Interesting Aircraft

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(Tupolev Tu144)

This great aircraft was the first supersonic transport aircraft and it frew first (in prototype form, registration SSSR-68001) on 31 December 1968. The production version (SSSR-77101), which was different from the prototype in several areas, mainly in wing planform, engine positioning and nosecone glassing, took off first on 1 July 1971. Only sixteen production version aircraft were build, on of the been destroyed during the Paris air show in 1973 (SSSR-77102) and the other (SSSR-77105) while testing a new engine. The aircraft flew only about half a year (1977/1978) in regular passenger service and was then redrawn from service mainly for political reasons. Since then, many of the Tu144s were scrapped, but some survived. One of the surviving aircraft was reengined with NK-321s and flies now for the NASA until end of 1998 (see Tu-144LL).


It is a pity that there are not many books covering this aircraft. As far as I know there are no books covering only Tu-144. One of the books where you find some information is
Tupolev Aircraft since 1922 by Bill Gunston (who else?), Putnam, UK, ISBN 0 85177 866 6

Concorde

Although it was the second SST (supersonic transport), it was far more succesful than the Tu144. It is in regular passenger service since 1976 and hopefully flies far into the next century.

Here is a photo which I took in the late 1980s at London Heathrow Airport:


Other photos taken at Stuttgart (Germany) Airport on May 1, 1998:



For more information on Concorde, look at http://www.concorde.cybair.com or read the following books:

Concorde New Shape In the Sky by Kenneth Owen, Jane's, UK, ISBN 0 7106 0213 8
The Concorde Story by Christopher Orlebar, Temple Press, UK, ISBN 0 600 33369 8
Flying Concorde by Brian Calvert, Airlife Publishing, UK, ISBN 1 85310 027 7


VFW614

A very advanced small transport aircraft (30 passengers) with engines positioned above the wings. Not many built. Some are still flying.

One of these interesting aircraft is shown in the Museum of Technics in Speyer (Germany). When I visited this museum in 1997, the VFW614 wasn't restored, small wonder it was in such a bad state. But nethertheless the basic design concepts (engines on top of the wings for reduced FOD, rugged gear, widebody fuselage) are clearly visible.



Piaggio Avanti

Also a very advanced aircraft. Twin turboprop pusher with three (!) lifting surfaces for up to 8 passengers. Very economic with high speed (up to 400knots).
Now here are the promised pictures, taken at the AERO 1993, an exhibiton and airshow mainly for general aviation at Friedrichshafen, Germany:






p.s.: If you have pictures of these aircrafts, or if you are also interested in this topic, please contact me.

Last updated 01 Aug 2001.