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Tupolev Tu-144 - HDR Photo
The Tupolev Tu-144 (NATO name: "Charger'") was a Soviet supersonic transport aircraft (SST) and remains one of only two SSTs to enter commercial service, the other being the Concorde. The design, publicly unveiled in January 1962, was constructed under the direction of the Soviet Tupolev design bureau, headed by Alexei Tupolev.[1]
The prototype first flew on 31 December 1968 near Moscow,[1] two months before the first flight of the Concorde. The Tu-144 first broke the sound barrier on 5 June 1969, and on 15 July 1969 became the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
The Tu-144 was outwardly similar to the Concorde, under development at the same time by Aérospatiale/British Aircraft Corporation, and allegations were frequently made that Soviet espionage services had stolen Concorde technology.
The Tu-144 suffered a crash in 1973 at the Paris Air Show, delaying its development. The aircraft was introduced into passenger service on 1 November 1977, almost two years after the Concorde. In May 1978, another Tu-144 (an improved version, named Tu-144D) crashed in a test flight while being delivered, and the passenger fleet was permanently grounded after only 55 scheduled flights. The aircraft remained in use as a cargo plane until 1983, by which point a total of 102 commercial flights had been completed. The Tu-144 was later used by the Soviet space programme to train pilots of the Buran spacecraft, and by NASA for supersonic research.
Uploaded on 22 Jan 14:48
Comments:
cloudberry
Really does look like Concorde
On January 22, 2012 16:42
arthakker
nice different type of shot :)
On January 22, 2012 17:01
agha
nice, but the same subject
On January 22, 2012 18:47
trairao
Nice subject
On January 22, 2012 20:50
pandarino
a nice process
On January 22, 2012 21:17
cippojr
Great shot process and POV
On January 23, 2012 11:24