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In total 17 TU-144 were built between 1965 and 1984. The first TU-144 was the prototype model
and she was built in the Tupolev Bureau in Zhukovsky.
A pre-production prototype was built with important changes in the wings and a new configuration of motor-gondolas that demanded changes on the bottom part of the fuselage. After these changes the production began in the Voronezh Aircraft Factory (VASO) until a total of 15 planes. The first production aircraft was presented in the Paris Air Show but suffered an accident while she was doing a flight of demonstration. A hard manoeuvre after a deep dive was the reason that the plane broke out and crashed, killing all six on board and eight on the ground. TU-144 equipped with NK-144A engines could reach Mach 2.2 but she could not support it without the afterburner, this produces a high consumption of fuel that reduces her operational range. The new model "004D" equipped with RD-36-51A engines, more powerful and efficient, was developed to solve this problem but a new accident happened in 1978 marked the end of the passengers' service. The production continued until 1984 but the regular service never was restored. Aeroflot operated all the TU-144 but only 3 did regular flights between Moscow and Alma-Ata, completing a whole of 102 flights between 1975 and 1978. In the 80's two aircrafts were used in several scientific experiments and in 1993 one of the last TU-144D built was taken out of storage and used as testbed on a join program between Tupolev, NASA and others US firms. She made a total of 27 flights between 1996 and 1999. In this year the program was cancelled and all are now out of flight status. The prototype and the pre-production plane were scrapped, as well as four more aircrafts. Two planes were lost in both accidents, (Paris 1973, Yegoryevsk 1978) and 5 are preserved in different museums in Russia and Germany. In the Voronezh Aircraft Factory (VASO), where they were built, probably remains 2 units (one incomplete) and the other 2 remaining ones are in the Tupolev's facilities at Zhukovsky. Click on the menu to the left for details on the fleet of TU-144 and their current location. |
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