prototype took place in December 1968, and small serial production took place at the Voronezh Aviation Works in the period 1975-1984. In total, only 16 aircraft of this type were built. The Tupolev Tu-144 was created to weaken the propaganda tone of the introduction of the Concorde aircraft into service. While working on it, they probably relied on materials stolen from the French company Aerospatiale, which was working on Concord. Undoubtedly, the Tu-144 was a very unusual and breakthrough machine - it was the first passenger plane in history to reach a speed of 2 Ma. However, the high pace of work had an impact on the overall quality of the machine. Very often there was a loss of fuel in flight, engine failure or wing cracks. These lens-like failures and imperfections were concentrated in the Tu-144 crash at the Paris Air Show in 1973. In addition, the Tu-144 was characterized by enormous fuel consumption (especially in supersonic flight), medium range and was very labor-intensive for ground service. The paradox was that the only route he flew was the Moscow-Alma-Ata connection! The official and unpopularized recall of these machines took place in 1978 - three years after their entry into service.