June 17 marked the 70th anniversary of the Tu-104 passenger aircraft

June 17 marked the 70th anniversary of the Tu-104 passenger aircraft. On that day in 1955, its first prototype took flight.

The airliner was created by Andrei Tupolev's Design Bureau based on the Tu-16 long-range bomber. This was not the first time the team had used this method—back in the late 1920s, they began using design improvements from military aircraft when designing civilian aircraft.

The Soviet myth has led many people to believe that the Tu-104 was the world's first jet airliner. In fact, if we count experimental aircraft, it ranks only sixth, preceded by the British Vickers Nene Viking and De Havilland Comet, the Canadian Avro Canada Jetliner, the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and the American Boeing 367-80.

The decision to launch the Tu-104 into serial production at the Kharkiv Aircraft Plant was made even before the start of testing. Already in November 1955, the first aircraft of the zero series took off. The airliner was also produced by plants in Omsk and Kazan. A total of 201 units were built. Of these, only six aircraft were exported, all to Czechoslovakia.

There were more than ten variants of the Tu-104, and not only for civilian use. For example, the Tu-104Sh was intended for training navigators of Tu-16K-10 sea-based missile carriers.

The early series of Tu-104s were designed to carry 50 passengers. The aircraft was equipped with two AM-3 turbojet engines with a thrust of 8.7 tons each. It had a length of 38.85 m, a wingspan of 34.54 m, a maximum take-off weight of 74.5 t, a cruising speed of 800 km/h, and a flight range of up to 3,000 km.

The Tu-104 was introduced into service in 1956. Passengers were impressed by its rapid flight and the high level of comfort in the pressurized cabin, which was very advanced for its time. However, the Tu-104 was put into service too quickly, after only a very short period of testing. As a result, dangerous flaws in the aircraft were not detected, which had tragic consequences. In 1958, two disasters occurred, claiming the lives of nearly 150 people. In both cases, the planes went into a tailspin during cruise flight. Only then were additional tests conducted, measures to improve the airliner developed, and special recommendations made to pilots.

The “104s” continued to fly on airlines in the USSR until almost the end of 1979. By that time, they had become obsolete both physically and morally.

The collection of the O.K. Antonov State Aviation Museum includes a Tu-104 (USSR-L5415, factory No. 6350101). This is the first aircraft of the first series, built in Kharkiv in 1956. Initially, it was transferred to Vnukovo Airport, to jet aircraft squadron No. 200. It was on this airliner that the first regular flight in the history of the Tu-104 was made on September 19 of the same year. After being decommissioned from flight service, the aircraft served as a training model at the training airfield of the Kiev Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers (now KAI) for over 20 years. In the early 1980s, it was removed from the training process and placed on a pedestal, where it remains to this day.