Supersonic passenger airliner. Russian aviation
On February 6, 1950, during another test, the Soviet jet fighter MiG-17 exceeded the speed of sound in horizontal flight, accelerating to almost 1070 km/h. This turned it into the first mass-produced supersonic aircraft. The developers Mikoyan and Gurevich were clearly proud of their brainchild.
For combat flights, the MiG-17 was considered transonic, since its cruising speed did not exceed 861 km/h. But this did not stop the fighter from becoming one of the most common in the world. At various times it was in service with Germany, China, Korea, Poland, Pakistan and dozens of other countries. This monster even took part in the fighting in the Vietnam War.
The MiG-17 is far from the only representative of the supersonic aircraft genre. We will tell you about a dozen more airliners that also outpaced the sound wave and became famous throughout the world.
Bell X-1
The US Air Force specially equipped the Bell X-1 with a rocket engine because they wanted to use it to study the problems of supersonic flight. On October 14, 1947, the device accelerated to 1541 km/h (Mach number 1.26), overcame a given barrier and turned into a star in the sky. Today, the record-breaking model rests in the Smithsonian Museum in the States.
Source: NASA
North American X-15
The North American X-15 is also equipped with rocket engines. But, unlike its American counterpart Bell X-1, this aircraft reached a speed of 6167 km/h (Mach number 5.58), becoming the first and for 40 years the only manned hypersonic aircraft in human history (since 1959). aircraft who performed suborbital manned space flights. With its help, they even studied the reaction of the atmosphere to the entry of winged bodies into it. A total of three units of X-15 type rocket planes were produced.
Source: NASA
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
It would be a sin not to use supersonic aircraft for military purposes. Therefore, the US Air Force designed the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a strategic reconnaissance aircraft with a maximum speed of 3,700 km/h (Mach number 3.5). The main advantages are fast acceleration and high maneuverability, which allowed it to evade missiles. The SR-71 was also the first aircraft to be equipped with radar signature reduction technologies.
Only 32 units were built, 12 of which crashed. In 1998 it was withdrawn from service.
Source: af.mil
MiG-25
We cannot help but recall the domestic MiG-25 - a 3rd generation supersonic high-altitude fighter-interceptor with a maximum speed of 3000 km/h (Mach number 2.83). The plane was so cool that even the Japanese coveted it. Therefore, on September 6, 1976, Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko had to hijack a MiG-25. After this, for many years in many parts of the Union, aircraft began to be incompletely refueled. The goal is to prevent them from flying to the nearest foreign airport.
Source: Alexey Beltyukov
MiG-31
Soviet scientists did not stop working for the aerial benefit of the fatherland. Therefore, in 1968, the design of the MiG-31 began. And on September 16, 1975, he was in the sky for the first time. This two-seat supersonic all-weather long-range fighter-interceptor accelerated to a speed of 2500 km/h (Mach number 2.35) and became the first Soviet fourth-generation combat aircraft.
The MiG-31 is designed to intercept and destroy air targets at extremely low, low, medium and high altitudes, day and night, in simple and adverse weather conditions, with active and passive radar interference, as well as false thermal targets. Four MiG-31s can control air space length up to 900 kilometers. This is not an airplane, but the pride of the Union, which is still in service with Russia and Kazakhstan.
Source: Vitaly Kuzmin
Lockheed/Boeing F-22 Raptor
The most expensive supersonic aircraft were built by the Americans. They modeled a fifth-generation multirole fighter, which became the most expensive among their colleagues. The Lockheed/Boeing F-22 Raptor is currently the only fifth-generation fighter in service and the first production fighter with a supersonic cruising speed of 1,890 km/h (Mach 1.78). Top speed 2570 km/h (Mach 2.42). No one has ever surpassed him in the air.
Source: af.mil
Su-100/T-4
The Su-100/T-4 (“weaving”) was developed as an aircraft carrier fighter. But the engineers of the Sukhoi Design Bureau managed not only to achieve their goal, but to simulate a cool attack and reconnaissance bomber-missile carrier, which they then wanted to use even as passenger plane and an accelerator for the Spiral aerospace system. The maximum speed of the T-4 is 3200 km/h (Mach 3).
At OKB im. A.N. Tupolev, development is underway on a second-generation supersonic passenger aircraft (SPS), which is named Tu-244.
Work on SPS-2 was and is being carried out at the A.N. Design Bureau. Tupolev for 30 years. Over the years, several different Tu-244 designs were prepared (Tu-244-400, Tu-244A-200, Tu-244B-200 and others), differing in aerodynamic layout, specific design solutions for the airframe, power plant and flight performance data .
The chief designer on the SPS-2 theme is A.L. Pukhov, technical supervision of work on the Tu-244 is provided by M.I. Kazakov.
The Tu-244 aircraft embodies the “tailless” design, with the absence horizontal tail, the aircraft will have four turbojet engines, placed one at a time in separate engine nacelles.
The layout of the Tu-244 is aimed at ensuring high aerodynamic quality both at supersonic cruising and at takeoff and landing modes to reduce noise levels, as well as creating increased comfort for passengers.
The wing of the Tu-244 is trapezoidal in plan with an influx, has a complex deformation of the middle surface and a variable profile along the span.
The wing contains fuel caisson tanks and niches for cleaning the main landing gear.
The fuselage consists of a pressurized cabin, nose and tail compartments. The choice of the optimal fuselage diameter depends on passenger capacity. For a number of passengers of 250-320, the optimal fuselage is 3.9 m wide and 4.1 m high.
The plane does not have a fixed nose, like the Tu-144. There is no ordinary cockpit “canopy” either. The glazing of the cockpit provides the necessary visibility during flight, and during takeoff, landing and movement on the ground, the required visibility of the runway is ensured by an optical-electronic vision system that operates in all weather conditions.
The landing gear consists of a front strut and three main ones, of which the outer ones have three-axle bogies and are retracted into the wing, and the middle strut has a two-axle bogie and is retracted into the fuselage. The prototype of the nose support is the strut of the Tu-144 aircraft.
The SPS-2 Tu-244 project has been worked out quite deeply and, in principle, can be implemented. But we need money, and a lot of it.
BASIC DATA OF THE TU-244A-200 AIRCRAFT
Take-off weight, kg 325,000
Empty weight of the aircraft, kg 172,000
Fuel mass, kg 160,000
Passenger capacity, persons 268
Cruising speed, km/h M=2 Flight altitude, m 18,000-20,000
Flight range, km 9200
Aircraft length, m 88
Aircraft height, m 15
Wingspan, m 45
Wing area, m2 965
Fuselage diameter, m 3.9
Required runway length, m 3000
Supersonic aviation will find its place on passenger routes. Supersonic aircraft of the new generation will already differ significantly from their older brothers (Tu-144, Concorde) in speed, altitude, design, and materials.
The birth of a passenger “supersonic” aircraft that meets all modern international standards and standards - the task is not only structurally complex, but also very expensive.
March 17, 1996 at the flight test base of the Design Bureau named after. A.N. Tupolev in Zhukovsky a ceremonial rollout of the modified Tu-144LL took place. And on November 29, 1996, the first flight of the Tu-144LL took place. It was lifted into the sky by the leading test pilot, chief pilot of the Tupolev company S.G. Borisov and co-pilot, Hero Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR B.I. Veremey.
Russia’s significant contribution to the development of SPS-2 was the creation of the Tu-144 LL “Moscow” flying laboratory on the basis of the serial Tu-144D. Work on the Tu-144LL was carried out within the framework of international cooperation with the United States, with active funding from the Americans. For conversion into a flying laboratory, a serial Tu-144D was chosen, on which the RD-36-51A engines were replaced with NK-321 engines (modifications of the NK-32 of the Tu-160 strategic supersonic bomber). Maximum takeoff thrust - 4x21,000 kg. New engine nacelles with modified air intakes were installed on the aircraft, the wing was strengthened, the fuel and other systems were modified, and installed on board a large number of control and recording equipment.
According to the program, it was planned to carry out two ground and six flight experiments on the supersonic Tu-144LL. A total of 32 flights and all on Russian territory.
After completing the planned research program as part of the creation of the second-generation supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-244, the Tu-144LL aircraft turned out to be unclaimed, and in 2001 it was sold through an Internet auction to an anonymous resident of Texas (USA) for $11 million. This is not the first time that the Tu-144 has been sold abroad. In October 2000, a German museum bought one such aircraft for half a million dollars.
BASIC DATA OF THE TU-144LL AIRCRAFT
Take-off weight, kg 20 700
Empty weight of the aircraft, kg 96,810
Flight range, km 6500
Flight altitude, m 18,800
Cruising speed, km/h M = 2
Maximum speed, km/h M = 2.37
Lift-off speed, km/h 370
Approach speed, km/h 280
Fuel capacity, kg 102,000
Crew (in experimental version), people. 7
Aircraft length, m 65.7
Wingspan, m 28.9
Wing area, m2 507
Aircraft height, m 12.6
Run length, m 2225
Run length, m 1310
In the second half of the 90s at the OKB im. A.N. Tupolev on his own initiative, chief designer of SPS (supersonic passenger aircraft) A.L. Pukhov prepared a technical proposal for the conversion of the serial missile carrier-bomber Tu-22MZ into the administrative supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-344. They were offered several options for reworking the basic design of the Tu-22MZ. It was planned to place 10-12 and 24-30 passenger seats in the fuselage for business flights. The expected flight range of the Tu-344 in subsonic mode is 7,700 km.
The project of the supersonic administrative aircraft Tu-444 seems to be the most promising. This is essentially the SPS-2 concept on a scaled down scale.
JSC Tupolev has created the appearance of the supersonic administrative aircraft Tu-444, which will be able to carry 6-10 passengers over a distance of 7500 km.
Airplane. The Tu-444 is made according to the “tailless” aerodynamic configuration with a low-mounted cantilever wing with developed root overhangs. The vertical tail is single-fin, all-moving.
On the serial Tu-444 it is planned to use the AL-32M afterburning turbojet engine from NPO Saturn.
The aircraft will be equipped full complex systems and means of life support for passengers and crew in flight and emergency rescue equipment.
There are great difficulties on the way to creating such an aircraft, the main of which are related to the environment. If the aircraft does not meet the requirements of the KAO for local noise, then the market for it will be extremely narrow. The fact is that in this case the plane will be allowed to fly at supersonic speed only over the ocean. Over land, a supersonic executive aircraft will be forced to fly at subsonic speeds, no different from modern business class aircraft.
Serial production of the Tu-444 will begin after the necessary funds have been found.
Aircraft designers believe that supersonic business jets have a bright future, even despite their high cost.
Undoubtedly, the implementation of this program will become a real link between the Tu-144 and promising supersonic civil aviation.
BASIC DATA OF SUPERSONIC ADMINISTRATIVE AIRCRAFT TU-444
Maximum take-off weight, kg 41,000
Empty weight, kg 19,300 Maximum payload, kg 1000
Maximum weight fuel, kg 20 500 Cruising speed:
Supersonic, km/h 2125
Subsonic, km/h 1050 Practical flight range
with fuel reserve, km 7500
Number of passengers, people 6-10 Crew (pilots + flight attendants), persons. 2+1
Number of engines 2
Engine starting thrust, kg 9700
Aircraft length, m 36
Wingspan, m 16.2
Wing area, m2 132
Aircraft height, m 6.51
Rowing length B P P, m 1830
M = 1.2-5).
Encyclopedic YouTube
-
1 / 5
Nowadays, new aircraft are appearing, including those made using Stealth technology to reduce visibility.
Passenger supersonic aircraft
There are only two known mass-produced supersonic passenger aircraft that performed regular flights: Soviet aircraft Tu-144, which made its first flight on December 31, 1968 and was in operation from 1978 to 1978, and two months later - on March 2, 1969 - its first flight was the Anglo-French Concorde (French Concorde - “accord” ), which made transatlantic flights from 2003 to 2003. Their operation made it possible not only to significantly reduce flight time on long-distance flights, but also to use uncongested airspace at high altitudes (≈18 km), while the main airspace used by airliners (altitudes 9-12 km) was already in those years loaded. Also supersonic aircraft made flights along straight routes (outside air routes).
Despite the failure of several other former and existing projects of passenger supersonic and transonic aircraft (Boeing 2707, Boeing Sonic Cruiser, Douglas 2229, Lockheed L-2000, Tu-244, Tu-344, Tu-444, SSBJ, etc.) and withdrawal from operation of aircraft of two implemented projects, were developed earlier and there are modern projects of hypersonic (including suborbital) passenger airliners (for example, ZEHST, SpaceLiner) and military transport (landing) rapid response aircraft. A firm order for 20 units was placed in November 2015 for the Aerion AS2 passenger business jet under development, with a total cost of $2.4 billion, with deliveries to begin in 2023.
Theoretical problems
Flight at supersonic speed, in contrast to subsonic speed, takes place under conditions of different aerodynamics, since when the aircraft reaches the speed of sound, the aerodynamics of the flow change qualitatively, due to which aerodynamic drag increases sharply, and the kinetic heating of the structure from the friction of the air flow flowing at high speed also increases. , the aerodynamic focus shifts, which leads to a loss of stability and controllability of the aircraft. In addition, something unknown before the creation of the first supersonic aircraft phenomenon as “wave resistance”.
Therefore, achieving the speed of sound and effective stable flight at near- and supersonic speeds were impossible by simply increasing engine power - new design solutions were required. As a result, the appearance of the aircraft changed: characteristic straight lines and sharp corners appeared, in contrast to the “smooth” shapes of subsonic aircraft.
It should be noted that the problem of creating an effective supersonic aircraft cannot still be considered resolved. The creators have to make a compromise between the requirement to increase speed and maintain acceptable takeoff and landing characteristics. Thus, the conquest of new frontiers in speed and altitude by aviation is associated not only with the use of a more advanced or fundamentally new propulsion system and a new structural layout of aircraft, but also with changes in their geometry in flight. Such changes, while improving the aircraft's performance at high speeds, should not worsen their performance at low speeds, and vice versa. IN Lately the creators refuse to reduce the wing area and the relative thickness of their profiles, as well as increase the wing sweep angle of aircraft with variable geometry, returning to wings with low sweep and large relative thickness, if satisfactory values have already been achieved maximum speed and practical ceiling. In this case, it is considered important that a supersonic aircraft have good performance at low speeds and low drag at high speeds, especially at low altitudes.
In the early 60s, it became clear that the USSR needed a supersonic passenger aircraft, because The main jet airliner of that time, the Tu-104, flew from Moscow to Khabarovsk with two intermediate landings for refueling. The Tu-114 turboprop operated non-stop flights on this route, but was in flight for as long as 14 hours. And the supersonic Tu-144 would cover a distance of 8,500 kilometers in 3.5 hours! To ensure growing passenger flows on long transcontinental routes, the Soviet Union needed a new modern supersonic passenger aircraft (SPS).
However, a detailed analysis and study of the proposed SPS projects based on the first supersonic bombers showed that creating an effective competitive SPS by modifying a military prototype is an extremely difficult task. The first supersonic heavy combat aircraft, in their design solutions, mainly met the requirements of a relatively short-term supersonic flight. For the SPS, it was necessary to ensure a long cruising flight at speeds of at least two speeds of sound - Mach number equal to 2 (M = 2). The specifics of the task of transporting passengers additionally required a significant increase in the reliability of all elements of the aircraft structure, subject to more intensive operation, taking into account the increase in flight duration in supersonic modes. Analyzing all possible options for technical solutions, aviation specialists both in the USSR and in the West came to the firm opinion that a cost-effective ATP must be designed as a fundamentally new type of aircraft.
During the creation of the Soviet SPS, domestic aviation science and industry were faced with a number of scientific and technical problems that our subsonic passenger and military supersonic aviation had not encountered. First of all, to ensure the required flight performance SPS, this is a flight at a speed of M = 2 at a distance of up to 6500 km with 100-120 passengers, combined with acceptable takeoff and landing data, it was necessary to significantly improve the aerodynamic quality of the aircraft at cruising flight speeds. It was necessary to solve issues of stability and controllability heavy aircraft when flying in subsonic, transonic and supersonic regions, develop practical methods for balancing the aircraft in all these modes, taking into account minimizing aerodynamic losses. A long flight at speed M=2 was associated with research and ensuring the strength of the airframe structure and components at elevated temperatures close to 100-120 degrees C, it was necessary to create heat-resistant structural materials, lubricants, sealants, as well as develop types of structures capable of operating for a long time under conditions of cyclic aerodynamic heating.
The aerodynamic appearance of the Tu-144 was determined mainly by obtaining a long flight range in supersonic cruising mode, subject to obtaining the required stability and controllability characteristics, as well as the specified take-off and landing characteristics. The aerodynamic quality of the Tu-144 at double the speed of sound was 8.1, on the Concorde - 7.7, and for most supersonic MiGs of the mid-60s of the last century, the aerodynamic quality did not exceed a coefficient of 3.4. The airframe design of the first SPS mainly used traditional aluminum alloys; 20% of it was made of titanium, which can withstand heat up to 200 degrees C. The only aircraft in the world that also used titanium was the SR-71, the famous “Blackbird” ", American supersonic reconnaissance aircraft.
TU-144D No. 77115 at the MAKS 2015 air show / Photo (c) Andrey Velichko
Based on the conditions for obtaining the required aerodynamic quality and optimal operating modes of the airframe, aircraft systems and assemblies at subsonic and supersonic speeds, we settled on the design of a tailless low-wing aircraft with a composite delta wing of an ogive shape. The wing was formed by two triangular surfaces with a sweep angle along the leading edge of 78° and 55° for the rear base part. Four turbofans were placed under the wing. The vertical tail was located along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. The airframe's design mainly used traditional aluminum alloys. The wing was formed from symmetrical profiles and had a complex twist in two directions: longitudinal and transverse. This achieved the best flow around the wing surface in supersonic mode; in addition, such a twist helped to improve the longitudinal balancing in this mode.
Construction of the first prototype Tu-144 (“044”) began in 1965, while a second prototype was being built for static testing. The experimental "044" was initially designed for 98 passengers, later this figure was increased to 120. Accordingly, the estimated take-off weight increased from 130 to 150 tons. The prototype machine was built in Moscow in the workshops of the MMZ "Experience", some of the units were manufactured at its branches. In 1967, the assembly of the main elements of the aircraft was completed. At the end of 1967, the experimental "044" was transported to the Zhukovsky flight test and development base, where throughout 1968, development work was carried out and the vehicle was equipped with missing systems and units.
At the same time, flights of an analogue of the MiG-21I (A-144, “21-11”), created on the basis of the MiG-21S fighter, began at the LII airfield. An analogue was created in the Design Bureau of A.I. Mikoyan and had a wing geometrically and aerodynamically similar to the wing of the experimental “044”. A total of two "21-11" aircraft were built; many test pilots flew on them, including those who were to test the Tu-144. The analogue aircraft successfully reached a speed of 2500 km/h; the materials from these flights served as the basis for the final development of the Tu-144 wing, and also allowed test pilots to prepare for the peculiarities of the behavior of an aircraft with such a wing.
December 31, 1968 - first flight of the Tu-144 At the end of 1968, the experimental "044" (tail number 68001) was ready for its first flight. A crew was assigned to the vehicle, consisting of: the ship's commander, Honored Test Pilot E.V. Elyan (who later received the Hero of the Soviet Union for the Tu-144); co-pilot - Honored Test Pilot Hero of the Soviet Union M.V. Kozlov; leading test engineer V.N. Benderov and flight engineer Yu.T. Seliverstov. Considering the novelty of the aircraft, the design bureau made an extraordinary decision: for the first time, they decided to install ejection crew seats on an experimental passenger aircraft.
During the month, engine races, jogging, and ground system checks were carried out. From the beginning of the third ten days of December 1968, “044” was in pre-launch readiness, the vehicle and crew were completely ready for the first flight, during all these ten days there was no weather over the LII airfield, and the experienced Tu-144 remained on the ground. Finally, on the last day of the year 1968, 25 seconds after the start, “044” broke away for the first time runway LII airfield and quickly gained altitude. The first flight lasted 37 minutes, during the flight the car was accompanied by an analogue aircraft "21-11". The Tu-144 managed to take off two months earlier than its Anglo-French “colleague” - the Concorde airliner, which made its first flight on March 2, 1969.
According to the crew's reviews, the vehicle proved to be obedient and “flyable.” The first flight was attended by A. N. Tupolev, A. A. Tupolev, and many heads of OKB departments. The first flight of the Tu-144 became an event of world significance and an important moment in the history of domestic and world aviation. For the first time, a supersonic passenger plane took off.
On June 3, 1973, the first production vehicle crashed during a demonstration flight in Le Bourget. Commander test pilot M.V. Kozlov, co-pilot V.M. Molchanov, deputy chief designer V.N. Benderov, flight engineer A.I. Dralin, navigator G.N. Bazhenov, engineer B.A. Pervukhin were killed. A commission was created to investigate the disaster, in which specialists from the USSR and France took part. Based on the results of the investigation, the French noted that there was no failure in the technical part of the aircraft, the cause of the disaster was the presence of unfastened crew members in the cockpit, the sudden appearance of the Mirage aircraft in the field of view of the Tu-144 crew, the presence of a movie camera in the hands of one of the crew members, which If it fell, the control wheel could become jammed. E.V. Elyan spoke most succinctly and accurately about the Tu-144 crash at Le Bourget in the 90s: “This disaster is a bitter example of how a confluence of small, at first glance, insignificant negligence, in this case on the part of the French flight control services, led to tragic consequences."
However, the Tu-144 began to make regular flights. The first operational flight was carried out on December 26, 1975 on the Moscow-Alma-Ata route, where the plane transported mail and parcels, and in November 1977, passenger transportation began on the same route.The flights were carried out by only two aircraft - No. 77108 and No. 77109. Aeroflot pilots flew only as co-pilots, while the crew commanders were always test pilots from the Tupolev Design Bureau. A ticket cost a lot of money at that time - 82 rubles, and for a regular Il-18 or Tu-114 flight on the same route - 48 rubles.
From an economic point of view, after some time it became clear that the operation of the Tu-144 was unprofitable - supersonic aircraft flew half empty, and after 7 months the Tu-144 was removed from regular flights. Concorde experienced similar problems: only 14 aircraft flew from Europe to America, and even expensive tickets could not compensate airlines for huge fuel costs. Unlike the Tu-144, Concorde flights were subsidized by the governments of France and Great Britain almost until the beginning of the 90s. The cost of a ticket on the London-New York route in 1986 was 2,745 USD. Only very wealthy people could afford such expensive flights, for whom the formula “time is money” is the main credo of their existence. There were such people in the West, and for them, flying Concordes was a natural saving of time and money, as evidenced by their total flight time on intercontinental routes in 1989 of 325,000 flight hours. Therefore, we can assume that the Concorde program for the British and French was quite commercial, and subsidies were allocated to maintain prestige in relation to the Americans.
On May 23, 1978, the second Tu-144 crash occurred. An improved experimental version of the Tu-144D aircraft (No. 77111) after a fuel fire in the engine nacelle area of the 3rd power plant due to the destruction of the fuel line, smoke in the cabin and the crew turning off two engines, committed forced landing in a field near the village of Ilyinsky Pogost, not far from the city of Yegoryevsk. Crew commander V.D. Popov, co-pilot E.V. Elyan and navigator V.V. Vyazigin were able to leave the plane through the cockpit window. Engineers V.M. Kulesh, V.A. Isaev, V.N. Stolpovsky, who were in the cabin, left the plane through the front front door. Flight engineers O. A. Nikolaev and V. L. Venediktov found themselves trapped in their workplace by structures that were deformed during landing and died. The deflected nose cone touched the ground first, it worked like a bulldozer knife, entering the ground, turned under the bottom and entered the fuselage. On June 1, 1978, Aeroflot permanently stopped supersonic passenger flights.
Subsequently, the Tu-144D was used only for cargo transportation between Moscow and Khabarovsk. In total, the Tu-144 made 102 flights under the Aeroflot flag, of which 55 were passenger flights, in which 3,194 passengers were transported.
Photo: Tu-144 board USSR-77115 / (c) Baskakov V.D. Later, the Tu-144 made only test flights and several flights with the aim of setting world records. From 1995 to 1999, one significantly modified Tu-144D (No. 77114) called Tu-144LL was used by the American space agency NASA for research in the field of high-speed commercial flights in order to develop a plan for the creation of a new, modern supersonic passenger aircraft. Due to the lack of serviceable NK-144 or RD-36-51 engines, the Tu-144LL was equipped with NK-32, similar to those used on the Tu-160, various sensors and monitoring and recording equipment.
A total of 16 Tu-144 aircraft were built, which made a total of 2,556 sorties and flew 4,110 hours (among them, aircraft 77144 flew the most, 432 hours). The construction of four more aircraft was never completed.
Tu-144 board USSR-77114 parked at the Flight Research Institute named after. Gromov, airfield in Zhukovsky / Photo (c) Andrey Velichko, MAKS 2003 There are currently no aircraft that remain in flying condition. Only the Tu-144LL aircraft No. 77114 and TU-144D No. 77115 are almost completely complete with parts and can be restored to flight condition. Aircraft No. 77114, which was used for NASA tests, is stored at the airfield in Zhukovsky. TU-144D No. 77115 is also stored at the airfield in Zhukovsky. Once every two years, these machines are shown in a static parking lot during the MAKS international aerospace show.
Tu-144 of various modifications Concorde Tu-144 (“044”) Tu-144S Tu-144D Tu-144LL Specifications Crew, people 4 3 Length, m 59,40 65,70 61,66 Height, m 12,25 12,50 12,2 Wingspan, m 27,65 28,00 28,80 25,60 Wing area, m² 438 503 507 358,6 Maximum take-off weight, kg 180 000 195 000 207 000 203 000 185 000 Payload weight, kg 12 000 15 000 13 380 Fuel weight, kg 70 000 98 000 95 000 95 680 Engines Quantity 4 NK-144 NK-144A RD-36-51A NK-32-1 Olympus 593 Thrust, maximum, kN 171,6 178,0 196,1 245,0 170,0 Supersonic thrust, kN 127,5 147,0 137,5 Flight characteristics Maximum speed, km/h 2 443 2 500 2 285 2 500 2 330 Cruising speed (supersonic), km/h 2 300 2 200 2 120 2 300 2 150 Landing speed, km/h 270 295 Practical range (fully loaded), km 2 920 3 080 5 330 4 000 6 470 Service ceiling, m 20 000 18 300 Run length, m 2 930 Run length, m 2 570 It is interesting to compare the fate of the Tu-144 and the Anglo-French Concorde - machines similar in purpose, design and time of creation. First of all, it should be noted that Concorde was designed mainly for supersonic flights over uninhabited spaces Atlantic Ocean. According to the conditions of a sonic boom, this is a choice of lower altitudes of cruising supersonic flight and, as a consequence, a smaller wing area, a smaller take-off weight, a lower required cruising thrust of the power plant and specific fuel consumption.
The Tu-144 was supposed to fly mainly over land, so it required high altitudes flight and corresponding aircraft parameters, required power plant thrust. This should include less advanced engines. In terms of their specific parameters, the Tu-144 engines came close to the Olympus only in the latest versions, plus the worst specific parameters of domestic equipment and aircraft components compared to Western ones. All these negative initial aspects were largely compensated by the high perfection of the aerodynamics of the Tu-144 - in terms of the obtained aerodynamic quality when flying in supersonic cruising mode, the Tu-144 was superior to the Concorde. This was due to the complication of the aircraft design and a decrease in the level of manufacturability in production.
There were no rich business people in the USSR, so there was no natural market for services that was supposed to satisfy the Tu-144. The aircraft obviously had to become largely subsidized and unprofitable in operation, which is why the program for creating the Tu-144 should be attributed to the concept of the country’s prestige. There were no real economic prerequisites for the use of ATP in the aviation services market of the USSR in the 60-70s of the twentieth century. As a result, on the one hand, the heroic efforts of the A. N. Tupolev Design Bureau and other enterprises and organizations of MAP to develop the Tu-144, and on the other, the initial emotional uplift and support from the country’s leadership, which gradually turned into indifference and, to a large extent, inhibition on the part of the Aeroflot management, which, by and large, simply did not need the low-income headache of mastering the complex Tu-144 complex. Therefore, in the early 80s, when the features of the coming economic and political crisis began to clearly appear in the USSR, the Tu-144 program was one of the first to suffer.
TASS DOSSIER. On January 25, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Kazan Aviation Plant named after. S.P. Gorbunova (a branch of Tupolev PJSC) was present at the demonstration flight of the new supersonic strategic missile carrier Tu-160 "Peter Deinekin" and proposed to create a civilian version of this aircraft.
The editors of TASS-DOSSIER have prepared information about domestic and foreign programs to create supersonic passenger airliners.
Start of development
Research in the field of supersonic civil aviation began in Great Britain, France and the United States in the late 1950s. First preliminary designs corresponding passenger airliners appeared in the West in the early 1960s. At the same time, the Soviet Union began developing its own supersonic aircraft.
Tu-144
On July 16, 1963, a resolution was issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the creation of the Tupolev Design Bureau of a supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-144 with four jet engines and on the construction of a batch of such aircraft.” The general management of the project was carried out by the general designer of the OKB Andrei Tupolev, and after his death in 1972 - the designer’s son, Alexey Tupolev.
A prototype Tu-144 (tail number USSR-68001) made its first flight on December 31, 1968.
The production of serial copies of the Tu-144 was launched at the Voronezh Aviation Plant (now PJSC VASO as part of the UAC). In total, from 1972 to 1984, 17 production vehicles were produced, of which three underwent static tests, 14 were operated (including two with passengers), two crashed in plane crashes, and one was never completed. Between November 1977 and May 1978, two Tu-144s operated 55 flights between Moscow and Almaty, carrying a total of 3,284 passengers.
In 1978, after the second disaster, the operation of the Tu-144 was stopped, and the program itself was curtailed. Work on creating a modification of the Tu-144DA (with an increased flight range) was not developed.
Concorde
Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde (“Concorde”, from the French “consent”) has been created since 1962 by the French company Aerospatiale together with the British Aircraft Corporation. The prototype (registration number - F-WTSS) took off two months after the first flight of the Tu-144 - March 2, 1969.
A total of 20 aircraft were built between 1965 and 1979. 14 of them were operated in 1976-2003 Air airlines France and British Airways on scheduled passenger routes: mainly for transatlantic flights on routes to New York from Paris and London. On average, the plane covered the distance between Paris and New York in 3.5 hours.
During the entire operation of Concorde, one disaster occurred with aircraft of this type. On July 25, 2000, while taking off from Paris, an Air France aircraft with registration number F-BTSC crashed due to a foreign object on the runway. Then 109 people on board and four people on the ground died.
In just 27 years of operation, Concorde carried more than 2.5 million passengers. Air France and British Airways finally abandoned the operation of aircraft of this type due to a decline in passenger traffic caused by the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, rising costs of maintaining aircraft in flight readiness and the lack of prospects for their modernization.
American program of the 1960s
On June 5, 1963, US President John Kennedy announced the launch of a national program to create a supersonic passenger airliner, proposing to reimburse 75% of the development company's costs from the state. The goal of the program was to compete with the Concorde project. Boeing, Lockheed and North American corporations expressed their intention to create a new aircraft, proposing, respectively, the Boeing 2707, Lockheed L-2000 and a civilian version of the XB-70 Valkyrie strategic bomber.
The most promising project was the Boeing 2707 - a wide-body airliner designed to carry 277 passengers over a distance of up to 7.8 thousand km at a speed of 2 thousand 900 km/h. A full-scale model of the aircraft was built, Boeing received 120 orders from US airlines.
However, in 1971, it became obvious that the American program was lagging behind the European Concorde and the Soviet Tu-144. As a result, the US Congress stopped funding it. Boeing and other companies refused to continue it at their own expense.
Other projects
The experience of the Tu-144 and Concorde programs has shown that the operation of aircraft of this type has a number of disadvantages compared to conventional, subsonic airliners. In particular, due to the high fuel consumption and high cost of maintenance, supersonic passenger airliners are very difficult to make profitable. It was also not possible to solve problems with the noise of aircraft engines, as well as explosion-like sonic booms at the moment of transition to supersonic.
However, research in this area continues to this day. Thus, in 2016, the American Boom Technology announced the development of a 40-seat aircraft capable of covering the distance between Los Angeles and Sydney in six hours. The American companies Aerion and Lockheed Martin are working on a project of a three-engine supersonic business jet Aerion AS2 for 12 passengers, the first deliveries of which are scheduled for 2023. Another American company, Spike Aerospace, plans to certify its Spike S-512 business jet, designed to carry 18 passengers, in the same 2023.
The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI, Zhukovsky, Moscow region) presented at the MAKS-2017 international aerospace salon a prototype of a supersonic business jet that could be created within the next ten years. Among the canceled projects of this kind are Sukhoi Supersonic Business Jet, Tu-344 (business jet based on the Tu-22M3 missile carrier), Tu-444, etc., NASA High Speed Civil Transport program (1990-1999).
