http://www.airlinerworld.com 27Tupolev Tu-144: production
list
CCCP reg.current status (total airframe hours)
77101 to
77106 test aircraft only
77106 to
7 7115 delivered to Aeroflot
Prototype Tu-144
68001 broken up, unknown year (180hr)
Pre-production Tu-144S
77101 broken up, 1978 (339hr)
Production Tu-144S
77102 crashed Goussainville 3/6/73 (approx. 200hr)^
77103 broken up 1984 (313hr)
77104 (reregistered 77144) broken up, 1987 (431hr)
77105 broken up, 1995 (314hr)
77106 display Soviet Air Force Museum, Monino, Moscow (582hr 36min)^77107 ground instructional airframe, State Technical University, Kazan (357hr)77108 ground instructional airframe, State Technical University, Samara (68hr)
77109 stored Voronezh (unknown hours)
7 7110 display Civil Air Fleet Museum, Ulyanovsk (314hr)
Production Tu-144D
7 7111 crashed, Yegoryevsk 23/5/78 (9hr 2min)
7 7112 display Auto and Technik Museum, Sinsheim (197hr 45min)
7 7113 broken up 2001 (223hr)
7 7114 (Tu-144LL test bed) stored, Zhukovsky (443hr 28min)
7 7115 stored Zhukovsky (38hr 34min)
7 7116 not completed/stored, Zhukovsky (-)and to Alma-Ata (now Almaty). Later
routes would include the United States,
Singapore and Tokyo.
However, the Tu-144 was far from
entering passenger service. Aeroflot’s
enthusiasm for the type cooled off
over the next couple of years, with no
announcements of an entry into
service. The test programme continued
to struggle with thirsty NK-144F
engines and a lack of the refinement
required for passenger comfort.
Freight and mail service from
Moscow/Domodedovo to Alma-Ata in
Soviet Kazakhstan began on December
26, 1975 with CCCP-77106. These
flights were also used to check the new
type’s compatibility with ground-
handling equipment and its ability to fit
among subsonic traffic at commercial
airports during take-off and landing,
although the payload was incidental
- these were still test flights in all but
name, and ended in December 1976.
The first passenger service, flight SU
499, finally took place on November 1,
1977, from Moscow/Domodedovo to
Alma-Ata, operated by CCCP-77109, a
new-build Tu-144S. At Domodedovo,
assembled dignitaries included Alexei
Tupolev, Minister of Aviation Industry
Pyotr Dementyev, and Minister of Civil
Aviation Boris Bugaev. Speeches were
made linking the new supersonic
airliner to the 60th anniversary of the
Russian Revolution, and passengers
boarded after a delay due to a broken set
of boarding stairs.
Captain Boris Kuznetsov took
CCCP-77109 into the air at 9.03am
local time and landed at Alma-Ata at
11.02am. The return flight, SU500,
took off at 1.28pm and landed back in
Moscow at 3.31pm.
This was the first time non-Soviet
passengers were carried, and reports
were mixed. While window shades
dropping of their own accord and an
inoperative toilet can be dismissed as
growing pains, there was a major
problem. While Concorde used an
intricate system of pipes to pump fuel
under the skin to absorb the heat of
high-speed flight-induced friction, the
Tupolev used massive air-conditioningpacks. The ear-shattering roar made
normal conversation impossible and
passengers had to communicate by
passing handwritten notes.
Although the next two flights after
the inaugural service were cancelled,
SU 499 operated weekly on Tuesdays,
leaving Moscow at 8.30am and SU 500
leaving Alma-Ata for the return flight
at 3.30pm. The fare was 68 roubles
instead of the subsonic fare of 48
roubles. Foreign nationals were on
board virtually every flight; even
with the cost of acquiring a visa and
travelling to the Soviet Union, thisNATO codenamed the
Tu-144 'Charger'.
LEONID FAERBERG/
TRANSPORT-PHOTO IMAGES