Tupolev Tu‑144: The Soviet Supersonic Airliner

by Yefim Gordon, Dmitriy Komissarov, Vladimir Rigmant

Developed in the 1960s/1970s, the Tu-144 was the Soviet Union’s only practical venture into supersonic commercial aviation. Though its career was all too brief, it was a major technological achievement for the Soviet aircraft industry. The book provides in-depth coverage of the “Concordski,” including projected versions, the Tu-144’s production and service history, and a comparison with the Concorde. First flown on the last day of 1968—ahead of the Concorde—the Tu-144 had to undergo a long gestation period before the production version entered service in November 1977. Unfortunately, its career proved to be brief; two accidents and a powerful anti-Tu-144 lobby caused the type to be withdrawn in May 1978. The book describes the Tu-144’s versions (including the Tu-144LL research aircraft developed under a Russian-U.S. program) and touches on the projected military derivatives. It is illustrated with color side views and previously unpublished photographs.

Genres: Aviation

272 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2006

About the author

Yefim Gordon is arguably the world's leading Russian aviation researcher. Born in 1950 in Vilnius, Lithuania, he graduated from the Kaunas Polytechnical Institute in 1972 as an engineer/electronics designer. He has been a resident of Moscow since 1973, when, as a hobby, he started collecting photographs and books on the history of Soviet aviation; this has now developed into a major archive. Since the 1980s he has been a professional aviation journalist and writer, with over 50 books published on Soviet/Russian aviation in Russian, English, Polish and Czech, as well as close to 100 magazine features and photo reports. He is also an accomplished photographer, with countless photos published in the Western press; the current edition of Jane's All the World's Aircraft features more than 50 of his photographs