Tu-144 (first supersonic airliner to fly)
Tu-144 (primer avión de línea supersónico en volar)
- Date
- 31 de diciembre de 1968 · confidence high
- Place
- Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast, Russia
- Credited to
- Tupolev Design Bureau (Alexei Tupolev)
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A delta-wing airliner with four turbofans that first flew on 31 December 1968, two months before Concorde, and reached Mach 2. It flew with passengers from 1977 and was withdrawn in 1978 after a brief service.
A Tu-144 crashed at Le Bourget in 1973; regular passenger service lasted only 55 flights before withdrawal. Concorde flew on 2 March 1969.
What it led to
- supersonic competition with Concorde during the Cold War
- research data for NASA's supersonic programme