It is known for certain that nothing was made in the Soviet Union except for galoshes. Well, and a little more super-modern aircraft. Alas, the “little” that they still did was not always brought to mind and perfection. The history of the Tu-144 supersonic passenger aircraft is an excellent illustration of this.
On April 24, 1946, the first MiG-9 turbojet fighter took off into the sky over the country of the Soviets. Immediately after that, the designers faced the task of increasing the maximum speed of the aircraft to overcome the sound barrier at around Mach 1.2. Three years later, in 1949, the MiG-15 aircraft was born, which was able to overcome the cherished sound barrier. In the early 1950s, after the release of the 15th in the series, the designers thought about how to “transfer” passenger aircraft beyond the sound barrier.
Similar work was carried out abroad. Already in 1956, a special commission was created in Great Britain to deal with the development and development of supersonic transport aviation. The project includes 9 largest aviation companies and organizations of the country. Intensive work on the creation of a new type of supersonic aircraft begins only with the onset of the 1960s and the connection to the project of France. In the Soviet Union, everything that happened in Europe was closely followed and prepared their own project for a supersonic transport aircraft. Active work began in 1963.
>>>>Ideas for life | NOVATE.RU<<<<
In 1967, the French-British Concorde was presented. The leadership of the USSR demanded to speed up work on the development of their aircraft. As a result, on December 31, 1968, the Tu-144 was lifted into the air, ahead of the Concorde by about 2 months. In parallel with this, the serial model of the liner, the Tu-144S, was being finalized, taking into account the Soviet and Anglo-French experience of the first flights. At the same time, the Soviet and British-French aircraft turned out to be very different. The Soviet liner flew higher: 20 km versus 18 km for the Concorde. Flying faster: 2,500 km/h versus 2,300 km/h. It was noticeably more powerful: it lifted 16 tons against 13 tons. At the same time, the Tu-144 ate fuel much faster, which made it unsuitable for Pacific flights, unlike the Concorde. The brainchild of Europeans from the very beginning was positioned as a luxury aircraft, while a ticket for the Tu-144, although it was more expensive than usual, was still not important.
Why did the Tu-144 remain out of work? In fact, everything is quite simple. There were exactly two problems. The first is the issue of profitability. Both the Tu-144 and the Concorde were ahead of their time, but from a commercial point of view they were absolutely not profitable. Airplane flights were too expensive. The second reason is the issue of security. Both projects were developed in a big hurry. At the same time, the Tu-144 revealed many problems, despite constant improvements. Worst of all, the plane suffered several accidents that turned into disasters. First at the Le Bourget air show in 1973, then during a test flight in 1978, then another prototype crash in 1980. And in 1981, a fire broke out on board one 144th, after which they decided to completely refuse to put them into operation. Although 16 serial samples, which nevertheless managed to be made, even performed commercial flights for some time.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then read about why a strategic bomber ahead of its time, was not needed.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/021221/61448/