In the mid-1950s in opposition to capitalism and socialism for the championship he has been a leader in aviation: the USSR introduced the world to the Tu-104 - passenger jet. That's only in the West could not know that the ship had a constructive error that made it virtually unmanageable, and the reluctance aircraft designers to listen to the opinion of a simple pilot will lead to the fact that he will be able to prove its case only at the cost of his own life.
1950 - the height of the arms race between the capitalist and the socialist camp. This battle is not spared and aircraft. A major step in the development of world aviation was to be the introduction of jet aircraft, which has long been successfully used in the Air Force, in civil aviation. In the Soviet Union such breakthrough was the Tu-104.
Development of the Soviet jetliner began in 1954. KB "Tupolev". To save time and resources as a basis have taken existing and successfully operated in the Soviet Air Force jet Tu-16.
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"The world's first civil jet" - a headline accompanied by Tu-104 in the Soviet literature. But really it did not fit. Truly the first in this regard, the British steel - their reactive "Comet" was established as a commercial jet airliner in 1949
However, the first generation of "Komet" Furrow air spaces for long: a series of crashes liners in the first half of the 1950s. It has led to a ban on their operation to supply personally Prime Minister Churchill. Four years of English mistakes corrected, and only in 1958 was the fourth, improved modification of the "Comet" was introduced in the British civil airlines.
This pause gave the British handicap tips that quickly began to create their jet aircraft for civil aviation. His first flight of the Tu-104 made in November 1955, that is, the development of the ship took barely more than six years. It should be noted that the appearance, enormous at the time speed, a comfortable interior and high standards of service - all this attracted a lot of attention to the new aircraft. Even the menu was personally aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev - in it, in particular, there were red caviar and cognac.
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However, the rush has led to a number of design faults, which together have led to the mysterious behavior of the liner in the air. Sami pilots dubbed it "catch" - the plane was bouncing up sharply, gaining altitude, and then he rolled over and promptly dived. In fact, the liner becomes simply unmanageable.
However, problems in the operation of the Tu-104 is not confused by the Soviet leadership, and has not yet been revised to the end of the plane, which is strange and inexplicable behave in the air, it was decided to actively demonstrate West. Tu-104 were taken to the event and it surprised aircraft manufacturers and ordinary citizens of Europe, who dubbed him "Russian miracle". Moreover, the plane so delighted Nikita Khrushchev that he was going to fly it to London for another demonstration, but for fear of ill-controlled liner, Secretary General dissuaded from this idea.
When it became clear that this strange phenomenon "sick" a number of Tu-104 Tupolev Design Bureau convened a commission to investigate the incident and to find the cause of the "pick-up" during the flight. It was decided to return the aircraft to the test. However, the temporary decommissioning of "Russian miracle" would look too suspicious to the capitalist camp. Despite the danger of new catastrophes, civilian flights of the Tu-104 is not stopped.
One of the aircraft was the test Harold Kuznetsov, a civilian pilot who flew it on the Tu-104. He had his own version of the appearance of the "pick-up" - Kuznetsov saw the problem in the control flaw, lack of elevator and stabilizer. But high-ranking officials, headed by Tupolev simple pilot did not want to listen to. Moreover, the aircraft itself, refusing to admit his mistake, threw in the hearts of a cynical phrase: "It's not a bad plane, is that you fly it did not know how!".
Still, Harold Kuznetsov was able to prove his innocence, but the price was terrible: October 17, 1958, carrying out flight Moscow-Beijing, the Tu-104, whose commander he was crashed in Chuvashia. Cause of the accident was the same "pick-up". Kuznetsov until recently tried to bring the plane out of the dive and continued to report these instruments up to the fall. It is these records allowed to correct deficiencies in the management of the Tu-104.
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However, these aircraft have not ceased to fall, though the cause of the falls was no longer a "pick-up". Tu-104 gained notoriety among the Soviet people, and they have displayed it even in folklore - on a funeral march imposed words: "Tu-104 - the fastest aircraft: two minutes to the grave dovezot".
Do you want to know what did the Soviet leadership made to remove the notorious aircraft from service? read about plane crash that claimed the lives of almost all the administrative board of the Pacific Fleet of the USSR
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/020719/50892/