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achievements, Nikita Khrushchev was notabout to let what the Soviet public perceivedas a technological lead over theWest slip away. He gavehis vast spy network their orders and activated a teamthat included exchange students, executives for the SovietAeroflot airline in Paris, and even top KGB agents.Theiraudacious mission was to steal the blueprints for Concorde!It wasnt that the USSR lacked first class engineers, in

fact the legendary Andrei Tupolevs design bureau waschosen to undertake the work to create the nationsSST. Still, Khruschev wasnt taking any chances.The first theWest knew of Soviet plans to build an SST came

in 1963 when Julian Amery MP (the British Minister for Aviation)and a team of aviation industry experts visited Moscow and wereshown a model of what appeared to be a close replica of the thenstill secret Concorde design.The Anglo-British project was alertedto the possible espionage and conspiracy theorists soon began

The Tupolev Tu-144 entered service 40 years ago,on Boxing Day 1975, flying mail between Moscowand Alma-Ata, the largest city in Kazakhstan.This was in preparation for the Soviet Unionsfirst (and subsequently only) supersonic transport (SST)to commence passenger service on November 1, 1977.Yet the Tu-144, which was given the reporting name

Charger by NATO, would conduct only 102 passengerflights before it was withdrawn from scheduled serviceon June 1 the following year. So what went wrong?

EspionageWith the British and French collaborating on theConcorde programme and the Americans pursuingvarious SST concepts, it was inevitable that the Sovietswould seek to produce a bigger, better and faster rival.Riding high on the success of Sputnik and other space

CONCORDSKIIMITATION IS THE SINCEREST

FORM OF FLATTERYForty years on from its introduction to service

Kimberley Hawkins looks at the chequered historyof the Soviet Unions only supersonic transport

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disseminating stories of a Soviet designteam walking around Filton with camerasand tape measures, writing down thedimensions of the first British Concorde.Whether this is true or not has never

been proven, but such an approachwas not untypical of the effectivenessof Soviet espionage in the 1960s.However, across the Channel theFrench authorities began to monitor themovements of Sergei Pavlov. Officially, hewas head of the Soviet state-run airlineAeroflot in Paris. Unofficially, he was incharge of the KGBs efforts to steal theplans for Concorde. And the FrenchDST (intelligence agency) suspectedas much. If they could prove his guiltthey would have all the evidence theywould need of the Soviets espionage.Surveillance soon proved that

Pavlov was receiving Concorde tyrescrapings from an airport employee,whereupon the DST proceeded tofeed him a variety of false intelligenceto pass back to Mother Russia.When Pavlov reached the end

of his usefulness he was arrested inDecember 1965 and, to the DSTshorror, was found to have actualConcorde landing gear blueprints inhis suitcase! Pavlov was deported fromFrance and on his arrival back in theUSSR he was promptly promoted toDeputy Minister of Civil Aviation.However, Pavlov was not the only

Soviet spy working on Concorde.Sergei Fabiew went undetected for 15years and supplied the Soviets withthousands of sensitive documents. He

was only discovered when a Sovietdefector blew his cover in 1977.

Early flightWhen the news was made publicthat the Anglo-French Concorde wasexpected to fly for the first time in early1969, Khruschev ordered the Tupolevproject, by now christened the Tu-144and nicknamed Concordski by thesardonic British media, to be accelerated.Khruschev believed that if the SovietSST flew first, not only would it steal amarch on its rivals, it would also helpavoid any allegations of espionage. OnDecember 31, 1968, 80-year-old Tupolevand his team watched with pride asthe prototype Tu-144 (CCCP-68001)powered into the skies for the firsttime three months before Concorde.The maiden flight, which took place

from Zhukovsky, near Moscow, wasnot announced in advance to thepublic in case anything went amiss.The prototype flew a 37-minute sortieand was captained by test pilot E VElyan along with co-pilot MV Kozlov,test engineer V N Benderov and flightengineer J T Seliverstov.The undercarriageremained down throughout and aMiG-21I flew as a chase plane.Soon the Soviet propaganda machine

began to issue statements claimingthe aircraft would be in service byearly 1970; the Tu-144 first broke thesound barrier on June 5, 1969, and onJuly 15 became the first commercialtransport to exceed Mach 2.However, despite the bravado, all was

not well behind the scenes.The efforts tobe the first into the air had produced an

Khrushchev activated a team tosteal the blueprints for Concorde

Unlike Concorde, which had reverse thrust and powerful anti-skid brakes, theTu-144relied on drogue chutes to bring it to a halt. Here the aircraft lands at Hannover-Langenhagen airport on April 19, 1972 to appear at theWest German Airshow

TheTu-144 continued to fly until 1997thanks to American investment in a trials

programme flown jointly by IBP Aerospace,Tupolev, NASA, Rockwell and Boeing

NASA

Among the invited crowd to see theTu-144smaiden 37 minute flight at Zhukovsky were80-year-oldTupolev and his son Alexei. Theyare seen here with Captain Elyan and hisfellow crewmembers: co-pilot Kozlov, leadingtest engineer Benderov and flight engineerSeliverstov Tupolev Design Bureau

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incorporated retractable canards onthe side of the forward fuselage toincrease lift at low speeds.The latterhelped reduce the landing speed toaround 180kts, but this was still muchfaster than its European rivals 160kts.The British and French took great

glee in pointing out that being first inthe air is a dubious achievement whencontrasted with creating a successfulaircraft that flew just three months later!

Tragedy strikesBy 1973 the USSR felt its newlyredesignedTu-144 was ready to

demonstrate to the world and JunesParis Air Salon at Le Bourget would seethe eagerly awaited showdown betweenConcorde and the Tu-144 Charger.Thetest pilots put their aeroplanes throughtheir paces and by day three competitiveedges were heating up. In front ofa capacity crowd, British pilots JohnFarley and Andy Jones demonstratedConcordes power and manoeuvrabilityimpeccably and were treated to a welldeserved round of applause upon landing.During his turn in the Tu-144, Soviet

pilot Mikhail Kozlov performed adramatic take-off and a number oftight 360-degree turns, similar to thosethat Concorde had just completed.What happened next is open to

conjecture but many believe Kozlov tookevading action to avoid colliding witha French Mirage jet that was believedto be covertly filming the display fromabove. Either way, the Tu-144 entereda negative G pushover during whichthe engines lost thrust. Kozlov loweredthe nose to regain speed but at only4,000ft he had little margin for error.He began a firm pull-up to avoid thecrowd and the aerodynamic forceson the aircraft broke it apart. All sixaboard the Tu-144 were killed, as wereeight French citizens on the ground.

inferior aeroplane with dubious handlingqualities, particularly during landing.The Soviets immediately claimed to beworking on a second generation SST, butin reality this was a way of remedying thefaults on the early Tu-144. As such, theteam went back to the drawing boardand radically re-engineered the aircraft.While both Concorde and the Tu-144

prototype had ogival delta wings, theTu-144s wing lacked Concordesconical camber.The new version ofthe aeroplane, which debuted in 1973,replaced this wing with a double deltawing including conical camber. It also

Tu-144 CCCP-77102 taxies out at the Paris Air Salon on June 3, 1973.Minutes later the aircraft would break up mid-display and crash justoutside the airport, killing all six aboard the aeroplane and eight peopleon the ground. The cause of the accident remains controversial with apopular view that the crew manoeuvred hard to avoid a French Miragejet fighter that was secretly filming the display Adrian M Balch Collection

In its most advanced form (Tu-144LL) the Charger shows off its rakishand stylish looks at Zhukovsky in 1997. From some angles

the aircraft is arguably even more beautiful than ConcordeNASA

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SURVIVORSCCCP-77106 Central Air Force Museum of Russia, Monino, RussiaCCCP-77107 Institute of Aviation of the Kazan StateTechnical University, RussiaCCCP-77108 Samara State Aerospace University, RussiaCCCP-77110 Museum of Civil Aviation, Ulyanovsk, RussiaCCCP-77112 Auto &Technik Museum, Sinsheim, Germany (illustrated)CCCP-77114 Stored, Zhukovsky, RussiaCCCP-77115 Stored, Zhukovsky, Russia

Adrian M Balch Collection

airframe made the cabin much noisier.Aeroflot therefore thought very little

of the new aeroplane and this, in part,explains why the Tu-144s introduction toservice in December 1975 was merely asa mail-plane.This was a very expensiveway of deliveringthe post and thetwice-weekly flightswere cut back toonce a week in June1976 and cancelledaltogether byDecember of 1977.When asked

to present theKremlin with itsfive-year plan for 1975-1980, Aeroflotneglected to even mention the Tu-144but the party leaders ordered thatthe nations first SST enter passengercarrying flight as soon as possible.The aircraft eventually entered service

as a true airliner on November 1, 1977on the same Moscow to Alma-Ata route albeit only once a week. However, therushed nature of the design continuallyplagued the aircraft and it was beset withmechanical problems from the start.After the inaugural flight, the two

subsequent crossings were cancelledand a third flight rescheduled. Failures

included a decompression of the cabin onDecember 27, 1977 and engine exhaustduct overheating. Matters became sobad that Aeroflot insisted Alexei Tupolevhimself and the Soviet vice-ministers ofaviation industry and civil aviation be

present beforeeach scheduleddeparture to reviewthe condition of theTu-144 and makea joint decision onwhether it could bereleased into flight!With Soviet

decision-makersbeing acutely aware

of the aircrafts poor reliability and fearfulof possible crashes, they purposefullylimited flights to the absolute minimum,while ensuring the aircraft flew sufficientlyto maintain its claim of a regular service.However, on May 23, 1978, the first

Tu-144D model suffered a mechanicalfailure and crashed, killing two membersof crew.This was enough to giveAeroflot grounds to refuse to fly whatit knew was an inefficient aircraft andconsidered to be a dangerous one. Aweek later, on June 1, the type completedits 55th and last passenger flight.TheTu-144D (D for Dalnyaya or

The black box recorder was lost andmany believe the French and Sovietscolluded on the accident report to ensurethe French spies were not implicatedin the deaths of French nationals, andthat the Soviet aircrafts airworthinesswas not called into question.In a post-investigation press release

it was stated that Even though theinquiry established that there was noreal risk of collision between the twoaircraft, the Soviet pilot was likely tohave been surprised. In essence, thedeceased Kozlov carried the blame.Another theory claims that the black

box was recovered by the Soviets anddecoded. If these stories are to bebelieved, the accident may have beencaused by changes made to the auto-stabilisation input controls prior to thedisplay flights; these being intendedto allow the Tu-144 to outperformConcordes airshow routine.Regardless of the cause of the

accident, the damage to the Tu-144sreputation had been done.

Into serviceThe early aircrafts inefficientKuznetsov NK-144 engines werealso a hindrance.They did not permitcruise at Mach 2 without afterburnerand also suffered from heavy fuelconsumption, hence a limited rangeof around 1,600 miles far less thanthe Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus593 turbojet-powered Concorde.The Tu-144S model, of which nine

were produced, featured 44,122lb/thrustKuznetsov NK-144F turbofan enginesthat offered better fuel efficiency.The fourengines each had separate inlet ducts ineach nacelle and variable ramps in theinlets, giving a cruising speed of Mach 1.88and a longer range of 1,910 miles (stillless than half the range of the Concorde).The engines were actually quieter than

the Rolls-Royce Olympus units fittedto Concorde but their location on the

For the types maiden flight, on NewYearsEve 1968, theTu-144 was flown with the geardown. It is seen here in formation with theMiG-21I chase plane that also served as atraining aircraft for those destined to fly theSST Tupolev Design Bureau

The efforts to bethe first into theair had produced

an inferioraeroplane

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TUPOLEV TU-144DCHARGER

Crew 3

Passengers 120-140(normally 70-80)

Length 215ft 6in (65.5m)

Height 34ft 4in (10.5m)

Wingspan 94ft 5in (28.8m)

Wing area 4,715sq ft (438.0m)

Empty Weight 187,400lb (85,000kg)

Max Take-Off Weight 397,000lb (180,000kg)

Max Cruise Speed 1,117kts (1,320mph /2,124km/h /Mach 2.02)

Ferry Range 1,814 miles (2,920km)

Powerplant Four Kolesov RD-36-51 afterburningturbojets (44,122lbthrust each)

First Flight December 31, 1968

SPECIFICATION

Artw

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CHARGER

long range) variant was powered by theKolesov RD-36-51 turbojet.This gavethe aircraft both the ability to cruise ata comparable speed to the Concorde(Mach 2.0) and a much longer range ofaround 4,000 miles. On the Kremlinsinsistence, the new variant was taken onboard by Aerofloton June 23, 1979,but the aircraft onlyflew freight services(including longerroutes from Moscowto Khabarovsk).The Tu-144 fleet

was finally retired in 1983 by whichtime it had completed 102 commercialflights (including mail, passenger andcargo sorties) and amassed just 181hours flying.The fleet has also notched up226 failures; 80 of them in flight. Over its55 scheduled passenger flights,Tu-144stransported just 3,194 passengers an

average of 58 passengers per flight.Undeterred,Tupolev continued to

manufacture the Tu-144 until 1984, eventhough no airline wanted to fly the type.A total of 17 examples would eventuallybe built: the prototype (CCCP-68001), apre-production Tu-144S (CCCP-77101),

nine productionTu-144Ss (CCCP-77102-77110), andfive Tu-144Ds (CCCP-77111-77115).Thefinal productionaircraft,Tu-144DCCCP-77116, was

not completed and was left derelict formany years onVoronezh East airfield.A number of Tu-144s were retained

in airworthy storage following theirrejection by Aeroflot and one suchaircraft was reactivated in 1985 totrain pilots for the Soviet Buran spaceshuttle. Another was used between1986 and 1988 for medical andbiological research into high-altitudeatmosphere radiological conditions.However, perhaps the most

unexpected reactivation of aConcordski airframe came in 1995whenTupolev teamed up with IBPAerospace, NASA, Rockwell andBoeing to return CCCP-77114 to theskies as a test-bed for a High SpeedCommercial Research programme.The aircraft (which had only

accumulated 82 hours of flying time inAeroflot service) was retrofitted withthe engines from the Tu-160 Backfirebomber and received US$350 million ofmodifications before being designatedas the Tu-144LL (LL for Letayuschaya

Laboratoriya or Flying Laboratory)in readiness for 27 trials flights thatwere conducted in 1996 and 1997.

Destined to failIn retrospect, it is evident that theTu-144 programme suffered froma rush in the design process.Thisresulted in problems with design andbuild quality and an end product thatwas never truly fit for purpose.The project was driven by an

ideological and politically motivated desireto be first rather than be best. Even afterthe aircraft had beaten Concorde intothe skies, the rivalry continued and theneed to be the first into service meantthat the Tu-144 was released to Aeroflotafter fewer than 800 hours of testing compared to Concordes 5,000 hours,.Today the Tu-144 exists only in

museums and in storage, although anumber of organisations have triedto prise examples out of new Russiafor, variously, trials work or attemptsat world speed records. Reportsemerged of Tupolev offering to restorea Tu-144 to flight to transport theOlympic flame for the 2014WinterOlympic Games in Sochi butunsurprisingly this came to nothing.One suspects it will be a very

long time before the world seesanother supersonic transport.

The fleetnotched up 226failures; 80 ofthem in flight

Although theTu-144 flew its last payingpassengers in 1978 production of the typedid not cease until 1984 by which time16 airframes had been constructedTupolev Design Bureau

The canard foreplanes createdadditional lift and control duringslow flight and improved handlingin the landing configuration NASA