The Soviet Union’s flawed rival to Concorde

The Soviet Union’s flawed rival to Concorde Science Photo Library Tu-144 in flight The world’s first supersonic airliner was not the Anglo-French Concorde but a Soviet design intended to show the world the superiority of the USSR. “This ran counter to Soviet experience in creating airliners and left the developers with the hugely ambitious task of designing from scratch a complex supersonic aircraft which could also satisfy requirements for comfort and economic performance – requirements which had seldom been necessary to consider.” Alamy The Tu-144 programme required enormous R&D resources at the same time as the space race Several problems soon came to plague the Tu-144. Alamy The Tu-144 looked very similar to Concorde, especially in its supersonic flight profile “We looked at it and we knew by the time it came into service it wasn’t going to be a competitor.” The USSR, however, won bragging rights over who got to fly a supersonic airliner first. The difference between the Tu-144 and Concorde is apparent in Moon’s description of the first Tu-144 flight that carried foreign observers: Passengers complained that the loud onrushing sound of wind made conversation impossible and communicated with each other by passing notes – Howard Moon “The cabin had shortcomings: several ceiling panels were ajar, service trays stuck, and window shades dropped without being pulled.