History of supersonic aviation. Supersonic aircraft. Passenger supersonic aircraft

Supersonic speed is the speed at which an object moves faster than sound. The flight speed of a supersonic aircraft is measured in Mach - the speed of the aircraft at a certain point in space relative to the speed of sound at the same point. Nowadays it is quite difficult to surprise with such speeds of movement, but just some 80 years ago this was only a dream.

Where it all started

In the forties of the twentieth century, during the Second World War, German designers actively worked to resolve this issue, hoping to use such aircraft to turn the tide of the war. As we know, they didn’t succeed, the war ended. However, in 1945, closer to its completion, the German pilot L. Hoffmann, testing the world's first jet fighter Me-262, at an altitude of 7200 m, was able to reach a speed of about 980 km/h.

The first person to realize the dream of all pilots about breaking the supersonic barrier was American test pilot Chuck Yeager. In 1947, this pilot was the first in history to overcome the speed of sound in a manned vehicle. He flew the prototype rocket-powered Bell X-1 aircraft. By the way, German scientists and their developments captured during the war greatly contributed to the appearance of this device, as well as, in fact, to the entire further development of flight technologies.

The speed of sound was reached in the Soviet Union on December 26, 1948. It was an experimental aircraft LA-176, at a flight altitude of 9060 m, piloted by I.E. Fedorov and O.V. Sokolovsky. About a month later, on this aircraft, but with a more advanced engine, the speed of sound was not only reached, but also exceeded by 7000 m. The LA-176 project was very promising, but due to the tragic death of O.V. Sokolovsky, who controlled this apparatus, the developments were closed.

IN further development This industry has slowed down somewhat, as a significant number of physical difficulties have arisen associated with controlling an aircraft at supersonic speeds. At high speeds, such a property of air as compressibility begins to manifest itself, and aerodynamic streamlining becomes completely different. Appears characteristic impedance, and such an unpleasant phenomenon for any pilot as flutter - the plane begins to heat up very much.

Faced with these problems, designers began to look for a radical solution that could overcome the difficulties. This decision turned out to be a complete revision of the design of aircraft intended for supersonic flights. The streamlined shapes of airliners that we now see are the result of many years of scientific research.

Further development

At that time, when the Second World War had just ended and the Korean and Vietnamese wars began, the development of the industry could only occur through military technologies. That is why the first production aircraft capable of flying faster than the speed of sound were the Soviet Mig-19 (NATO Farmer) and the American F-100 Super Saber. The speed record was held by an American aircraft - 1215 km/h (set on October 29, 1953), but already at the end of 1954 the Mig-19 was able to accelerate to 1450 km/h.

Interesting fact. Although the USSR and the United States of America did not conduct official military operations, real repeated combat clashes during the Korean and Vietnam Wars showed the undeniable advantage of Soviet technology. For example, our Mig-19s were much lighter, had engines with better dynamic characteristics and, as a result, a faster rate of climb. The radius of possible combat use of the aircraft was 200 km greater than that of the Mig-19. That is why the Americans really wanted to get their hands on an intact sample and even announced a reward for completing such a task. And it was realized.

After the end of the Korean War, 1 Mig-19 aircraft was hijacked from an air base by Korean Air Force officer No Geum Seok. For which the Americans paid him the required $100,000 as a reward for delivering an undamaged aircraft.

Interesting fact. The first female pilot to reach the speed of sound is American Jacqueline Cochran. She reached speeds of 1,270 km/h while piloting an F-86 Saber aircraft.

Development of civil aviation

In the 60s of the last century, after the appearance of technical developments tested during the wars, aviation began to develop rapidly. Solutions were found for the existing problems of supersonic speeds, and then the creation of the first supersonic passenger aircraft began.

The first ever flight of a civilian airliner faster than the speed of sound occurred on August 21, 1961, on a Douglas DC-8. There were no passengers other than the pilots on the aircraft at the time of the flight, and ballast was placed to accommodate the full load of the aircraft under these experimental conditions. A speed of 1262 km/h was reached while descending from an altitude of 15877 m to 12300 m.

Interesting fact. On February 19, 1985, a China Airlines Boeing 747 SP-09 entered an uncontrollable dive while flying from Taiwan's Taipei to Los Angeles. The reason for this was engine malfunctions and subsequent unqualified actions of personnel. During the dive from an altitude of 12,500 m to 2,900 m, where the crew was able to stabilize the aircraft, the speed of sound was exceeded. At the same time, the airliner, not designed for such overloads, received serious damage to the tail section. However, with all this, only 2 people on board were seriously injured. The plane landed in San Francisco, was repaired and subsequently carried out passenger flights again.

However, all two types of truly real supersonic passenger aircraft (SPS), capable of regular flights at speeds above the speed of sound, were designed and built:

• Soviet airliner Tu-144;
• Anglo-French aircraft Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde.

Only these two aircraft were able to maintain supercruise cruising speed. At that time, they were superior to even most combat aircraft; the design of these airliners was unique for their time. There were only a few types of aircraft capable of supercruise; today, most modern military vehicles are equipped with such capabilities.

Aviation of the USSR

The Soviet Tu-144 was built somewhat earlier than its European counterpart, so it can be considered the world's first supersonic passenger airliner. Appearance these aircraft, both Tu-144 and Concorde, will not leave a single person indifferent even now. It is unlikely that there have been more beautiful aircraft in the history of aircraft manufacturing.

The Tu-144 has attractive characteristics, with the exception of the range of practical use: higher cruising speed and lower landing speed, higher flight ceiling, but the history of our airliner is much more tragic.

Important! The Tu-144 is not only the first flying, but also the first crashed supersonic passenger airliner. The crash at the Le Bourget air show on June 3, 1973, in which 14 people died, was the first step towards the end of Tu-144 flights. Unambiguous causes have never been established, and the final version of the disaster raises many questions.

The second crash near Yegoryevsk in the Moscow region on May 23, 1978, where a fire occurred during the flight and 2 crew members died during landing, became the final point in the decision to stop operating these aircraft. Despite the fact that after analysis it was established that the fire occurred as a result of a defect in the fuel system of the new engine being tested, and the aircraft itself showed excellent controllability and reliability of the design, when the one on fire was able to land, the aircraft were removed from flights and taken out of commercial operation .

How it turned out abroad

The European Concorde, in turn, flew for much longer from 1976 to 2003. However, due to unprofitability (the aircraft could not be brought to the minimum payback), operation was also eventually curtailed. This was largely due to the plane crash in Paris on July 25, 2000: during takeoff from Charles De Gaulle airport, the engine caught fire and the plane crashed to the ground (113 people died, including 4 on the ground), as well as the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 Despite the fact that this was the only crash of the aircraft in 37 years of operation, and the terrorist attacks were not directly related to Concorde, the general decrease in passenger flow reduced the already lacking profitability of flights and led to the fact that this aircraft made its last flight on route Heathrow - Filton 26 November 2003

Interesting fact. A ticket for a Concorde flight in the 70s cost at least $1,500 one way; towards the end of the nineties, the price rose to $4,000. Ticket for a seat last flight This airliner already cost $10,000.

Supersonic aviation at the moment

To date, solutions similar to the Tu-144 and Concorde are not expected. But, if you are the kind of person who doesn’t care about the cost of tickets, there are a number of developments in the field of business flights and small-capacity aircraft.

The most promising development is the XB-1 Baby Boom aircraft from the American company Boom technology from Colorado. It is a small aircraft, about 20 m long and with a wingspan of 5.2 m. It is equipped with 3 engines developed in the fifties for cruise missiles.

The capacity is planned to be about 45 people, with a flight range of 1800 km at speeds up to Mach 2. On this moment This is still a development, but the first flight of the prototype is planned for 2018, and the aircraft itself must be certified by 2023. The creators plan to use the development both as a business jet for private transportation and on regular low-capacity flights. The planned cost for a flight on this car will be about $5,000, which is quite a lot, but comparable to the cost of a business class flight.

However, if you look at the entire civil aviation industry as a whole, then with today’s level of technology development, everything does not look very promising. Large companies more concerned with the benefits and profitability of projects than with new developments in the field of supersonic flight. The reason is that throughout the history of aviation there have not been sufficiently successful implementations of tasks of this kind; no matter how many attempts were made to achieve the goals, they all failed to one degree or another.

In general, those designers who are involved in current projects are rather enthusiasts who are optimistic about the future, who, of course, expect to make a profit, but are quite realistic about the results, and most of the projects still exist only on paper, and there are enough analysts are skeptical about the possibility of their implementation.

One of the few truly large projects is the Concorde-2 supersonic aircraft patented last year by Airbus. Structurally, it will be an aircraft with three types of engines:

• Turbofan jet engines. Will be installed at the front of the aircraft;
• Hypersonic air-breathing engines. They will be mounted under the wings of the airliner;
• Rocket engines. Installed in the rear fuselage.

This design feature involves the operation of different engines at certain stages of flight (takeoff, landing, movement at cruising speed).

Taking into account one of the main problems of civil air travel - noise (air traffic management standards in most countries set a limit on the noise level, if the airport is located close to residential areas, this imposes restrictions on the possibility of night flights), Airbus has developed a special technology for the Concorde-2 project allowing vertical takeoff. This will practically avoid shock waves from hitting the surface of the earth, which in turn will ensure no discomfort for people below. Also, thanks to a similar design and technology, the flight of the airliner will take place at an altitude of about 30-35,000 m (at the moment, civil aviation flies at a maximum of 12,000 m), which will help reduce noise not only during take-off, but throughout the entire flight, since At such a height, shock waves will not be able to reach the surface.

The future of supersonic flight

Not everything is as sad as it might seem at first glance. In addition to civil aviation, there is and will always exist the military industry. The combat needs of the state have driven the development of aviation as before and will continue to do so. The armies of all states need more and more advanced aircraft. From year to year this need only increases, which entails the creation of new design and technological solutions.

Sooner or later, development will reach a level where the use of military technologies may become profitable for peaceful purposes.

Video

In the early 60s, it became clear that the USSR needed a supersonic passenger aircraft, because The main jet airliner of that time, the Tu-104, flew from Moscow to Khabarovsk with two intermediate landings for refueling. The Tu-114 turboprop operated non-stop flights on this route, but was in flight for as long as 14 hours. And the supersonic Tu-144 would cover a distance of 8,500 kilometers in 3.5 hours! To ensure growing passenger flows on long transcontinental routes, the Soviet Union needed a new modern supersonic passenger aircraft (SPS).

However, a detailed analysis and study of the proposed SPS projects based on the first supersonic bombers showed that creating an effective competitive SPS by modifying a military prototype is an extremely difficult task. The first supersonic heavy combat aircraft, in their design solutions, mainly met the requirements of a relatively short-term supersonic flight. For the SPS, it was necessary to ensure a long cruising flight at speeds of at least two speeds of sound - Mach number equal to 2 (M = 2). The specifics of the task of transporting passengers additionally required a significant increase in the reliability of all elements of the aircraft structure, subject to more intensive operation, taking into account the increase in flight duration in supersonic modes. Analyzing all possible options for technical solutions, aviation specialists both in the USSR and in the West came to the firm opinion that a cost-effective ATP must be designed as a fundamentally new type of aircraft.

During the creation of the Soviet ATP, domestic aviation science and industry were faced with a number of scientific and technical problems, which neither our subsonic passenger nor military supersonic aircraft have encountered. First of all, to ensure the required flight performance characteristics of the SPS, this flight at a speed of M = 2 at a distance of up to 6500 km with 100-120 passengers, in combination with acceptable takeoff and landing data, it was necessary to significantly improve the aerodynamic quality of the aircraft at cruising flight speeds. It was necessary to solve the issues of stability and controllability of a heavy aircraft when flying in subsonic, transonic and supersonic regions, to develop practical methods for balancing the aircraft in all these modes, taking into account minimizing aerodynamic losses. A long flight at speed M = 2 was associated with research and ensuring the strength of the airframe structure and components at elevated temperatures close to 100-120 degrees C, it was necessary to create heat-resistant structural materials, lubricants, sealants, as well as develop types of structures capable of long time work under conditions of cyclic aerodynamic heating.

The aerodynamic appearance of the Tu-144 was determined mainly by obtaining a long flight range in supersonic cruising mode, subject to obtaining the required stability and controllability characteristics, as well as the specified take-off and landing characteristics. The aerodynamic quality of the Tu-144 at double the speed of sound was 8.1, on the Concorde - 7.7, and for most supersonic MiGs of the mid-60s of the last century, the aerodynamic quality did not exceed a coefficient of 3.4. The airframe design of the first SPS mainly used traditional aluminum alloys; 20% of it was made of titanium, which can withstand heat up to 200 degrees C. The only aircraft in the world that also used titanium was the SR-71, the famous “Blackbird” ", American supersonic reconnaissance aircraft.

TU-144D No. 77115 at the MAKS 2015 air show / Photo (c) Andrey Velichko

Based on the conditions for obtaining the required aerodynamic quality and optimal operating modes of the airframe, aircraft systems and assemblies at subsonic and supersonic speeds, we settled on the design of a tailless low-wing aircraft with a composite delta wing of an ogive shape. The wing was formed by two triangular surfaces with a sweep angle along the leading edge of 78° and 55° for the rear base part. Four turbofans were placed under the wing. The vertical tail was located along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. The airframe's design mainly used traditional aluminum alloys. The wing was formed from symmetrical profiles and had a complex twist in two directions: longitudinal and transverse. This achieved the best flow around the wing surface in supersonic mode; in addition, such a twist helped to improve the longitudinal balancing in this mode.

Construction of the first prototype Tu-144 (“044”) began in 1965, while a second prototype was being built for static testing. The experimental "044" was initially designed for 98 passengers, later this figure was increased to 120. Accordingly, the estimated take-off weight increased from 130 to 150 tons. The prototype machine was built in Moscow in the workshops of the MMZ "Experience", some of the units were manufactured at its branches. In 1967, the assembly of the main elements of the aircraft was completed. At the end of 1967, the experimental "044" was transported to the Zhukovsky flight test and development base, where throughout 1968, development work was carried out and the vehicle was equipped with missing systems and units.

At the same time, flights of an analogue of the MiG-21I (A-144, “21-11”), created on the basis of the MiG-21S fighter, began at the LII airfield. An analogue was created in the Design Bureau of A.I. Mikoyan and had a wing geometrically and aerodynamically similar to the wing of the experimental “044”. A total of two "21-11" aircraft were built; many test pilots flew on them, including those who were to test the Tu-144. The analogue aircraft successfully reached a speed of 2500 km/h; the materials from these flights served as the basis for the final development of the Tu-144 wing, and also allowed test pilots to prepare for the peculiarities of the behavior of an aircraft with such a wing.

At the end of 1968, the experimental "044" (tail number 68001) was ready for its first flight. A crew was assigned to the vehicle, consisting of: the ship's commander, Honored Test Pilot E.V. Elyan (who later received the Hero of the Soviet Union for the Tu-144); co-pilot - Honored Test Pilot Hero of the Soviet Union M.V. Kozlov; leading test engineer V.N. Benderov and flight engineer Yu.T. Seliverstov. Considering the novelty of the aircraft, the design bureau made an extraordinary decision: for the first time, they decided to install ejection crew seats on an experimental passenger aircraft.

During the month, engine races, jogging, and ground system checks were carried out. From the beginning of the third decade of December 1968, “044” was in pre-launch readiness, the vehicle and crew were fully prepared for the first flight, during all these ten days there was no weather over the LII airfield, and the experienced Tu-144 remained on the ground. Finally, on the last day of the year 1968, 25 seconds after the start, “044” broke away for the first time runway LII airfield and quickly gained altitude. The first flight lasted 37 minutes, during the flight the car was accompanied by an analogue aircraft "21-11". The Tu-144 managed to take off two months earlier than its Anglo-French “colleague” - the Concorde airliner, which made its first flight on March 2, 1969.

According to the crew's reviews, the vehicle proved to be obedient and "flyable." The first flight was attended by A. N. Tupolev, A. A. Tupolev, and many heads of OKB departments. The first flight of the Tu-144 became an event of world significance and an important moment in the history of domestic and world aviation. For the first time, a supersonic passenger plane took off.

On June 3, 1973, the first production vehicle crashed during a demonstration flight in Le Bourget. Commander test pilot M.V. Kozlov, co-pilot V.M. Molchanov, deputy chief designer V.N. Benderov, flight engineer A.I. Dralin, navigator G.N. Bazhenov, engineer B.A. Pervukhin were killed. A commission was created to investigate the disaster, in which specialists from the USSR and France took part. Based on the results of the investigation, the French noted that there was no failure in the technical part of the aircraft, the cause of the disaster was the presence of unfastened crew members in the cockpit, the sudden appearance of the Mirage aircraft in the field of view of the Tu-144 crew, the presence of a movie camera in the hands of one of the crew members, which If it fell, the control wheel could become jammed. E.V. Elyan spoke most succinctly and accurately about the Tu-144 crash at Le Bourget in the 90s: “This catastrophe is a bitter example of how a combination of seemingly small, insignificant negligence, in this case and on the part of French flight control services, led to tragic consequences."

However, the Tu-144 began to make regular flights. The first operational flight was carried out on December 26, 1975 on the Moscow-Alma-Ata route, where the plane transported mail and parcels, and in November 1977, passenger transportation began on the same route.

The flights were carried out by only two aircraft - No. 77108 and No. 77109. Aeroflot pilots flew only as co-pilots, while the crew commanders were always test pilots from the Tupolev Design Bureau. A ticket cost a lot of money at that time - 82 rubles, and for a regular Il-18 or Tu-114 flight on the same route - 48 rubles.

From an economic point of view, after some time it became clear that the operation of the Tu-144 was unprofitable - supersonic aircraft flew half empty, and after 7 months the Tu-144 was removed from regular flights. Concorde experienced similar problems: only 14 aircraft flew from Europe to America, and even expensive tickets could not compensate airlines for huge fuel costs. Unlike the Tu-144, Concorde flights were subsidized by the governments of France and Great Britain almost until the beginning of the 90s. The cost of a ticket on the London-New York route in 1986 was 2,745 USD. Only very wealthy people could afford such expensive flights, for whom the formula “time is money” is the main credo of their existence. There were such people in the West, and for them, flying on Concordes was a natural saving of time and money, which is confirmed by their total flight time on intercontinental routes in 1989 of 325,000 flight hours. Therefore, we can assume that the Concorde program for the British and French was quite commercial, and subsidies were allocated to maintain prestige in relation to the Americans.

On May 23, 1978, the second Tu-144 crash occurred. An improved experimental version of the Tu-144D aircraft (No. 77111) after a fuel fire in the engine nacelle area of ​​the 3rd power plant Due to the destruction of the fuel line, smoke in the cabin and the crew turning off two engines, it made an emergency landing on a field near the village of Ilyinsky Pogost, not far from the city of Yegoryevsk. Crew commander V.D. Popov, co-pilot E.V. Elyan and navigator V.V. Vyazigin were able to leave the plane through the cockpit window. Engineers V.M. Kulesh, V.A. Isaev, V.N. Stolpovsky, who were in the cabin, left the plane through the front entrance door. Flight engineers O. A. Nikolaev and V. L. Venediktov found themselves trapped in their workplace by structures that were deformed during landing and died. The deflected nose cone touched the ground first, it worked like a bulldozer knife, entering the ground, turned under the bottom and entered the fuselage. On June 1, 1978, Aeroflot permanently stopped supersonic passenger flights.

Subsequently, the Tu-144D was used only for freight transport between Moscow and Khabarovsk. In total, the Tu-144 made 102 flights under the Aeroflot flag, of which 55 were passenger flights, in which 3,194 passengers were transported.

Later, the Tu-144 only flew test flights and several flights to set world records. From 1995 to 1999, one significantly modified Tu-144D (No. 77114) called Tu-144LL was used by the American space agency NASA for research into high-speed commercial flights in order to develop a plan for the creation of a new, modern supersonic passenger aircraft. Due to the lack of serviceable NK-144 or RD-36-51 engines, the Tu-144LL was equipped with NK-32, similar to those used on the Tu-160, various sensors and monitoring and recording equipment.

A total of 16 Tu-144 aircraft were built, which made a total of 2,556 sorties and flew 4,110 hours (among them, aircraft 77144 flew the most, 432 hours). The construction of four more aircraft was never completed.

There are currently no aircraft that remain in flying condition. Only the Tu-144LL aircraft No. 77114 and TU-144D No. 77115 are almost completely complete with parts and can be restored to flight condition. Aircraft No. 77114, which was used for NASA tests, is stored at the airfield in Zhukovsky. TU-144D No. 77115 is also stored at the airfield in Zhukovsky. Once every two years, these machines are shown in a static parking lot during the MAKS international aerospace show.

It is interesting to compare the fate of the Tu-144 and the Anglo-French Concorde - machines similar in purpose, design and time of creation. First of all, it should be noted that Concorde was designed mainly for supersonic flights over uninhabited spaces Atlantic Ocean. According to the conditions of sonic boom, this is a choice of lower altitudes of cruising supersonic flight and, as a result, a smaller wing area, a smaller take-off weight, a lower required cruising thrust of the power plant and specific fuel consumption.

The Tu-144 had to fly mainly over land, so high flight altitudes and corresponding aircraft parameters, as well as the required thrust of the power plant, were required. This should include less advanced engines. In terms of their specific parameters, the Tu-144 engines came close to the Olympus only in the latest versions, plus the worst specific parameters of domestic equipment and aircraft components compared to Western ones. All these negative initial aspects were largely compensated by the high perfection of the aerodynamics of the Tu-144 - in terms of the obtained aerodynamic quality when flying in supersonic cruising mode, the Tu-144 was superior to the Concorde. This was due to the complication of the aircraft design and a decrease in the level of manufacturability in production.

In the USSR the rich business people there was no, therefore there was no natural market for services that was supposed to satisfy the Tu-144. The aircraft obviously had to become largely subsidized and unprofitable in operation, which is why the program for creating the Tu-144 should be attributed to the concept of the country’s prestige. There were no real economic prerequisites for the use of ATP in the aviation services market of the USSR in the 60-70s of the twentieth century. As a result, on the one hand, the heroic efforts of the A. N. Tupolev Design Bureau and other enterprises and organizations of MAP to develop the Tu-144, and on the other, the initial emotional uplift and support from the country’s leadership, which gradually turned into indifference and, to a large extent, inhibition on the part of the Aeroflot management, which, by and large, simply did not need the low-income headache of mastering the complex Tu-144 complex. Therefore, in the early 80s, when the features of the coming economic and political crisis began to clearly appear in the USSR, the Tu-144 program was one of the first to suffer.

TASS DOSSIER. On January 25, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Kazan Aviation Plant named after. S.P. Gorbunova (a branch of Tupolev PJSC) was present at the demonstration flight of the new supersonic strategic missile carrier Tu-160 "Peter Deinekin" and proposed to create a civilian version of this aircraft.

The editors of TASS-DOSSIER have prepared information about domestic and foreign programs to create supersonic passenger airliners.

Start of development

Research into supersonic civil aviation began in the UK, France and the USA in the late 1950s. The first preliminary designs of the corresponding passenger airliners appeared in the West in the early 1960s. At the same time, the Soviet Union began developing its own supersonic aircraft.

Tu-144

On July 16, 1963, a resolution was issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers “On the creation of the A. N. Tupolev Supersonic Design Bureau passenger plane Tu-144 with four jet engines and about the construction of a batch of such aircraft." The general management of the project was carried out by the general designer of the OKB Andrei Tupolev, and after his death in 1972 - the designer's son, Alexey Tupolev.

A prototype Tu-144 (tail number USSR-68001) made its first flight on December 31, 1968.

The production of serial copies of the Tu-144 was launched at Voronezh aircraft factory(now PJSC VASO as part of the UAC). In total, from 1972 to 1984, 17 production vehicles were produced, of which three underwent static tests, 14 were operated (including two with passengers), two crashed in plane crashes, and one was never completed. Between November 1977 and May 1978, two Tu-144s operated 55 flights between Moscow and Almaty, carrying a total of 3,284 passengers.

In 1978, after the second disaster, the operation of the Tu-144 was stopped, and the program itself was curtailed. Work on creating a modification of the Tu-144DA (with an increased flight range) was not developed.

Concorde

Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde (“Concord”, from the French “agreement”) was created in 1962 French company Aerospatiale in association with British Aircraft Corporation. The prototype (registration number - F-WTSS) took off two months after the first flight of the Tu-144 - March 2, 1969.

A total of 20 aircraft were built between 1965 and 1979. 14 of them were operated in 1976-2003 Air airlines France and British Airways on scheduled passenger routes: mainly for transatlantic flights on routes to New York from Paris and London. On average, the plane covered the distance between Paris and New York in 3.5 hours.

During the entire operation of Concorde, one disaster occurred with aircraft of this type. On July 25, 2000, while taking off from Paris, an Air France aircraft with registration number F-BTSC crashed due to a foreign object on the runway. Then 109 people on board and four people on the ground died.

In just 27 years of operation, Concorde carried more than 2.5 million passengers. Air France and British Airways finally abandoned the operation of aircraft of this type due to a decline in passenger traffic caused by the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, rising costs of maintaining aircraft in flight readiness and the lack of prospects for their modernization.

American program of the 1960s

On June 5, 1963, US President John Kennedy announced the launch of a national program to create a supersonic passenger airliner, proposing to reimburse 75% of the development company's costs from the state. The goal of the program was to compete with the Concorde project. Boeing, Lockheed and North American corporations expressed their intention to create a new aircraft, proposing, respectively, the Boeing 2707, Lockheed L-2000 and a civilian version of the XB-70 Valkyrie strategic bomber.

The most promising project was the Boeing 2707 - a wide-body airliner designed to carry 277 passengers over a distance of up to 7.8 thousand km at a speed of 2 thousand 900 km/h. A full-scale model of the aircraft was built, Boeing received 120 orders from US airlines.

However, in 1971, it became obvious that the American program was lagging behind the European Concorde and the Soviet Tu-144. As a result, the US Congress stopped funding it. Boeing and other companies refused to continue it at their own expense.

Other projects

The experience of the Tu-144 and Concorde programs has shown that the operation of aircraft of this type has a number of disadvantages compared to conventional, subsonic airliners. In particular, due to the high fuel consumption and high cost of maintenance, supersonic passenger airliners are very difficult to make profitable. It was also not possible to solve problems with the noise of aircraft engines, as well as explosion-like sonic booms at the moment of transition to supersonic.

However, research in this area continues to this day. Thus, in 2016, the American Boom Technology announced the development of a 40-seat aircraft capable of covering the distance between Los Angeles and Sydney in six hours. The American companies Aerion and Lockheed Martin are working on a project of a three-engine supersonic business jet Aerion AS2 for 12 passengers, the first deliveries of which are scheduled for 2023. Another American company, Spike Aerospace, plans to certify its Spike S-512 business jet, designed to carry 18 passengers, in the same 2023.

The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI, Zhukovsky, Moscow region) presented at the MAKS-2017 international aerospace salon a prototype of a supersonic business jet that could be created within the next ten years. Among the canceled projects of this kind are Sukhoi Supersonic Business Jet, Tu-344 (business jet based on the Tu-22M3 missile carrier), Tu-444, etc., NASA High Speed ​​Civil Transport program (1990-1999).

M = 1.2-5).

Encyclopedic YouTube

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  These days, new aircraft are appearing, including those made using Stealth technology to reduce visibility.

  Passenger supersonic aircraft

  There are only two known mass-produced passenger supersonic aircraft that performed regular flights: the Soviet Tu-144 aircraft, which made its first flight on December 31, 1968 and was in operation from 1978 to 1978 and performed its first English flight two months later - on March 2, 1969. French "Concord" (French Concorde - "agreement"), which made transatlantic flights from to 2003 . Their operation made it possible not only to significantly reduce flight time on long-distance flights, but also to use uncongested airspace at high altitudes (≈18 km), while the main airspace used by airliners (altitudes 9-12 km) was already in those years loaded. Also, supersonic aircraft flew along straight routes (outside air routes).

  Despite the failure of several other former and existing projects of passenger supersonic and transonic aircraft (Boeing 2707, Boeing Sonic Cruiser, Douglas 2229, Lockheed L-2000, Tu-244, Tu-344, Tu-444, SSBJ, etc.) and withdrawal from operation of aircraft of two implemented projects, were developed earlier and there are modern projects of hypersonic (including suborbital) passenger airliners (for example, ZEHST, SpaceLiner) and military transport (landing) rapid response aircraft. A firm order for 20 units was placed in November 2015 for the Aerion AS2 passenger business jet under development with a total cost of $2.4 billion with deliveries to begin in 2023.

  Theoretical problems

  Flight at supersonic speed, in contrast to subsonic speed, takes place under conditions of different aerodynamics, since when the aircraft reaches the speed of sound, the aerodynamics of the flow change qualitatively, due to which aerodynamic drag sharply increases, and kinetic heating of the structure from friction of the oncoming air also increases. high speed air flow, the aerodynamic focus shifts, which leads to a loss of stability and controllability of the aircraft. In addition, such a phenomenon, unknown before the creation of the first supersonic aircraft, as “wave drag” appeared.

  Therefore, achieving the speed of sound and effective stable flight at near- and supersonic speeds were impossible by simply increasing engine power - new design solutions were required. As a result, the appearance of the aircraft changed: characteristic straight lines and sharp corners appeared, in contrast to the “smooth” shapes of subsonic aircraft.

  It should be noted that the problem of creating an effective supersonic aircraft cannot still be considered resolved. The creators have to make a compromise between the requirement to increase speed and maintain acceptable takeoff and landing characteristics. Thus, the conquest of new frontiers in speed and altitude by aviation is associated not only with the use of a more advanced or fundamentally new propulsion system and a new structural layout of aircraft, but also with changes in their geometry in flight. Such changes, while improving the aircraft's performance at high speeds, should not worsen their performance at low speeds, and vice versa. Recently, creators have abandoned reducing the wing area and the relative thickness of their profiles, as well as increasing the wing sweep angle of aircraft with variable geometry, returning to wings with low sweep and large relative thickness, if satisfactory values ​​have already been achieved maximum speed and practical ceiling. In this case, it is considered important that a supersonic aircraft have good performance at low speeds and low drag at high speeds, especially at low altitudes.

  Tu-144 became the world's first supersonic passenger airliner. Taking off before the Anglo-French Concorde, it opened a new era in world civil aviation. The creation of the Tu-144 brought the domestic aviation industry to the most advanced positions.
  Related industries have also made huge technological leaps. The Tu-144 became, not without reason, a source of pride for the Soviet people.
  

  Successes in the development of combat jet aircraft gave rise to the idea of ​​​​creating a supersonic passenger airliner. Talk about such an aircraft began to circulate in Europe and America, and in order not to be outdone Western countries, and it’s better to get ahead of them, it was decided to start designing such an aircraft in our country. On July 16, 1963, the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 798-271 was issued “On the creation of the A.N. Tupolev Design Bureau SPS Tu-144 with four jet engines and on the construction of a batch of such aircraft.” Tupolev's son was appointed the lead designer of the aircraft. The development of the engine was entrusted to the Design Bureau of N.D. Kuznetsov.
  
  
  Initially, it was planned to create a passenger version of the Tu-135 missile carrier, the design of which at that time was being developed at the Tupolev Design Bureau. However, after the calculations, the designers came to the conclusion that significant alterations in the design would be required and that an aircraft from scratch would be much more profitable. When working on the project, the developers had to face a number of complex technical problems: aerodynamics, kinetic heating, elastic and thermal deformations of the structure, new lubricants and sealing materials, new life support systems for passengers and crew. The development of the design and aerodynamics of the wing required a lot of effort (200 options were studied in the wind tunnel). The use of titanium alloys in construction required the creation of new machines and welding machines. These problems, together with the A.N. Tupolev Design Bureau, were solved by specialists from TsAGI, CIAM, SibNIA and other organizations. Since 1965, regular consultations have been held with the designers of the French company Aerospatial, which developed the Concorde. During the preparation of working drawings, more than a thousand specialists were seconded from the OKB of O.K. Antonov and S.V. Ilyushin.
  
  
  When designing the aircraft, two analogue aircraft of the MiG-21I were used as a working model (now one of them is stored in the Air Force Museum in Monino). The MiG fuselage was shortened by 0.75 m. An ogive-shaped wing was installed on it, which was a smaller copy of the Tu-144 wing. In 1967, an analogue aircraft successfully flew at speeds of 2500 km/m. The test results formed the basis for the final calculation of the wing. Future Tu-144 pilots also trained on the MiG-21I. The MiG-25, Su-9 and Tu-22 were also involved in test flights.
  By the summer of 1965, the most important design and layout decisions for the aircraft had been made. In July, A.N. Tupolev presented the preliminary design of the Tu-144 to the MGA. In the same year, a model of an aircraft with a wingspan of about 2 m was exhibited at the Le Bourget air show. On June 22, 1966, a full-size mockup of the aircraft was approved. In parallel with the design, the experimental production of the OKB in Zhukovsky was producing two prototypes (flight and for static tests). The Voronezh and Kuibyshev aircraft factories also participated in their production. Construction of the first prototype was completed on October 9, 1968. On December 31, the crew led by test pilot Yelyan took it into the air for the first time. On June 5, 1969, the prototype reached the speed of sound, and on June 26, 1970, it doubled it. For testing the Tu-144, pilot Yelyan was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
  
  
  The Tu-144 was first shown at an aviation festival at Sheremetyevo Airport on May 21, 1970. In the summer of 1971, trial operation of the prototype began at Aeroflot. Flights were made from Moscow to Prague, Berlin, Warsaw, Sofia. In 1972, the Tu-144 was demonstrated at air shows in Hanover and Budapest.
  
  
  On June 3, 1973, Tu-144 No. 77102 crashed during a demonstration flight at the Le Bourget air show. All six crew members (Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot M.V. Kozlov, Test Pilot V.M. Molchanov, Navigator G.N. Bazhenov, Deputy Chief Designer Engineer Major General V.N. Benderov, Leading Engineer B . A. Pervukhin and flight engineer A. I. Dralin) died. The cause of the disaster was a too sharp maneuver that the crew had to make in order to avoid a collision with the unexpectedly appeared French Mirage. Subsequently, the Mirage pilot, who explained that he only wanted to photograph the Tu-144, was acquitted by a French court. However, if we take into account the fact that the Tu-144 was a direct competitor of the Concorde, both the actions of the French pilot and the acquittal of the court give reason to assume that the Tu-144 crash was the result of deliberate actions by the French side.
  
  
  Simultaneously with the flight tests, research was carried out at 80 ground stands, where all the most important design and layout solutions were worked out. With the help of these stands, for the first time in the USSR, a comprehensive system for assessing failures taking into account their consequences was developed. State tests continued until May 15, 1977. On October 29, the aircraft received a certificate of airworthiness.
  
  
  The Tu-144 is an all-metal low-wing aircraft, made according to the “tailless” design. The fuselage is of a semi-monocoque design with a smooth working skin, reinforced with stringers made of extruded profiles and a set of frames. The aircraft has a tricycle landing gear with a nose strut. Four turbojet bypass engines NK-144A designed by OKB N.D. Kuznetsov (on the Tu-144D - afterburning RD-36-51A designed by OKB-36 by P.A. Kolesov) are located under the wing close to each other. Each engine has a separate air intake. The air intakes are grouped in pairs. The nose landing gear is retracted into the space between the air intake blocks in the front part of the fuselage. The aircraft wing has a variable sweep angle (76° at the root and 57° at the ends of the wing). The wing skin is made of solid aluminum alloy plates. Along the entire trailing edge there are elevons made of titanium alloys. Elevons and rudders are deflected using irreversible boosters. To improve visibility during takeoff and landing bow The fuselage is made descending. The main volume of fuel is located in 18 wing tanks. A balancing tank is installed at the rear of the fuselage. Fuel is pumped into it during flight to shift the center of mass during the transition from subsonic to supersonic speed. An onboard computer is used to control the aircraft. The landing approach can be carried out automatically at any time of the day and in any weather. For the first time in the USSR, the Tu-144 used an automatic system for monitoring the technical condition of on-board systems, which makes it possible to reduce the labor intensity of maintenance.
  
  
  The first production Tu-144 was assembled in the spring of 1971 in Zhukovsky. In 1972, production began at the Voronezh aircraft plant. A total of 16 aircraft were built. Another one remained unfinished. The production aircraft differed from the prototype by having a fuselage length increased by 5.7 m, a slightly modified wing shape and the presence of retractable front wings. The number of seats for passengers increased from 120 to 140. The first flight of the production aircraft took place on September 20, 1972 on the route Moscow - Tashkent - Moscow. In March 1975, the Moscow-Alma-Ata high-speed airline opened (mail and cargo were transported), and on October 20, 1977, the first flight with passengers was carried out.
  However, the Tu-144 also had enemies. Fearing responsibility, many MGA officials did their best to slow down the process of Aeroflot's development of the aircraft. The accident with the experimental Tu-144D on May 23, 1978 served as a formal pretext for stopping the operation of the Tu-144 with NK-144 engines on passenger lines, although from the very beginning it was clear that this accident occurred precisely because of the design features of the Tu-144D modification. In 1979, a number of cargo flights to Khabarovsk were carried out on Tu-144D aircraft. Later, in 1981-1982, decisions were made to resume passenger transportation, but they remained on paper.
  
  
  Until the mid-90s, Tu-144 aircraft were used to conduct various tests, as well as to study the ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere, solar eclipses, and focused sonic boom. Cosmonauts undergoing training under the Buran program trained on the Tu-144. In July 1983, the crew of test pilot S.T. Agapov on the Tu-144D set 13 world aviation records that have not yet been broken. The experience gained during the creation of the Tu-144 was used in the development of heavy supersonic aircraft Tu-22M and Tu-160.
  At the request of the Ministry of Science and by decision of the MAP, several aircraft were installed as exhibits on the territory of the Air Force Museum in Monino, the Civil Aviation Museum in Ulyanovsk, and aircraft factories in Voronezh, Kazan and Samara. Some of the aircraft were sold to a private museum of technology in Sinheim (Germany).