Since I do have alot of these saved up, figured I’d start sharing them with you all here. It is me posting, so most of you should be able to guess what airliner it is I’m talking about 😀
The aircraft in question is, of course, a Tu-144, more specifically Tu-144D serial 77115, the last production model to actually leave the Voronezh factory.
By: SOC - 28th April 2003 at 07:08
True Kabir, very true. Think of where the passenger cabin would probably be-a structural failure in the cabin wall and you’re likely to meet an engine compressor!
By: KabirT - 28th April 2003 at 05:55
TU 334….converting Backfires into SST’s doesent sound so good to me.
By: SOC - 28th April 2003 at 04:41
Last picture for the evening. Not a Tu-144, but rather a Tu-344, a proposed SST derivative of the Tu-22M3. Possibly still an active project aimed at converting ex-military BACKFIREs for the intermediate-range SST role. Interesting to say the least.
By: SOC - 28th April 2003 at 04:36
Next picture is an image showing the only naval Tu-144! This is Tu-144D 77112 being transported to a museum display in Germany, courtesy of Airliners.net. Incidentially, there were 6 Tu-144Ds, 77111-77116. 77116 never left the Voronezh factory, and 77111 crashed during a test flight. With 77112 going to a museum outside Russia, there are currently three left, 77113-77115. Of these, 77114, the Tu-144LL conversion (reportedly to be displaeyd in the US after being flown there in the near future), remains hangared at Zhukovskii, with 77113 and 77115 remaining on the ramp in relatively poor condition, along with the scrapped RD-36-51 testbed, 77105.
By: SOC - 28th April 2003 at 04:30
True, them models aren’t cheap! I put some more military-related images in the AFM board, some models and patches from my collection.
Back to the Tu-144.
First picture for tonight is an interesting image of the first prototype, 68001.
If anyone has any questions on the Tu-144, feel free to post them here and I’ll give them a shot.
By: A330Crazy - 27th April 2003 at 19:42
Some more nice ones there SOC. That model… shes a beaut!
By: MSR777 - 27th April 2003 at 17:01
Keep ’em coming SOC, I have a couple of IL62s by Historic in Aeroflot and Interflug colours, they are good models but not cheap.
Rgds,
A fellow Russian airliners fan.
By: ageorge - 27th April 2003 at 13:17
, I can post more pictures if anyone actually cares! [/B][/QUOTE]
I certainly care SOC , keep posting them !!! , thanks
By: EGNM - 27th April 2003 at 11:54
ah from those last 2 photos i can now see how the retraction process would work – nice one SOC – Interesting stuff
By: KabirT - 27th April 2003 at 07:05
thanx for all that SOC!:D
By: SOC - 27th April 2003 at 07:00
Alright, last one for now, for real this time 😀 This is my Historic Aircraft Models 1/200 scale Tu-144 series model, serial 77109, the aircraft that initiated Tu-144 passenger flights in the Soviet Union. Currently resides on top of my entertainment center with 14 other diecast scale models, including a companion H.A.M. 1/200 Tu-160. Decided to photograph them all one day, I can post more pictures if anyone actually cares!
By: SOC - 27th April 2003 at 06:52
One more for now. This is 77144, the 4th series aircraft (actually the third, since 77101 has been described as a pre-production example and not actually a series-production airframe). Probably should have been 77104, but obviously a play on words (or in this case, numbers) was used! You can clearly see the extended canards, and the fairings they retract into for cruising flight. The aircraft is seen either shortly before or sometime after its 1975 Paris appearance as it is still wearing the airshow code on the nose (361), but doesn’t appear to be at Le Bourget as I think those may be MiG-25s in the background, or some other such Soviet aircraft (notice the distinct horizontal tail shape). Could easily be a Mirage F-1 or something similar as well, or even the twin-seat Mirage VG fighter that was being tested in the same timeframe as there appear to be twin cockpit canopies open.
Anyway, for more info on the Tu-144 check out these great references:
Soviet SST-The Technopolitics Of The Tupolev-144. Howard Moon, 1989. This one is the only book currently available dedicated to the Tu-144 story, and is a great read.
Tupolev Aircraft since 1922. Bill Gunston, 1995.
Tupolev-The Man And His Aircraft. Paul Duffy, Andrei Kandalov, 1996. Both of these feature sections on the Tu-144 and Tu-244 follow-on. Not as detailed as some might like, but there is still a lot of great data to be found in each. Duffy and Kandalov’s book has some great pictures as well.
Voronezh’s Aircrafts. V. V. Gagin, 1995. Voronezh was the factory that built the Tu-144. Lots of data and pictures showing aircraft in various stages of production.
Concorde. Gunter Endres, 2001. Despite being a book primarily about the Concorde, this one has the best, most detailed section on the Tu-144, better than any of the others. Production charts, performace data specific to each variant, and the best three-view drawing I’ve seen yet of a Tu-144 series model.
By: SOC - 27th April 2003 at 06:36
Ok, I just learned that you can now only attach one file per post from your hard drive apparently. here’s another image, this time showing the business end of a Tu-144D model (or possibly 77105, the standard-model converted to test the RD-36-51A engine) showing the unique engine nozzles of this variant.
By: SOC - 27th April 2003 at 06:32
I’ve got quite a bit more. I’ll post more here in this thread, a few at a time.
Regarding the canards, they are not missing, merely retracted. They retract aft to lie along the upper fuselage, being deployed for takeoff and landing. Yes, this is what the Mirage jet was attempting to gather data on at the Paris airshow when 77102 went down. The general consensus is that the Russians didn’t come out and blame the French for the crash in return for the French not blaming a technical fault in the aircraft for the crash (which was nonexistant and would have amounted to nothing mroe than a cover-up attempt by the French government). Other factors to consider were that the Mirage was obscured in the clouds above the display area and not immediately visible to the flight crew, and that the demonstration was already under some stress as the Concorde had flown just before 77102, and as the aircraft was taxiing out to conduct a “retaliatory flight demo” if you will, the French informed the flight crew that their display time had been cut in half!
Anyway, here’s a few more images. The first is the original prototype approaching Zhukovskii at the end of its maiden flight, with the MiG-21 Analog in chase.
By: ageorge - 26th April 2003 at 20:24
Great photo SOC , any more of the same beast ??
By: EGNM - 26th April 2003 at 20:05
thats the one Ren – couldn’t think on the spot!
By: MSR777 - 26th April 2003 at 17:27
The latest theory is that on that ill fated day in 1973 at Le Bourget the TU144 was taking avoiding action due to the close proximity of a French air force jet, which was supposedly loitering in the area taking photographs, especially of the canard arrangement during its display. It was interesting that in the recent programme screened by the Discovery channel on this subject that the French defence ministry spoksman would not confirm or deny the allegation and ended up walking out in the middle of the interview. Actions speak louder than words???
By: Gaurav - 26th April 2003 at 14:54
This would have been great. I reckoned it was shot down on purpose
By: Ren Frew - 26th April 2003 at 14:34
I think it’s the canard foreplanes that are missing. Cunard do cruise liners methinks ?:p
By: A330Crazy - 26th April 2003 at 14:28
Shame this idea had a shot lived life. Nice pic SOC, cheers for sharing.
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April 26, 2003 at 4:05 am