So we all know for tragic but glamorous life of anglo-french aeroplane called Concorde. But did you know soviet's had their own supersonic gem. Yup, and it is called Tupolev Tu-144.
For some strange reason I just love every bit of technology and machinery produced by S.S.S.R. Often Soviet union rushed to finish almost everything. Reason behind that is to show to the rest of the world that they are capable to build, invent and create faster then them. But folks behind iron curtain usually got them self an unfinished project. Such is the case with
Tu -144 . Tupolev first flew on 31 December 1968 near Moscow almost two weeks before Concorde flew, and it was first supersonic transport to exceed Mach 2. Signs of unfinished project first appeared in march of 1973 at the Paris air show
where Tu -144 crashed. First commercial flight took place in 1977 and you can see on this example what I mean when they rushed everything. They literally showed middle finger to the west in 1968 by releasing their supersonic aeroplane before Concorde. Tupolev never lived a true commercial life, occasionally it would flew between Moscow and Alma ata, and it was everything but pleasant flight . Far for glamorous and exclusive flight that Concorde offered. Cabin was very shaky, turbulent and noise from Kuznetsov NK-144 turbofan was so loud that it was impossible to create a normal chat between passengers. So conclusion is that Tu-144 was really a failure, and still i love every bit of story about him. He was a big underdog to Concorde fighting desperately to be better . But he was not better and so the Soviet giant ended his time in NASA research program in 1990's . Here i will post you some pictures of Tu-144 and I hope you guys liked this post
Tu-144 passenger cabin
One of many crashes of Tu- 144