The first Tu 104 aircraft. Russian Aviation
Two-faced Tu.
The first Soviet jet passenger aircraft, the Tu-104, had an extremely controversial history. On the one hand, this particular car was the first to seriously think about the comfort of passengers, creating optimal conditions for them. On the other hand, the firstborn of a jet civil aviation The USSR has the worst reliability record among all domestic passenger airliners - 37 major accidents in which 1,140 people died. 18 percent of all Tu-104s built ended their lives in plane crashes. 
Andrei Tupolev (left), Alexander Arkhangelsky (second from left) and the commander of the crew of the TU-104 aircraft that returned from London, Anatoly Starikov (center right).
In the post-war period, when the Soviet Union began to seriously think about creating a powerful civil aviation fleet, two leading domestic design bureaus, Andrei Tupolev and Sergei Ilyushin, became involved in solving this problem.
By the mid-1950s it became clear that passenger aircraft Piston engines cannot cope with the tasks of modern times. Tupolev and Ilyushin approached the issue of creating new technology from different positions.
Ilyushin was convinced that it was necessary to create a fundamentally new aircraft, and began to develop a passenger airliner with a turboprop engine - the future Il-18. Andrei Tupolev saw the solution in creating passenger aircraft based on existing and well-proven military ones.
A bomber turned into a "flying house".
In 1953, Tupolev turned to the country's leadership with a proposal to develop a passenger jet plane based on the Tu-16 long-range bomber. Tupolev's idea was received favorably, and on June 11, 1954, Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N 1172-516 was issued on the creation of a long-range passenger high-speed aircraft Tu-16P. The development of the project at the Tupolev Design Bureau began even before the official government decision was made. The design bureau called the project “aircraft 104.” Subsequently, the “four” was fixed in the name of all passenger cars created by the Tupolev Design Bureau.
A wider fuselage was designed for the Tu-104 (3.5 meters instead of 2.9 meters for the Tu-16). The Tu-104 had a pressurized cabin from the fuselage nose to the tail section.
The design of the aircraft changed: instead of a mid-wing aircraft, the aircraft became a low-wing aircraft, and the center section and engine nacelles were redesigned accordingly. From the serial Tu-16 the following were used: detachable wing parts, wing engine compartments, landing gear, horizontal tail, vertical tail and landing gear nacelles. Initially, the Tu-104 was designed for 50 people, although from the very beginning a further transition was envisaged, if the project was successful, to modifications for 70 or more passengers. 
Along with the development of the aircraft itself, work was also going on on the interior design. The interior of the aircraft was designed on the premise that a sense of comfort and safety can be ensured by creating a “homey environment” in the aircraft (the “cabin-home” idea). The first prototype, built under the personal supervision of Andrei Tupolev, was completely distinguished by its luxurious finishing, which even looked somewhat excessive. Serial Tu-104s acquired a more “democratic” appearance. 
It was necessary to develop from scratch such things as air conditioning units, electrical appliances for cooking and heating food, interior lighting, and radio equipment for passenger cabins. 
Tupolev treated the Tu-104 as his favorite child. The designer even had a direct connection to the development of menus for future passengers. With his light hand, the passengers of the Tu-104 were pampered with cognac and sandwiches with caviar. Checkmate, English gentlemen!
The experimental Tu-104 made its first flight on June 17, 1955. At this time, work was already in full swing to prepare for mass production of airliners of this type. The first production Tu-104 of the so-called “zero” series took off on November 5, 1955, that is, less than six months after the flight of the first prototype. 
State tests of the first prototype Tu-104 took place from January to June 1956. The new product was presented to Nikita Khrushchev, who, being very pleased with the new achievement of Soviet aircraft designers, decided to fly it on an official visit to London. 
The specialists grabbed their heads - the machine was “crude”, not fully tested, and such a flight looked too dangerous. Reluctantly, Khrushchev abandoned his intentions, but nevertheless ordered the Tu-104 to be brought to the capital of Great Britain. On March 22, 1956, the Tu-104 arrived in London without Khrushchev, but with a group of Soviet diplomats preparing Khrushchev's visit.
The appearance of the Tu-104 in the UK had the effect of a bomb exploding. The fact is that it was in Great Britain that the world's first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, began operation in January 1952. 
But both British and Soviet aircraft manufacturers were still unaware of many of the pitfalls associated with the use of jet aircraft in civil aviation. A series of unexplained Komet disasters, the causes of which became clear much later, led to the decommissioning of this airliner. All the more unpleasant for the British was the appearance of the “Russian Comet”, which intercepted the laurels of the English plane. 
The fact that the Tu-104 also has serious flaws will become clear later. And then the Soviet Union enjoyed its victory over its Western competitors. Touched to the quick, British journalists reported “sensational news”: the Russian Tu-104 exists in a single copy, and to enhance the impression, they repaint the side numbers to create the impression that there are many such machines.
Andrei Tupolev was offended by this, and he gave the command to send three Tu-104s to Britain at once, lining them up in a row at London airport. After this, even the most zealous skeptics capitulated, recognizing the success of the USSR.
From service to space.
On September 15, 1956, the Tu-104 made its first regular flight on the route Moscow - Omsk - Irkutsk. The new aircraft revolutionized domestic civil aviation. With its advent, the construction of new runways and air terminals began, the now familiar baggage check-in and ticketing systems, buses for air passengers, airfield service vehicles (refuelers, tractors, self-propelled ladders, and so on) appeared. Tickets for Tu-104 flights sold out instantly. Among civil aviation pilots, working on the Tu-104 was considered extremely prestigious.
In addition to use in civil aviation, the Tu-104 was actively used by the military and scientists. Thus, in 1961, the first observation of a solar eclipse from an airplane in the Soviet Union was carried out from a Tu-104. And for the needs of the space program, a so-called “zero-gravity pool” was equipped on board the Tu-104, in which a state of weightlessness was created for several tens of seconds during the flight. The first Soviet cosmonauts, including Alexei Leonov, who was the first to go into outer space, practiced their skills in working in space on board the Tu-104.
The feat of Harold Kuznetsov.
But, as we know, there are no revolutions without victims. Operation of the Tu-104 soon revealed serious shortcomings of the vehicle. The pilots noted that the airliner was unstable in flight, heavy, and prone to rocking - the so-called “Dutch step.”
But the most terrible phenomenon that the Tu-104 crews encountered was “pickup”. When “caught,” the aircraft is rapidly thrown up 1-2 km within a few seconds with a large increase in the angle of attack. Then the plane loses speed, falls into a dive and dies.
In the era of the appearance of the Tu-104, “pickup” was a practically unknown phenomenon. The experience of piston passenger aircraft flying at much lower altitudes could not help here. On August 15, 1958, a regular Tu-104 crashed near Khabarovsk. 64 passengers and crew members were killed. The pilots insisted that something strange was happening to the plane. The designers, including Tupolev, objected - the problem was the pilots who could not control the aircraft.
The situation was changed by the crash of another Tu-104, which occurred on October 17, 1958 in Chuvashia, near the village of Kanash. Experienced ship commander Harold Kuznetsov, faced with a “catch,” fought to the last to save the vehicle, but was unable to prevent a disaster in which he and 79 other people died. However, the fact that Kuznetsov transmitted information to the ground about what was happening until the very end allowed the designers to understand the cause of the tragedy.
“Camel” was replaced by “Simp”.
Improvements were made to the design of the Tu-104 to prevent a recurrence of such a tragedy. In addition, a restriction on flight levels was introduced for the Tu-104, which from now on should not exceed 9000 meters. At factories in Kharkov, Omsk and Kazan, 201 copies of various modifications of the Tu-104 were built. Its production ceased in 1960.
This was due to two circumstances. Firstly, in 1959, the turboprop Il-18 entered service - more unpretentious, reliable and easier to pilot. It is not for nothing that in NATO codification it was called “Simp”, in contrast to the more pretentious “Camel”, as the Western military called the Tu-104. Secondly, the world was already developing second-generation passenger jet airliners, and the Soviet Union did not intend to lag behind in this matter.
Operation of the Tu-104 in Soviet civil aviation continued until 1979, in the Armed Forces - until 1981, when almost the entire senior leadership of the USSR Pacific Fleet, including 16 admirals and generals and about 20 captains of the first rank. On November 11, 1986, one of the surviving Tu-104 samples flew to its eternal parking at the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation Museum. Thus ended the story of the pioneer of civil jet aviation of the USSR.
In June 1955, an experimental aircraft “104” developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau took off from the airfield in Zhukovsky near Moscow. Factory testing of the machine began, which by the fall of the same year would turn into the Tu-104 jet airliner - the third in the world, the second put into operation and the first in the USSR.
The very topic of the “104th” moved forward only after Stalin’s death, although proposals to create a jet passenger fleet were repeatedly put forward during his time. But the leader, with his characteristic economy and penchant for repeated reinsurance, inexorably “cut down” such ideas. The country had just overcome the post-war devastation and could not afford significant “non-core” expenses, and jet passenger aviation in the early 50s was still not a problem of prime necessity for the Soviet national economy.
There is a common joke among railway students: “Soviet carriages are not designed to carry passengers, they are adapted for it.” When creating the first Soviet jet airliner, the Tupolev Design Bureau used a similar principle, but seriously and competently. The successful Tu-16 bomber was taken as a basis (the “104” plane even at one time bore the designation Tu-16P - “passenger”) in order to gain resources and time during the overall development of the design.
Thus, the task of training flight technical personnel was also simplified, and savings were also made on ground maintenance and repair equipment.
As one of the arguments in favor of creating such an aircraft, A.N. Tupolev cited the possibility of flying at high altitude, “above the weather” - propeller-driven passenger aircraft, which had a small ceiling, suffered mercilessly from bumpiness. But it was there that the first jet airliner was guarded by a new, as yet unknown danger.
When it comes to a passenger aircraft, the first thing that seriously concerns potential passengers is reliability. Who in the USSR has not heard the black song: “Tu-104 is the fastest plane: it will take you to the grave in two minutes”? For all its offensiveness, it somehow reflected a harsh reality. The plane was made in a hurry. Accident rate new car exceeded reasonable - by today's standards - indicators. Over the entire history of operation, 37 vehicles suffered serious accidents - 18% of the total number produced. At the same time, it should be noted that the “104th” behaved much more decently in flight than its English competitor “Comet” from the De Havilland company (23% of lost vehicles), which had an unhealthy habit of falling apart in the air due to fatigue. loads in a carelessly designed fuselage.
The first Tu-104 aircraft flew in early November 1955. Thus, development took very little time. During this flight, there were problems: during the flight, the plane was unexpectedly thrown up, after which control of the machine was lost for some time. The pilots called this condition “catch.” The reason for this phenomenon could not be determined. Despite this, the operation of the aircraft continued, and testing did not stop.
Khrushchev liked the Tu-104 plane so much that he even decided to fly it to Great Britain in 1956. Since the problems with the plane could not be resolved, he was persuaded to abandon such a flight. But it was necessary to demonstrate to the world the successes of Soviet aircraft construction. Therefore, by order of Khrushchev, the Tu-104 was driven to British capital.
The arrival of the Soviet airliner, according to the British press, produced an effect comparable to the landing of a UFO. The next day, a second copy of the Tu-104, with a different number, arrived in London. A message appeared in British newspapers that it was the same plane, and the “Russian priests” were “repainting the numbers on their prototype plane.” "Russian priests" are Russian pilots dressed all in black. Chief designer A.N. Tupolev was offended and, firstly, ordered funds to be allocated for the pilots to dress in something fashionable and not black, and the next day - March 25, 1956 - to send three Tu-104s to London at once, which was done.
It was a triumph Soviet Union- after all, at that time, no other country in the world had operating jet passenger airliners.
The Tu-104 made its first regular flight on September 15, 1956. And in 1958, a bad streak began.
As further developments of events showed, the problems with “pickup” were not resolved. In August 1958, a Tu-104 plane lost control and crashed, killing 64 people. Designer Tupolev denied in every possible way that there were any problems, and the disaster, according to him, was the fault of the crew. There is a version that the plane simply did not have enough fuel. But after some time, the second Tu-104 crashed, going into a tailspin and crashing into the ground.
And two months later, exactly the same situation arose near Kanash.
On October 7, 1958, the new Tu-104A with tail number CCCP-42362, controlled by the crew of the most experienced pilot Harold Kuznetsov, flew the Beijing - Omsk - Moscow flight. The flight altitude was 12 kilometers. In the cabin there were mainly foreign citizens - a delegation of Chinese and North Korean Komsomol activists.
The weather in Moscow was bad, at the alternate airfield Gorky, too, and after flying over Kazan, the controller ordered to turn around and head to Sverdlovsk, which was suitable for landing. During a turn at an altitude of 10,000 meters, the plane most likely entered a zone of strong turbulence and a “pickup” occurred - a spontaneous increase in the pitch angle uncontrolled by the crew. Suddenly, the plane was thrown up sharply, and with such force that such a huge colossus flew up two kilometers, went up from the flight level, lost speed, fell onto the wing and went into a tailspin.
In the situation that arose, the crew did everything possible to save the plane. But the lack of elevator travel did not allow the vehicle to be brought out of death mode. Harold Kuznetsov, knowing that Birobidzhan history might be repeating itself, ordered the flight radio operator to broadcast his words to the ground.
Crew commander Harold Kuznetsov and co-pilot Anton Artemyev tried to level the plane, taking the helm all the way. But it did not help. Then the plane went down sharply, not obeying the controls. Thus, the plane entered a steep uncontrolled dive. On supersonic speed, almost vertically, the plane was rushing towards the ground.
Here the crew accomplished the almost impossible: commander Harold Kuznetsov, in two minutes of falling from a height of 13 kilometers, managed to radio the behavior of the vehicle. The connection worked almost until the moment of collision with the ground. The commander's last words were: “Farewell. We are dying."
The plane crashed in the Vurnar region of Chuvashia, a few tens of meters from the plane railway Moscow - Kazan - Sverdlovsk, near the village of Bulatovo. 65 passengers and 9 crew members were killed.
According to the results of the work of the state commission, the accident lasted no more than two minutes.
The information conveyed by Kuznetsov was of great value, since all previous incidents remained unsolved. None of the investigations conducted by specialists from the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, the Air Force, the State Research Institute, as well as the Tupolev Design Bureau itself could shed light on what actually happened. Many assumptions have been made: technical malfunction, design defects, poor weather, crew errors.
All the cones, of course, fell on the heads of the pilots, since in technical specifications no one doubted the aircraft. But the information transmitted by Kuznetsov dotted the i's. From the information received, the commission concluded that the plane was caught in a huge updraft. None of the designers could even imagine that this was possible at an altitude of more than 9 kilometers, since simple piston engines could rise to a much lower height. Therefore, such a phenomenon as turbulence was considered a trifle. Until tragedy struck.
Kuznetsov's crew found themselves in the very center of a vertical air flow. Later, in the process of reproducing the flight, the designers were able to determine its parameters: the width of the air flow was about 2 kilometers, the length was about 13, and the thickness was about 6 kilometers. At the same time, its speed was approaching 300 kilometers per hour.
It was urgent to find a way to combat such a dangerous natural phenomenon. As a result, the maximum flight altitude was reduced, the design itself was modernized, and new techniques for centering the machines were developed, but the problem was still not completely solved. The high accident rate remained at the same level, but what was the reason - either design errors or unpreparedness of the pilots - was difficult to determine.
The information provided was enough to find and fix the problem. The rules for centering the aircraft were changed, the angle of installation of the stabilizer was changed and the elevator was modified. Has also been reduced maximum height flight. The aircraft's tendency to get caught has been greatly reduced.
After that, the Tu-104 carried passengers for another three decades, and although there were some disasters (after all, about 200 aircraft were built and flown), their reasons were already different. The Tu-104 became Aeroflot's main passenger aircraft for a long time: for example, in 1960, the Tu-104 carried a third of passenger air traffic in the USSR. Over 23 years of operation, the Tu-104 fleet has transported approximately 100 million passengers, spending 2,000,000 flight hours in the air and completing more than 600,000 flights.
Much of the credit for this goes to Harold Kuznetsov and his crew. Here are their names:
Kuznetsov Harold Dmitrievich - PIC instructor
Artemov Anton Filimonovich - PIC
Rogozin Igor Aleksandrovich - co-pilot
Mumrienko Evgeniy Andreevich - navigator
Veselov Ivan Vladimirovich - flight mechanic
Fedorov Alexander Sergeevich - flight radio operator
Smolenskaya Maya Filippovna - flight attendant-translator
Goryushina Tatyana Borisovna - flight attendant
Maklakova Albina - flight attendant
It is not surprising that the plane gained bad fame. In 1960, the Tu-104 airliner was discontinued, and its place was temporarily taken by the Il-18 turboprop airliners. And since a long runway was needed to accelerate the Tu-104, it was used on domestic flights infrequently.
There was a need to create new passenger aircraft. Tupolev decided not to retreat from the intended path. As a result, the first modification of the Tu-104 was created - the Tu-124, which also had a high accident rate. Therefore, another variant was created - the Tu-134. This aircraft was more successful, therefore, since the start of operation in 1967, it still makes flights to domestic airlines. It was only in 1972 that the first Tu-154 jet airliner appeared, which was not converted from a military vehicle, but was originally designed as a passenger aircraft. This is one of the favorite aircraft of domestic experienced pilots.
Aeroflot removed the last Tu-104s from regular airlines only in 1979. But by that time the aircraft had firmly taken root in military aviation - it was used for training pilots of naval missile carriers, as a flying laboratory, for meteorological research and as a staff aircraft. The 104's flights were finally stopped only at the beginning of 1981, after an overloaded aircraft belonging to the USSR Navy crashed at a military airfield near Leningrad. The command staff of the Pacific Fleet almost completely died on it - 52 people, of which 17 were admirals and generals, including the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Emil Spiridonov, who was in possession of the ill-fated vehicle.
Such a bitter experience forced domestic designers to think of new aerodynamic shapes that could withstand air flows.
Officially, the last flight of the Tu-104 took place in November 1986. But some people claim that at the very end of the 80s they saw “104s” on the aprons of regional airports and even in flight. The son of a warrior and the grandfather of Soviet jet airliners did not want to retire, remaining a kind of kind ghost in the impoverished but comfortably lived-in castle of domestic civil aviation.
Near Moscow, on the Kiev highway, at the turn to Vnukovo airport, a Tu-104B was met, standing on a high pedestal. As it turned out, this plane was installed in 2006; before it, there was another Tu-104B at Vnukovo, which, by someone’s stupid order, was cut down in 2005. Board number the car is not real, the number USSR-L5412 was worn by the first Tu-104, which performed its first flight with passengers.
The first Soviet jet airliner Tu-104 was created in the mid-50s based on. The use of a ready-made army vehicle made it possible to reduce the time required to create a new aircraft. At the same time, the passenger aircraft had a lot of shortcomings, which could not be completely eliminated.
The main reason for the cessation of production was precisely design flaws. The aircraft was produced from 1956 to 1960. Despite the short production period, in the late 50s and early 60s the Tu-104 airliner was considered the best passenger aircraft in the USSR.
History of creation
The possibility of creating a passenger vehicle was considered by the Tupolev Design Bureau from the very beginning of the development of the Tu-16. Drawings of the future Tu-104 have been developed since 1952, that is, two years before the decree of the USSR Council of Ministers on the creation of a jet airliner was issued.
The first flight took place in the summer of 1955, and mass production of the vehicles began in the fall. Regular operation of the aircraft on the routes began in 1956.
For two years, the aircraft was the only passenger airliner with a turbojet power plant.
The airliner was produced at aircraft factories in Kharkov, Kazan and Omsk. A total of 201 copies were built.
Design
The Tu-104 borrowed the cockpit layout, wing and tail design from the bomber. The landing gear consists of a nose swivel strut and main struts equipped with two pairs of wheels. The main struts are retracted into separate nacelles located on the wing.
For the Tu-104 passenger airliner, an original fuselage with an increased diameter was created, which made it possible to accommodate several rows of passenger seats. The fuselage diameter in the central part is 3500 mm.
Installation of the seats and side windows required moving the wing to the lower part of the fuselage. The fuselage is divided by bulkheads into three sections - for the crew, passengers and the tail, used for transporting luggage. The passenger compartment was divided into two parts. The 1st class passengers were located in the front, followed by the main tourist class cabin.
The side part of the fuselage has round windows, some of which are shifted upward.
These portholes are installed in office premises and bathrooms. The passenger cabin is equipped with a pressurization system that allows it to maintain normal pressure up to an altitude of 2500 m. With a further increase in altitude, the pressure gradually dropped; at an altitude of 10,000 m it corresponded to the pressure value when flying at 2500 m.
The fuel supply is located in soft wing tanks. Early Tu-104 aircraft had an additional tank installed in the rear fuselage. It was not used in later modifications. Each wing tank had an individual neck and was refueled separately. The fuselage tank was filled by pumping fuel from the wing tanks using an electric pump.
The Tu-104 aircraft was equipped with AM-3 turbojet engines created at the Mikulin Design Bureau. To start the engine, a gasoline starter was used, for which there was a separate fuel system. The engines did not have thrust reverser, so to reduce the mileage on the plane, a pilot brake parachute was used.
Modifications
The aircraft served as the basis for a large number of serial and experimental modifications. Listed below are some of the mass-produced options.
- An early version, designated Tu-104, is equipped with a cabin with 50 seats. 29 cars were assembled.
- Since 1957, production of 104A began, equipped with a cabin with 70 seats. 80 cars were produced, many of which were modified to the 104B standard.
- Version 104B with an extended fuselage to accommodate 100 passengers. 95 vehicles were built.
- Modification 104B, designed to carry 85, and later 100 passengers. Used only on domestic flights. Several cars were equipped with a cabin with 110 and 115 seats, which was distinguished by the close installation of seats.
Aircraft accidents
During the operation of Tu-104 aircraft, 37 aircraft were lost in accidents, which is 18% of the number put into operation. By this criterion, the plane is considered the most unsuccessful passenger airliner in the USSR. Numerous incidents became the main reason for the removal of vehicles from service. Civil aircraft have ceased to be used since 1979, after the crash of aircraft 42444 near the Vnukovo airfield.
Army Tu-104s were used for another two years, until a disaster occurred involving aircraft 42332. The plane crashed to the ground shortly after takeoff from the city of Pushkin. The entire command staff of the Pacific Fleet, led by Admiral E.N., perished in the disaster. Spiridonov.
Performance characteristics
| Parameter | Tu-104 | Tu-104A | Tu-104B | Tu-104V |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of places | 50 | 70 | 100 | |
| Take-off weight, kg | 74 500 | 76 000 | ||
| Empty weight, kg | 42 080 | 41 600 | 42 500 | 41 750 |
| Fuselage length, m | 38,85 | 40,06 | 38,85 | |
| Wingspan, m | 34,54 | |||
| Height, m | 11,9 | |||
| Luggage compartment volume, m³ | 15,9 | 13 | 28 | 11 |
| Flight speed in cruising mode, km/h | 750-800 | |||
| Rough flight speed with a weight of 70 tons, km/h | 540 | |||
| Rough flight speed with a weight of 60 tons, km/h | 500 | |||
| Running distance, m | 1970 | 2200 | ||
| Run distance, without a parachute and with a parachute, m | 1600 and 1200 | 1850 and 1450 | ||
A trace in the history of aviation
The characteristics of the Tu-104 aircraft were strikingly different from those with piston or turboprop power plants. For takeoff and landing, longer strips with improved coverage were required.
Aircraft maintenance was carried out using airfield equipment that had not previously been used. The operation of the Tu-104 became the basis for further development passenger air transportation in the USSR.
The Tu-104 was operated by two companies - the Soviet Aeroflot and the national air carrier of Czechoslovakia (six cars).
Due to the design features, flight safety depended on the professionalism and experience of the crew.
Last time The legendary Tu-104 aircraft took to the skies in the late autumn of 1986. The plane took off from the airfield on Kola Peninsula and flew to Ulyanovsk, where it became an exhibit at the Civil Aviation Museum.
Video
After the creation of the long-range jet Tu-16, which is a missile-carrying bomber, the Tupolev Design Bureau received the task of building the Tu-104 jet passenger airliner (1953). Engineers from the design bureau did not waste time designing a new fuselage, but simply began to create it on the basis of an already completed bomber. Already in 1954, a draft version was created, and in June the Council of Ministers of the country sent a resolution to the design bureau for the design of the first passenger jet aircraft in the history of the USSR, the Tu-104. According to the project, it was planned to install two engines produced by the Mikulin Design Bureau - AM-3M-500. According to technical data, the aircraft must have at least 50 passenger seats, the transported cargo is 1250 kg, the maximum flight speed is up to 1000 km/h, and the flight distance is no less than 3500 km.
The new project did not borrow all the layouts from the military prototype. In particular, the cockpit, engine nacelles, landing gear and tail, wing and flight and navigation equipment were copied without military gadgets. The fuselage was completely redesigned (it became more spacious due to refitting) and the engine air intake. The best professionals were used to design the design bureau; the pace of the work was very fast. Thanks to this, already in December 1954, the state commission approved the layout. The following year, in March, the first prototype was built at KhAZ (Kharkov Aviation Plant). From June 17 to October 12, factory tests were carried out, after which they immediately moved on to state tests.
1956 was a very significant year for the Tu-104 aircraft. In May, it became available to the civil air fleet, and on September 15, the aircraft took to the skies for the first time as a scheduled flight. 1st flight – Moscow – Omsk – Irkutsk. The period of time spent on the aircraft from its creation to the first flight was 3 years. Such a fast pace was set not only because of the need for such a unit, but also because of the ongoing Cold War.
The Tu-104 was less than forty meters in length, less than 12 m in height. The wingspan was greater than that of a jet bomber - 34.5 m, cruising speed - 800 km/h, and the flight range exceeded 2700 km. At the same time, the maximum ceiling reached 12 thousand meters. The plane is unique: if the empty weight is 41,600 kg, then the maximum loading with a full tank, filled passenger seats and a full luggage compartment is 76,000 kg.
There were also negative aspects. The comfort of the flight for passengers was not the best. At high altitude (10,000 m) the pressure was 0.45 atm. Therefore, for the safety of the passengers themselves, a sealed partition was installed between the cabin and the cockpit. Individual oxygen supply devices were also used. After further testing, engineers and a temporary commission identified larger problems. For example, when the aircraft was loaded with a weight of more than 71,500 kg, it could not fly further if one of the engines failed.
The aircraft was quite critical in relation to the longitudinal stability of a wide range of flight speeds and altitudes. Some flight modes had a negative impact on piloting, which naturally reduced the level of tactical and technical requirements set by the Air Force. And at an altitude of 10,000 to 11,000 m, regardless of fast or medium speed, the controls were very sensitive and led to enormous difficulty in piloting.
A considerable number of disasters and emergency situations led to a certain limitation with a maximum ceiling of 10,000 m. Some changes were made to the design. In particular, the installation angle of the stabilizer was reduced, which affected the expansion of the steering wheel deflection range. The bomber attitude indicator was replaced with the one used in fighter aircraft, it is more sensitive and soft. An additional repair operation was the elimination of problems associated with random falling out of the landing gear, which occurred under high overloads. After many upgrades and improvements, the aircraft increased its service life. Throughout history, 29 Tu-104s were produced, after which it was time for modifications.
This aircraft, starting in 1956, became Aeroflot's main mainline aircraft. The main routes were: Moscow - Tashkent, Moscow - Khabarovsk, Moscow - Tbilisi. In September a year later, the Tu-104 made its first flight to New York.
A Tu-104A with 70 passenger seats was planned for 1957. His trials ended in November. The dimensions of the aircraft have not changed, but the old power plant was replaced with a more powerful RD-3M. Replaced the fuel tank. If in the basic model it was mounted in the tail of the aircraft, then in the modified version it was installed in the wing console. We also replaced some navigation elements. For a more comfortable flight, automatic temperature control systems were installed in the cabin.
Less than a year later, the 40-meter, 100-seat Tu-104B appeared. A huge difference from previous models was the presence of a kitchen in the forward salon. It should also be noted that the increased take-off weight affected the replacement of engines and the installation of larger flaps. The new RD-3M-500 engine was distinguished by the presence of an afterburner mode; in 6 minutes it could develop a thrust of up to 10,500 kgf.
As a result of the great success of the aircraft, the series for this aircraft was increased to 95 Tu-104B. Based on the increase in modifications, engineers spent a year on each of them. But the Tu-104B was not the last in this family. After it came more and more new versions of the mainline jet aircraft. The next plane was not successful. The Tu-104V was planned as a more economical version of the basic model, but it was very unstable in the air. The project was closed.
The next modifications were Tu-104G and Tu-104D. They were designed on the basis of the first Tu-104A and Tu-104B, and they were intended for high ranks and senior party representatives. This determined the high comfort of the aircraft. The next Tu-104E featured built-in RD-3P engines with increased take-off thrust and the installation of additional fuel caisson tanks. The plane was capable of flying a distance of 3800 km without refueling. The length of the take-off run and the landing run have been reduced. They managed to produce only 2 copies, as mass conversion of aircraft factories across the country to new types of aircraft began. A military model also appeared - the Tu-107. This is a military transport variant with an unpressurized passenger compartment. It was planned to transport equipment and carry out landing of airborne troops, however, due to two shortcomings (too high landing speed and the possible lack of the necessary good airfields in combat conditions), only one copy was built. The project was closed.
Subsequent modifications:
- Tu-110 has improved flight safety characteristics;
- The Tu-144 was used as a training unit for cosmonauts and to perform sanitary transport tasks.
Tu-104 Characteristics:
| Modification | Tu-104 |
| Wingspan, m | 34.54 |
| Aircraft length, m | 38.85 |
| Aircraft height, m | 11.90 |
| Wing area, m2 | 174.40 |
| Weight, kg | |
| empty plane | 42800 |
| maximum takeoff | 75500 |
| fuel | 26500 |
| engine's type | 2 TRD Mikulin AM-3 |
| Thrust, kgf | 2 x 8750 |
| Maximum speed, km/h | 950 |
| Cruising speed, km/h | 850 |
| Practical range, km | 2750 |
| Practical ceiling, m | 11500 |
| Crew, people | 5 |
| up to 50 passengers or 5200 kg of cargo |
The first Soviet jets passenger liners For a long time they could not overcome the “childhood diseases” characteristic of their type of aviation. Therefore, their accident rate turned out to be unprecedented compared to this indicator for other Soviet aircraft. In total, 18% of the total number of Tu-104s produced were lost as a result of accidents.
Tu-104
The Tu-104 made its first flight in 1955, and since 1956 it has started regular flights. Tu-104 became the pride of the USSR. His demonstration flights to London and New York created a sensation. At that time, it was the only jet passenger aircraft in the world, since the English De Havilland Comet was taken off the line after a series of disasters, and the American Boeing 707 was just about to enter service.
Jet aircraft made a breakthrough in aviation. Thus, their flight speed was twice that of piston engines. passenger aircraft: (instead of 350-400 km/h - 750-800 km/h), and the non-stop flight range increased from 1500-2000 km to 3000-3500 km. But, as you know, you have to pay for everything, sometimes too dearly.
The first mysterious Tu-104 crash occurred on August 15, 1958 near Khabarovsk. For some unknown reason, the plane left the flight level, went into a tailspin and crashed into the ground. Conclusion investigative commission stated that at a high altitude the airliner was picked up by an updraft of air, lost speed and control and began to dive. There were no conclusions. Everything repeated itself when, on October 17, 1958, another Tu-104 plane crashed in Chuvashia, flying from Beijing to Moscow.
After the last intermediate landing in Omsk, the Tu-104 flew almost to Moscow, but then the dispatchers refused to allow it to land due to difficult weather conditions. The same unfavorable conditions existed at the alternate airfield in Gorky. The crew of the plane made a turn and headed to Sverdlovsk (the airport in Kazan at that time could not accept the Tu-104 due to the short runway). Over Chuvashia, the airliner, flying at an altitude of 10 km, was picked up and thrown by a turbulent current to an altitude of 13 km, where the engine power dropped sharply, and the plane fell into a dive from which it never recovered.
The reasons for the crash this time would have remained hypothetical if crew commander G.D. Kuznetsov, being calm in the face of imminent death, would not have reported on the radio all the circumstances of the accident (there were no black boxes at that time). This disaster served as an impetus for making technical improvements in the design of the elevators, as well as restrictions for the Tu-104 flight altitude.
In 1960, production of the Tu-104 was discontinued due to the transition to the production of more advanced aircraft. However, they served in civil aviation until 1979, when, after the disaster at Vnukovo, which was caused by human error, they were finally withdrawn from the civil air fleet. Nevertheless, the aircraft continued to be used as a military service aircraft.
On February 7, 1981, a disaster occurred near Leningrad that put an end to the operation of the Tu-104. After takeoff from Pulkovo, the plane on which the command of the Pacific Fleet was returning to Vladivostok after headquarters exercises in Leningrad crashed. 50 people were killed, including the fleet commander, Admiral E.N. Spiridonov and 15 more admirals and generals. Pacific Fleet was completely beheaded. The commission found that the causes of the accident were improper alignment of the load and incorrect actions of the crew, that is, the human factor.
The crew was blamed for most of the tragedies that happened to the Tu-104 in the 1960s and 1970s. However, it was found that more than a third (35%) of them were due to technical failure. The Tu-104 turned out to be the most dangerous Soviet civilian aircraft, claiming a total of 1,140 lives (although more people died in the Il-18 crashes, although it was used much longer). However, the Tu-104 was still better than its English predecessor, the De Havilland Comet; in total, 23% of the fleet of these machines was lost. Moreover, most of the crashes of the first English jet airliner occurred because the planes simply fell apart in the air.
Tu-124
The Tu-124 was a modernization of the Tu-104. Keeping its layout at a smaller size, it was for the first time equipped with economical bypass turbojet engines, which have since been installed on all jet aircraft.
The Tu-124 first became famous for its emergency landing on the surface of the Neva on August 21, 1963. Fortunately, everything went well that time. On September 2, 1970, a Tu-124 flying from Rostov to Vilnius, for an unknown reason, left the flight level and crashed into the ground near Dnepropetrovsk. On December 16, 1973, a Tu-124 flying from Vilnius to Moscow went into a steep dive and crashed near Volokolamsk. On January 3, 1976, shortly after takeoff from Vnukovo, a Tu-124 en route to Minsk crashed. In all cases, the cause was equipment failure.
The sad crowning achievement of the operation of the Tu-124 was the death of the aircraft on August 29, 1979 near Kirsanov, Tambov region, when the liner went into a tailspin and fell apart in the air into pieces from overloads. After this, this model was finally banned. In total, 312 people died in Tu-124 accidents, and the total share of lost aircraft was 9%.
An-10
An-10 is the first passenger turboprop airliner of the Soviet civil air fleet. Its cargo counterpart, the An-12, still flies today. The passenger plane suffered a less enviable fate.
The An-10 has long been considered Aeroflot's most spacious aircraft. Even after the appearance of the Tu-114, it remained so on medium-range lines. It required a shorter runway than other Soviet aircraft. Hence its popularity and widespread use. Over time, naturally, the wear and tear of these liners increased.
A feature of the disasters that led to the removal of the An-10 from service was that these aircraft began to fall apart in the air, with the wings being torn off first. As it turned out later, the fastening of the wings was really the weak point of these aircraft. It was the nature of the disasters that occurred with the An-10 that gave rise to the opinion that this model is extremely dangerous. To be fair, it should be said that only five An-10s with passengers crashed during the entire operation of this airliner.
The causes of the first two disasters that occurred at Lvov airport in the winter of 1959-1960 were identical: icing with the flaps fully extended. This most likely indicates a human factor, especially since a similar situation has never been repeated anywhere else. In 1962, an An-10 near Sochi crashed into a mountain in mid-air due to a controller error. After that, there were no accidents for 10 years. But in 1972, two identical disasters - near Lugansk and near Kharkov (122 people died in the latter) - put an end to the flights of this airliner.