The flight lasted 37 minutes. The new airplane was reported as responsive and easy to fly. There were no significant problems.
This test flight took place two months before the first flight of the rival Aérospatiale Concorde supersonic airliner.¹
The Tupolev Tu-144 was prototype large four-engine double-delta-winged supersonic transport aircraft with a “droop” nose for improved low speed cockpit visibility. The airplane was assembled at Zhukovsky Airport from parts manufactured at the Tupolev Experimental Design Bureau plant (also known as OKB-156, or MMZ Opyt). It was flown by a flight test crew of four. The prototype completed 9 October 1968.
Izdeliye 044 was 59.50 meters (195 feet, 2.5 inches) long, with a wingspan of 27.65 meters (90 feet, 8.6 inches) and overall height of 11.35 meters (37 feet, 2.9 inches). The wing had an approximate area of 438 square meters (4,715 square feet). At the root, the double delta wing had a chord of 35.60 meters (116 feet, 9.6 inches). The fuselage was cylindrical with an external diameter of 3.00 meters (9 feet, 10.1 inches). The prototype had a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 160,000 kilograms (352,740 pounds).
CCCP-68001 first went supersonic 5 June 1969. It reached Mach 2.02 on 26 May 1970. The highest speed reached by the prototype was Mach 2.30, and its highest altitude, 16,960 meters (55,643 feet). Izdeliye 044 made a total 180 flight hours over 120 flights. Its final flight took place 27 April 1973. The prototype was scrapped at Zhukovsky.
The Tu-144 was intended to carry 120 passengers on international flights. It was designed to have a cruise speed of 2,200 kilometers per hour (1,367 miles per hour), a maximum speed of 2,443 kilometers per hour (1,518 miles per hour), and service ceiling of 18,500 meters (60,696 feet). Its planned range was 2,920 kilometers (1,814 statute miles).
The production Tupolev Tu-144 aircraft was lengthened 6.2 meters (20 feet, 4.1 inches), added canards, had changes to wing which included shortening the chord at the root 2.10 meters (6 feet, 10.7 inches), increasing the span 0.35 meters (1 foot, 1.8 inches), drooping and squaring off the wing tips, a significant increase in wing area, changes to engine placement and shape of the nacelles, and the location of the landing gear. The engines were upgraded to the improved NK144A.
The Tupolev Tu-144 was the first supersonic transport to enter service, 26 December 1975.² In actual commercial service, the Tu-144 was extremely unreliable. It was withdrawn from service after a total of just 102 commercial flights, including only 55 passenger flights.
A total of 17 Tu-144s were built, including one pre-production aircraft, five Tu-144S series production aircraft, and ten improved Tu-144Ds with Kolosev RD-36-51A engines. One of the Tu-144Ds, RA-77114, was converted to a Tu-144LL for the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This airplane made its last flight in 1999.
Eduard Vaganovich Elyan was born at Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, 20 August 1926. From 1938 he lived in Norilsk, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Rrepublic, a recently established mining settlement in Krasnoyarsk Krai, approximately 185 miles (300 kilometers) north of the Arctic Circle. (Norilsk is now a large, closed city). He also lived in Moscow and Sverdlovsk.
Elyan attended the Sverdlovsk Air Force School in 1944, and entered the Soviet military in June of that year. He underwent initial pilot training at the 9th Military Aviation School at Buguruslan, Orenburg Oblast, Russia, then Borisglebsk Military Aviation School of Pilots, Voronezh Oblast, graduating in 1948. He remained there as a flight instructor until 1951.
From 1951 to 1953, Elyan attended the test pilot school at Zhukovsky. He then began working at the Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky, in 1953.
From March 1958 through August 1960, Elyan served as a test pilot for the Sukhoi Design Bureau (OKB-51). He then went on to the Tupolev OKB, remaining there until December 1981.
In 1967, Elyan was named an Honored Test Pilot of the Soviet Union. In 1969, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) awarded him the Paul Tissandier Diploma for his accompliushments in aviation. On 26 April 1971, Elyan was named Hero of the Soviet Union, awarded the order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal.
On 23 May 1978, Elyan made an emergency belly landing of a Tu-144D, CCCP-77111, in an open field near Yegoryevsk. During the airliner’s sixth test flight, a fuel leak started a fire in the right wing. Three engines had to be shut down in succession and it was impossible to return to Ramenskoye Airport, where the flight had originated. The Tu-144D touched down at about 380 kilometers per hour (236 miles per hour). Two crewmen were killed when the nose cone collapsed on impact. The aircraft continued to burn after landing. The six survivors escaped. Elyan was seriously injured.
Elyan stopped test flying in 1982. He worked as an engineer for Mikoyan OKB. He retired in 1996.
Eduard Vaganovich Elyan died at Rostov-on-Don 6 April 2006. His remains were buried at the Northern Cemetery there.
¹ See This Day in Aviation for 2 March 1969 at https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/2-march-1969/
² See This Day in Aviation for 26 December 1975 at https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/26-december-1975/
© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes
