More than half a century ago, the first flight tests of the first domestic passenger passenger aircraft Tu-104 began. Its creation was an important stage in the development of world aviation.
The successful use of jet aircraft in the air force has made it possible to solve the problem of introducing the same aircraft into civil aviation. The first aircraft of this type appeared in 1949 in the UK. After several years of testing, the aircraft entered mass production. However, a large number of disasters in the 50s forced the car to be decommissioned. It took the designers four years to fix all the problems, after which the almost newly created plane returned on the airline.
While the English Comet was in the process of being finalized, the Soviet Union had a great chance to become the first state in the world to have a passenger jet.
Its development was started in 1954. The basis of the passenger aircraft was the Tu-16 bomber. Such a solution was designed to save time on the design development. The first Tu-104 aircraft flew in early November 1955. Thus, it took quite a bit of time to develop. During this flight, there were some problems: during the flight, the aircraft unexpectedly threw up, after which the control of the machine was lost for a while. This condition was called by pilots "pickup." The reason for this phenomenon could not be determined. Despite this, the operation of the aircraft was continued, but the tests did not stop.
Tu-104 was so pleased with N. Khrushchev that he even decided to fly it to the UK in 1956. Since problems with the aircraft could not be resolved, he managed to persuade him to abandon such a flight. But it was necessary to demonstrate to the world the successes of Soviet aircraft construction. Therefore, by order of Khrushchev, the Tu-104 was driven to the British capital.
Appearing in London, the first Soviet jet made the impression of an exploding bomb. The next day, another plane of the same type arrived there. The British said the Russians were just repainting the numbers on their only plane. The chief designer A. Tupolev did not like such statements very much, so he ordered three Tu-104 planes to be brought to London at the same time. It was truly a triumph of the Soviet Union, because not one state in the world had passenger jet airliners.
But, as the further development of events showed, the problems with the "pickup" were not resolved. In August 1958, the Tu-104 aircraft, having lost control, crashed, resulting in 64 deaths. Designer Tupolev in every possible way denied that there were any problems whatsoever, and the disaster was due to the fault of the crew. There is a version that the plane simply did not have enough fuel. But after a while, the second Tu-104 crashed, stepping into a tailspin and crashing into the ground. And two months later - the exact same situation developed under Kanash. On that fateful day, the plane was flying Beijing-Moscow. The flight altitude was 12 kilometers. Suddenly, the plane threw up sharply, and with such force that such a huge colossus flew up two kilometers!
Crew commander Harold Kuznetsov and co-pilot Anton Artemyev tried to level the plane, taking the helm all the way to the stop. But it did not help. Then the plane abruptly went down, disobeying control. Thus, the plane entered a steep uncontrollable peak. At supersonic speed, almost vertically, the plane rushed to the ground.
According to the results of the work of the state commission, the accident lasted no more than two minutes. The commander immediately realized that death was inevitable, so from a 13-km altitude he began to transmit information about what was happening to the ground. Communication worked almost until the moment of collision with the ground. The commander’s last words were: “Farewell. We are dying. ”
The information transmitted by Kuznetsov was of great value, since all previous incidents remained unsolved. None of the investigations conducted by specialists from the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, Air Force, State Research Institute, as well as the Tupolev Design Bureau itself could shed light on what actually happened. Many assumptions were made: technical malfunction, structural defects, bad weather conditions, crew errors. All cones, of course, fell on the heads of the pilots, since no one doubted the technical characteristics of the aircraft. But the information transmitted by Kuznetsov dotted “I”. From the information received, the commission concluded that the liner fell into a huge ascending air stream. None of the designers could even have imagined that such a thing is possible at an altitude of more than 9 kilometers, since simple piston machines could rise to a much lower height. Therefore, such a phenomenon as turbulence was considered a trifle. Until the tragedy happened ...
Kuznetsov’s crew fell into the center of the vertical air flow. Later, in the process of reproducing the flight, the designers managed to determine its parameters: the width of the air flow was about 2 kilometers, the length was about 13, and the thickness was about 6 kilometers. At the same time, his speed was approaching 300 kilometers per hour.
It was urgent to find a way to deal with such a dangerous natural phenomenon. As a result, the maximum flight altitude was reduced, the design itself was modernized, new methods for centering the machines were developed, but still they did not completely solve the problem. High accident rate remained at the same level, but what was the reason - either design errors, or pilot unavailability - was difficult to determine.
It is not surprising that the plane acquired a bad reputation. In 1960, the Tu-104 was discontinued, and its place was temporarily taken by the IL-18 turboprop liners. And since the Tu-104 needed a long runway to disperse, it was not often used on domestic flights.
There was a need to create new passenger aircraft. Tupolev decided not to retreat from the intended path. As a result, the first modification of the Tu-104, the Tu-124, was created, which also had a high accident rate. Therefore, another option was created - Tu-134. This aircraft was more successful, so from the beginning of operation in 1967, he still makes flights on domestic airlines. And only in 1972 did the first Tu-154 airliner appear, which was not converted from a military vehicle, but was originally designed as a passenger. This is one of the favorite aircraft of Russian experienced pilots.
The last Tu-104 airliners disappeared from regular flights only in 1979, but for some time they were used for training pilots of naval fighters, as a staff aircraft, a flying laboratory. The Tu-104 flights finally stopped only after one of the planes crashed near Leningrad, resulting in 52 deaths.
Such bitter experience forced domestic designers to think up new aerodynamic forms that could withstand air currents.
Tu-104 - the first in the USSR jet passenger aircraft, which was discontinued just five years after release. The reason for this was a huge number of deadly disasters.
Development of 104 Tupolev Design Bureau models
Work on the design of a new type of passenger aircraft (jet) began even before the Council of Ministers officially commissioned this to the design bureau. The first drawings were prepared for the years 1952-1953. The new development received an increased fuselage diameter, and the wing was moved lower. The rest of the design was designed based on the successful model of the Tu-16 bomber. The new jet liner received the index 104, and in the first drawings it appears as Tu-2AM-3-200. By the way, all the following developments of the Tupolev design bureau received a three-digit index with a four at the end.
Creating an airplane and training pilots
They developed the 104th model quite quickly: according to the drawings of 1953, the aircraft first flew in the summer of 1955. Factory tests of the machine, which will be put into operation by the fall of that year and become the first Soviet jet aircraft, began at the Moscow airfield in Zhukovsky.
The development of a new model and the introduction of continuous operation required the restructuring of the entire structure of airfields. Especially for the Tu-104, the reconstruction of runways was carried out: their length increased, and the coverage improved. With the advent of the jet aircraft, special fueling vehicles, tractors, vehicles for refueling with water and oxygen, luggage cars, autolifts and self-propelled gangways began to appear. Then, at the airports, the usual system for selling tickets, baggage check-in, familiar to a modern person, began to work, buses appeared that delivered passengers to the ramp.
Tu-104 is a new level of comfort for passengers. Unlike its predecessors, new seats with an anatomical back and height adjustment were installed on its board. On board, passengers were provided with drinks and hot meals, and stewards carried out mandatory safety briefings before departure. It was the Tu-104 that became the first aircraft to introduce the standard of service familiar today.
Some pilots switched to a jet aircraft from Tu-16 - the base for the development of Tu-104. These people did not require retraining. Other pilots for some time retrained on the converted IL-28.
The first passenger flight, the 104th model of the Tupolev Design Bureau, completed on November 5, 1955. A year later, the aircraft entered the international level. During the visit of Nikita Khrushchev to London, three new aircraft flew there. Then it made a splash, and the Tu-104 became the pride of the USSR.
Participation in the military space program
Three Tu-104s were converted for training future cosmonauts. The aircraft was launched on a descending parabola, and the crew maintained zero overload, which created the effect of a state of zero gravity. It was on this model that preparations were made for the launch into outer space of Andrei Leonov, here participants in the lunar program of the USSR also trained.
The first problems in operation
From the very beginning, it became clear that a jet plane is very difficult to fly, unstable in flight, with a significant failure of systems and installed equipment, it was defeated. Sometimes a passenger airliner very quickly gained height with a strong rise, and then fell into an almost sheer peak. A serious drawback of the developers, who assumed that the aircraft would fly at high altitudes, was that when the machine got into a difficult position, the AHD simply “knocked out”, and the pilots did not have the opportunity to level the liner.
with TU-104
The breakdown of the new machine, which was done in a hurry, by modern standards, exceeded all reasonable limits. The catastrophe statistics of the Tu-104 are terrifying. Over the entire history of flights, accidents occurred with 37 airliners, which is 18% of the total number of cars produced. This is the worst figure among Soviet aircraft. But still, in flight, the Tu-104 behaved more decently than its English rival, the Komet, which was falling apart right in the air due to excessive loads on carelessly designed fuselages.
Losses occurred mainly due to the fault of the flight crew (53% of Tu-104 accidents), a little more than a third of the cases were the result of equipment and equipment failure (35%). The exact causes of only 6% of the incidents with the Tu-104 are unknown.
The first disaster (1958)
The first incident with the Tu-104 happened in 1958 near Khabarovsk. The plane performed a passenger flight along the route Khabarovsk-Irkutsk-Moscow, but after half an hour of flight it went into a tailspin and fell into the taiga. The controllers realized that the plane was facing serious problems in the air, but after a few seconds the connection was lost. The crash of Tu-104 in 1958 claimed the lives of 64 people - all who were on board. The plane exploded when it hit a dense forest, the car was completely destroyed. The scatter of debris amounted to almost half a kilometer. The commission of inquiry called the cause of the Tu-104 a loss of control due to strong turbulence at high altitude.
Turbulence in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1958)
Another Tu-104 disaster occurred with a delegation of Chinese and North Korean Komsomol activists who were heading from Beijing to Moscow via Omsk. Dispatchers refused to land at the final point due to adverse weather conditions, so the airliner headed for the alternate aerodrome in Gorky. There, too, it was impossible to land, and after Kazan the dispatchers said to follow in Sverdlovsk. At this time, the Tu-104 fell into powerful air and moved into a vertical dive. Pilots did everything possible to save passengers - at an altitude of two thousand kilometers, crew members managed to level the side a little.
Soon, however, it became clear that the aircraft was doomed. In the Tu-104 disaster, Kuznetsov (crew commander) continued to comment without comment on everything that was happening and ordered his words to be transferred to the ground. The plane crashed into the ground near the Apnerka railway station in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. An accidental witness to the tragedy was the crew of the IL-14, who reported to Kazan that he saw a burning plane on the ground.
The causes of the accident were later called the imperfection of the aircraft structure. The information transmitted by the airborne commander made it possible to make some changes, as a result of which the tendency of the liner to catch the air stream was reduced. Tragedies with the same reasons did not happen in the future, but the Tu-104 catastrophes did not end there. The reasons for the further incidents were already different.
The crash of Tu-104 near Sverdlovsk (1960)
The plane operated a flight along the route Sverdlovsk - Vladivostok via Chita, Khabarovsk. The causes of the tragedy were the malfunctioning of on-board equipment. As a result of the accident, everyone who was on board died, namely 108 people.
The incident in Odessa (1961)
Another Tu-104 crashed while landing in Odessa in 1961. Fortunately, there were as many casualties as the previous time. One man died, ten more were injured. The liner flew from Leningrad. Normal weather was expected, but upon approaching it turned out that heavy clouds were gathering over Odessa, a thunderstorm was approaching. The plane crashed into 6 pillars of approaching lights, the BPRM building, the liner threw into a forest belt, it crashed into the ground with its nose and caught fire. Passengers were quickly evacuated, but part of the crew was injured. The navigator later died in the hospital.
The catastrophe near Moscow (1962)
The aircraft underwent scheduled maintenance, after which flight tests were scheduled. On the day of the flight, six technicians and five crew members were on board. The liner took off and started to rise, but went into a roll, hooking the ground. From the blow it turned around, then the 104 model crashed into trees, completely burned and collapsed. All aboard were killed. The cause of the accident was later called improper installation of the control system.
The catastrophe near Krasnoyarsk (1962)
The flight was operated from Khabarovsk to Moscow with several stops. At some point, the pilots stopped responding to the dispatcher’s requests. Doubts that the plane will not reach the final destination crept in even then - there were too many tragedies with this airliner. The crash of Tu-104 near Krasnoyarsk still happened. The crew managed to once again contact the ground. Pilots asked in an excited voice that ground services monitor them. In the background, noise and rumble were already heard.
The liner fell near the village of Voznesenka, 28 km from the airport in Krasnoyarsk. Killed all 84 people on board. According to the initial information of the reconnaissance group and investigators, the cause of the disaster was either a fire or some kind of emergency in the cabin. But at that time, exercises were taking place near the training ground. It was later established that this is precisely what caused the Tu-104 disaster near Krasnoyarsk. According to official figures, the plane was shot down by a rocket.
Crash on departure from Vnukovo (1971)
The crash of Tu-104 in Vnukovo occurred on the evening of October 10, 1971. The liner was supposed to go from Moscow to Simferopol, but immediately after climbing it fell to the ground and completely collapsed. As a result, all 25 people on board were killed. An investigation was carried out, which established that the cause of the Tu-104 in this case was the explosion of a bomb on board. The one who planted the bomb was never found.
The catastrophe near Domodedovo (1973)
The board flew from Kutaisi to the capital of the USSR. On the plane were 8 crew members and 114 passengers. The sky was overcast, the pilots were preparing to land, exchanging messages with the airport dispatcher. At some point, the crew stopped responding, and after a few minutes there was a disaster. Tu-104 near Domodedovo crashed into a field 16 km west of the landing strip. When falling, the liner tore the wires, which disconnected several villages. Killed all on board. This mysterious crash of the Tu-104 has become the most deadly model in history.
The incident at the airport (1973)
A month later, the tragedy again occurred with the Tu-104 in Moscow. The flight from Kutaisi crashed into the ground during landing and crashed. The weather was unfavorable, so the dispatchers warned in advance that they might have to land at the alternate airport. After the weather improved (the liner landed in Mineralnye Vody in anticipation of better conditions), the flight headed for Moscow. When stolen to the right. Killed 16 people out of 85. The cause of the incident was called the wrong decision of the flight commander.
Attempted theft in Leningrad (1973)
The flight flew from Leningrad to Moscow, but in the ninth minute of the flight one of the passengers turned to the stewardess. It was 47-year-old I. Bidyuk. He asked to be transferred to the first salon, which the stewardess did. A few minutes later the same passenger again called the stewardess and handed her a letter, which he ordered to transfer to the crew of the liner.
In the letter, the passenger demanded to send the plane to the capital of Sweden. After a successful landing, he admitted the possibility of returning to his homeland, but only after personal negotiations with representatives of the party elite of the USSR. In the event that the crew refuses to follow the instructions of the attacker, he will blow up more than two kilograms of explosives used in mines. Then it became clear that the further Tu-104 disaster near Leningrad was a terrorist attack.
No instructions for the crew on how to act in such cases then existed. The pilot decided to return immediately to Leningrad and immediately informed the dispatcher about what was happening on board.
The bomb, which was in the hands of the passenger, was arranged in such a way that it worked immediately when the button was released, so it was not possible to neutralize the attacker. That is why the flight engineer began to convince Bidyuk that the plane is turning and heading to Sweden.
But the criminal already managed to see the Leningrad airdrome through the windows. He activated the bomb. At some point, the pilots managed to level the plane, the crew landed the liner on the strip, but a fire broke out. It was quickly eliminated by the airport ground services. Two people died from the explosion: the crew member who held the door of the cockpit, and the terrorist himself.
Subsequently, all crew members were awarded:
- Onboard Commander V. Yanchenko was awarded the Order of Lenin and the "Golden Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
- Bortmekhanik V. Gryaznov - Hero of the USSR (posthumous).
- The co-pilot is the Order of the Red Banner.
- Stewardesses - Orders of the Red Star.
Tu-104 near Chita (1973)
Another attempted theft took place in 1973. The liner followed from Moscow to Chita through Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. In Irkutsk there was a change of pilots and cabin crew. Already when the crew began to decline from the cabin, there was a demand to change course. Several danger signals came from the plane, the dispatcher requested altitude, but there was no answer. Then from the radar, turning into a "cloud". A few hours later, the wreckage of the liner was discovered by the Mi-8. Killed all who were on board (81 people).
During the investigation, it was found that the plane crashed while still in the air. This could happen from in the cabin. After the investigation was completed, it was revealed that one of the passengers detonated. The accompanying policeman made an attempt to defuse him, but the dying terrorist managed to activate the bomb.
Crash after departure from Sheremetyevo (1976)
Aeroflot flight 2415 was heading to Leningrad, but soon after departure it entered a roll. The speed continued to grow, and the plane went into roll more and more. The crew took the plane out of the fall with overload. But removing the liner from one roll, the pilots entered it into another. The plane crashed into a forest near the village of Klushino. An explosion occurred on the ground, all 73 people died.
Disasters near Irkutsk (63, 71, 76)
There were three Tu-104 accidents near Irkutsk - in 1963, 1971 and 1976. In the first case, the plane with foreigners on board began to decline sharply and stopped responding to dispatcher messages, after which it crashed into the ground at the airport. Only two passengers (33 dead) of USSR citizenship survived the crash.
In 1971, more people died in the accident. When landing, the instruments showed speed incorrectly, so the crew was misinformed. The plane hit the concrete of the runway, rushed "on the belly." The fuselage is partially torn, partly it burned down. The entire path of the aircraft in the strip was strewn with debris. As a result of the accident, 97 passengers died, a third of them died not from injuries, but from carbon monoxide.
In 1976, the plane several times crashed into the ground near the airport, the fuselage tore apart. As a result, eight passengers and seven crew members were killed.
The disaster in Vnukovo (1979)
The crash of Tu-104 near Moscow (1979) claimed the lives of 59 people, another 60 were injured. Almost immediately after the plane took off from the runway, the left engine caught fire. It was not clear whether the fire really occurred, or if this was just a system malfunction. The crew decided to return to the airport. With one engine, the liner did not obey, he rushed through the forest, began to shoot down trees, collapsing. Many survivors remained disabled.
The investigation blamed the cause of the Tu-104 crash near Moscow in 1979 as the commander of the airliner, who made the wrong decision when piloting. However, the crew themselves believe that the reasons were the strong deterioration of the aircraft (this Tu-104 was already 20 years old) and takeoff in adverse weather conditions. After the disaster in November of that year, the operation of the Tu-104 was discontinued.
The incident in Pushkin (1981)
The Tu-104 has already been removed from regular passenger flights, but the aircraft still continued to be used in Soviet aviation - this fact temporarily completely decapitated the Pacific Fleet when the Tu-104 accident in Pushkin happened. The command of the Navy of the USSR was trained in the city near Moscow. When flying back to Leningrad, the plane fell into stall mode and fell 500 meters from the runway. All died on the spot. A technician was found not far from the scene, who was thrown through his nose during take-off. He later died in a hospital.
The commander of the Pacific Fleet and the commander of the Kamchatka Flotilla miraculously escaped death. The first flew by another flight to Severomorsk, where he was allowed to visit relatives, the second flew by another plane.
Other incidents with the Tu-104
The fatal accidents with model 104 do not end there. Only a few accidents are listed above. There was also a disaster near Tripoli (1970), where 13 people died, near Sofia (5 victims), near Ust-Orda (3 people), the accident in Rzhevka (without dead or injured), the tragedy in Sverdlovsk (7 victims), and so on .
The cause of all the trouble
After many investigations and additional tests, it was possible to find out the causes of the Tu-104 disasters. The plane was jet and flew at high altitudes, while the fuselage was inflated, and fell off during landing. Gradually, cracks began to appear. In the end, the plane exploded. In addition, the lower the density of air, the lower the stability of flight. Powerful streams of air are raging at an altitude, for which it is easier to spin an airplane than it is easier than a normal wind to rip an autumn leaf from a tree. They fixed the problem simply - they decided to fly a little lower, where the atmosphere is calmer.
Shutdown Aircraft
Serial production of the Tu-104 ceased in the mid-1960s. Then began the development of more advanced liners. The plane was used on regular flights until 1979, and it was finally removed after a disaster in which the entire top of the Pacific Fleet perished. The last time the Tu-104 took off when the aircraft was distilled to the Civil Aviation Museum in Ulyanovsk in 1986. The experience gained by the developers in the creation and commissioning of the Tu-104 allowed us to construct a more advanced Tu-134, which is still used in civil aviation.
After the creation of the long-range Tu-16, which is a bomber-rocket carrier, the Tupolev Design Bureau received the task of building the Tu-104 jet passenger liner (1953). Designers from the Design Bureau did not waste time designing a new fuselage, but simply began to create it on the basis of an already completed bomber. Already in 1954 a draft version was created, and in June the Council of Ministers of the country sent a decree to the Design Bureau to design the first Tu-104 passenger jet in the history of the USSR. According to the project, it was planned to install two engines manufactured by Mikulin Design Bureau - AM-3M-500. According to technical data, the aircraft must have at least 50 passenger seats, the cargo carried is 1250 kg, the maximum flight speed is up to 1000 km / h, and the flight distance is at least 3500 km.
From the military prototype, the new project borrowed far from all the layouts. In particular, the crew’s cabin, engine nacelles, landing gear and tail unit, wing and flight and navigation equipment without military lotions were copied. Entirely in a new way created the fuselage (became more capacious due to understaffing) and the air intake of the engines. The best professionals were thrown at KB design, the pace of the robots was very fast. Due to this, in December 54, the state commission approved the layout. The following year, in March, the first prototype car was built at KhAZ (Kharkov Aviation Plant). From June 17 to October 12, factory tests were carried out, after which they immediately switched to state ones.
The year 1956 was very significant for the Tu-104 aircraft. In May, he entered the disposal of the civilian air fleet, and on September 15 the aircraft first flew into the sky as a scheduled flight. 1st flight - Moscow - Omsk - Irkutsk. The time period spent on the aircraft from the very creation to the first scheduled flight was 3 years. Such a fast pace was set not only because of the need for such an aggregate, but also because of the ongoing Cold War.
Tu-104 in length was less than forty meters, in height - less than 12 m. The wingspan was larger than that of a jet bomber - 34.5 m, cruising speed - 800 km / h, and flight range exceeded 2700 km. At the same time, the maximum ceiling reached 12 thousand meters. The aircraft is unique: if the empty weight is 41,600 kg, then the maximum load with a full tank, filled passenger seats and a full luggage compartment is 76,000 kg.
There were also negative sides. The flight comfort for passengers was not at its best. At high altitude (10,000 m), the pressure was 0.45 atm. Therefore, for the safety of the passengers themselves, a sealed partition was installed between the passenger compartment and the cockpit. Individual oxygen supply devices were also used. After conducting additional tests, engineers and the interim commission identified larger problems. For example, when loading an aircraft weighing more than 71,500 kg, it could not fly further if one of the engines failed.
The aircraft was quite critical with respect to the longitudinal stability of a wide range of flight speed and altitudes. Some flight modes had a negative impact on piloting, which, of course, reduced the level of tactical and technical readings set by the Air Force. And at an altitude of 10,000 to 11,000 m, regardless of fast or medium speed, the control was very sensitive and made piloting extremely difficult.
A considerable number of disasters and emergencies led to a certain restriction with a maximum ceiling of 10,000 m. Some changes were made in the design. In particular, they reduced the angle of installation of the stabilizer, which affected the expansion of the range of deviation of the steering wheel. The bomber horizon was replaced with the one used in fighter aircraft, it is more sensitive and soft. An additional repair operation was the elimination of problems associated with the arbitrary loss of chassis supports, which occurred during heavy overloads. After many upgrades and fine-tuning, the aircraft increased the duration of its use. Throughout history, 29 Tu-104s were released, after which the time for modifications came.
This aircraft, since 1956, has become the main main aircraft of Aeroflot. The main routes were: Moscow - Tashkent, Moscow - Khabarovsk, Moscow - Tbilisi. In September, a year later, the Tu-104 made its first flight to New York.
For 1957, the Tu-104A was planned for 70 passenger seats. His tests were completed in November. The dimensions of the aircraft have not changed, but the old power plant was replaced with a more powerful RD-3M. Changed the fuel tank. If in the basic model it was mounted in the tail of the aircraft, then in a modified version it was installed in the wing console. Replaced also some navigational elements. For a more comfortable flight, automatic controllers for the temperature in the cabin were installed.
Less than a year later, a 40-meter 100-seat Tu-104B appeared. A huge difference from previous models was the presence of a kitchen in the front cabin. It should also be noted that the increased take-off mass affected the replacement of engines and the installation of larger flaps. The new RD-3M-500 engine was distinguished by the presence of an afterburner, in 6 minutes it could develop traction up to 10,500 kgf.
As a result of the great success of the aircraft, the series for this aircraft was increased to 95 Tu-104B. Based on the increase in modifications, engineers spent a year on each of them. But the Tu-104B was not the last in this family. After him went all new versions of the jet mainline aircraft. The next plane was not successful. Tu-104V was planned as a more economical version of the base model, but it was very unstable in the air. The project was closed.
The following modifications were Tu-104G and Tu-104D. They were designed on the basis of the first Tu-104A and Tu-104B, and they were intended for senior officials and senior party representatives. This determined the high comfort of the aircraft. The next Tu-104E was distinguished by mounted RD-3P engines with increased take-off thrust and the installation of additional fuel caisson tanks. The aircraft was able to fly a distance of 3800 km without refueling. The take-off and take-off run lengths decreased during landing. They managed to release only 2 copies, as mass re-profiling of aircraft factories across the country for new types of aircraft began. A military model also appeared - Tu-107. This is a military transport option with an unpressurized passenger compartment. It was planned to transport equipment and carry out airborne landing of the Airborne Forces, however, due to two drawbacks (too high landing speed and possible lack of necessary good airfields in combat conditions), only one instance was built. The project was closed.
Subsequent modifications:
- Tu-110 has enhanced flight safety features;
- Tu-144 was used as a training unit for astronauts and to perform sanitary transport tasks.
Tu-104 Characteristics:
| Modification | Tu-104 |
| Wing span, m | 34.54 |
| Aircraft length, m | 38.85 |
| Aircraft height, m | 11.90 |
| Wing area, m2 | 174.40 |
| Weight kg | |
| empty plane | 42800 |
| maximum take-off | 75500 |
| fuel | 26500 |
| engine's type | 2 turbojet engine Mikulin AM-3 |
| Thrust, kgf | 2 x 8750 |
| Maximum speed, km / h | 950 |
| Cruising speed, km / h | 850 |
| Practical range, km | 2750 |
| Practical ceiling, m | 11500 |
| Crew | 5 |
| up to 50 passengers or 5200 kg of cargo |
Two-faced Tu.
The first Soviet jet passenger aircraft Tu-104 had an extremely controversial story. On the one hand, this was the first car where they seriously thought about the comfort of passengers, creating optimal conditions for them. On the other hand, the first-born of jet civil aviation of the USSR has the worst reliability indicators among all domestic passenger airliners - 37 major accidents, in which 1,140 people died. 18 percent of all built Tu-104 ended their biography with air crashes. 
Andrei Tupolev (left), Alexander Arkhangelsky (second left) and the crew commander of the TU-104 aircraft, returning from London, Anatoly Starikov (center right).
In the post-war period, when the Soviet Union seriously thought about creating a powerful civilian air fleet, two leading domestic design bureaus - Andrei Tupolev and Sergey Ilyushin - joined in solving this problem.
By the mid-1950s, it became clear that passenger aircraft with piston engines could not cope with the tasks of the new time. Tupolev and Ilyushin approached the question of creating new technology from different perspectives.
Ilyushin was convinced that it was necessary to create a fundamentally new aircraft, and began to develop a passenger airliner with a turboprop engine - the future Il-18. Andrei Tupolev saw the solution in the creation of passenger aircraft based on existing and well-established military personnel.
Bomber turned into a “flying house”.
In 1953, Tupolev turned to the country's leadership with a proposal to develop a passenger jet based on the Tu-16 long-range bomber. The idea of \u200b\u200bTupolev was welcomed favorably, and on June 11, 1954, Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N 1172-516 on the creation of the long-distance passenger high-speed aircraft Tu-16P was issued. The development of the project in the Tupolev Design Bureau began even before the official decision of the government was made. In KB, the project was called "aircraft 104". Subsequently, the "four" entrenched in the name of all passenger cars created by Tupolev Design Bureau.
A wider fuselage was designed for the Tu-104 (3.5 meters instead of 2.9 meters for the Tu-16). Tu-104 had a hermetic cabin from the nose of the fuselage to the tail unit.
The layout of the aircraft changed: instead of the mid-plane, the plane became a low-wing, respectively, the center section and engine nacelles were redesigned. From the serial Tu-16 were used: detachable parts of the wing, engine compartments of the wing, landing gear, horizontal tail, vertical tail and landing gear nacelles. Initially, the Tu-104 was designed for 50 people, although from the very beginning a further transition was envisaged in case the project was successful for modifications for 70 or more passengers. 
Along with the development of the aircraft itself, work was also underway on the design of the cabin. The interior of the aircraft was designed from the premise that a sense of comfort and security can be ensured by creating a “home environment” in the aircraft (the idea is “cabin-house”). The first prototype, built under the personal control of Andrei Tupolev, was completely distinguished by the luxury of the finish, which even looked somewhat redundant. Serial Tu-104 acquired a more "democratic" look. 
It was necessary to develop from scratch such things as units of an air conditioning system, electrical appliances for preparing and heating food, interior lighting, and radioification of passenger cabins. 
Tupolev treated Tu-104 as a favorite child. The designer was directly related to the development of a menu for future passengers. With his light hand, Tu-104 passengers were indulged in cognac and sandwiches with caviar. Check and check, gentlemen, the British!
The first flight of the prototype Tu-104 made June 17, 1955. At this time, work was already in full swing in preparation for the mass production of liners of this type. The first production Tu-104 of the so-called “zero” series took off on November 5, 1955, that is, less than six months after the flight of the first prototype. 
State tests of the first prototype Tu-104 machine went from January to June 1956. The novelty was introduced to Nikita Khrushchev, who, remaining very pleased with the new achievement of the Soviet aircraft designers, decided to go on an official visit to London. 
Specialists grabbed their heads - the car is "raw", not fully tested, and such a flight looked too dangerous. Reluctantly, Khrushchev abandoned his intentions, but ordered, nevertheless, to bring the Tu-104 to the capital of Great Britain. On March 22, 1956, the Tu-104 arrived in London without Khrushchev, but with a group of Soviet diplomats preparing the visit of Khrushchev.
The advent of the Tu-104 in the UK produced the effect of an exploding bomb. The fact is that it was in the UK in January 1952 that the first in the world commercial jet airliner Comet began to operate. 
But both British and Soviet aircraft manufacturers did not yet know many of the "pitfalls" associated with the use of jet aircraft in civil aviation. A series of inexplicable catastrophes "Comets", the reasons for which became clear much later, led to the decommissioning of this ship. All the more unpleasant for the British was the appearance of the "Russian" Comet ", which intercepted laurels from an English plane. 
The fact that the Tu-104 has serious flaws will become clear later. And then the Soviet Union enjoyed its victory over Western competitors. Afflicted by lively British journalists reported “sensational news”: Tu-104 Russians exist in a single copy, and to enhance the impression, they repaint the side numbers to create the impression that there are a lot of such cars.
Andrei Tupolev was hurt, and he gave the command to send three Tu-104s to Britain at once, lining them up in a row at the London airport. After that, even the most ardent skeptics capitulated, recognizing the success of the USSR.
From service to space.
September 15, 1956 Tu-104 made its first regular flight on the route Moscow - Omsk - Irkutsk. The new aircraft revolutionized domestic civil aviation. With his appearance, the construction of new runways and airports began, the usual baggage registration and ticketing systems, buses for air passengers, airfield service vehicles (refuellers, tractors, self-propelled ramps and so on) appeared. Tickets for Tu-104 flights were sold out instantly. Among the pilots of civil aviation, work on the Tu-104 was considered extremely prestigious.
In addition to being used in civil aviation, the Tu-104 was actively used by the military and scientists. So, in 1961, with the Tu-104, the first observation of a solar eclipse from an airplane in the Soviet Union was performed. And for the needs of the space program, the so-called “zero gravity pool” was equipped on board the Tu-104, in which a state of zero gravity was created during the flight for several tens of seconds. On board the Tu-104, the first Soviet cosmonauts, including Aleksei Leonov, the first to go into outer space, practiced space skills.
Feat of Harold Kuznetsov.
But, as you know, there are no revolutions without sacrifices. The operation of the Tu-104 soon revealed serious flaws in the machine. Pilots noted that the liner is unstable in flight, heavy, prone to buildup - the so-called "Dutch step".
But the most terrible phenomenon that the Tu-104 crews encountered was "pickup." With a "catch", the aircraft quickly flips up for 1-2 km with a large increase in the angle of attack within a few seconds. Then the plane loses speed, stalls at the peak and dies.
In the era of the appearance of the Tu-104 "pickup" was a phenomenon almost unknown. The experience of piston passenger aircraft flying at much lower altitudes could not help here. On August 15, 1958, the scheduled Tu-104 crashed near Khabarovsk. Killed 64 passengers and crew. The pilots insisted that something strange was happening to the plane. Designers, including Tupolev, objected - the problem is in the pilots who can not cope with the management.
The situation was changed by the disaster of another Tu-104 that occurred on October 17, 1958 in Chuvashia, near the village of Kanash. An experienced ship commander Harold Kuznetsov, faced with a "grab", until the last fought to save the car, but failed to prevent a catastrophe in which he himself and 79 others died. However, the fact that Kuznetsov, until the very end, transmitted information about what was happening to the ground, allowed the designers to understand the reason for the tragedy.
The "camel" was replaced by the "simpleton."
Modifications were made to the design of the Tu-104, which made it possible to exclude the repetition of such a tragedy. In addition, a limitation was introduced for the Tu-104 on flight levels, which from now on should not exceed 9,000 meters. 201 plants of various modifications of the Tu-104 were built at factories in Kharkov, Omsk and Kazan. Its production was discontinued in 1960.
This was due to two circumstances. Firstly, in 1959, the IL-18 turboprop came into operation - more unpretentious, reliable and easy to fly. Not without reason in the codification of NATO, he received the name "Simpleton", in contrast to the more pretentious "Camel", as the Western military called the Tu-104. Secondly, the development of second-generation jet airliners was already underway in the world, and the Soviet Union did not intend to lag behind in this matter.
The operation of the Tu-104 in Soviet civil aviation continued until 1979, in the Armed Forces until 1981, when almost the entire senior leadership of the Pacific Fleet of the USSR, including 16 admirals and generals and about 20, died in the Tu-104 disaster at the military airfield of Pushkin. captains of the first rank. On November 11, 1986, one of the surviving Tu-104 models flew to the eternal parking lot at the Ulyanovsk Museum of Civil Aviation. Thus ended the story of the pioneer of jet civil aviation of the USSR.
June 17, 1955 made its first flight in the Soviet Union jet passenger aircraft Tu-104. This aircraft in many respects determined the further development of passenger aviation on the planet, and its creation itself became an important milestone in world aviation. About a year later, on September 15, 1956 (exactly 60 years ago), the Aeroflot Tu-104 airliner made its first regular flight on the route Moscow - Omsk - Irkutsk. Thus began the history of domestic jet passenger transportation.
The first Tu-104 jet passenger liners began to enter the civilian fleet in May 1956, and already on September 15 the first regular flight on the route Moscow - Omsk - Irkutsk was completed. The liner in this flight was piloted by pilot E.P. Barabash. For 7 hours 10 minutes with an intermediate transfer in Omsk, the plane managed to fly to Irkutsk, covering a distance of 4570 kilometers. On October 12, 1956, the pilot B.P. Bugaev made the first international flight on a Tu-104 plane on the route Moscow - Prague, and soon Tu-104 aircraft went on the lines that connected Moscow with Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Paris and Rome.
In those years, it was impossible to imagine that a country that had just rebuilt from ruins after World War II would be able to make such a technological leap ahead of the West in its developments. Between 1956, when, due to a series of air crashes, flights of the British passenger jet aircraft De Havilland DH-106 Comet were suspended, and until October 1958, when the American Boeing 707 jet aircraft was put into commercial operation, the Soviet Tu-104 airliner remained the only operated passenger jet in the world. In September 1957, the Tu-104 flew to New York from Vnukovo Airport, which, as the Western press wrote, "confirmed the priority of the Soviet Union in the development of jet aircraft."
The history of the jet liner Tu-104
In 1953, the OKB leadership, headed by the leader A.N. Tupolev, based on the positive experience in the design, testing and start of serial production of Tu-16 jet bombers, came up with a proposal to the USSR leadership on the creation of a passenger aircraft based on the serial Tu-16 turbojet engines - turbojet engines. Soon Tupolev himself prepared and made his proposal to the Central Committee of the CPSU. In the report, the attention of the state leadership was focused on the advantages of a modification approach to the design of the first Soviet passenger aircraft. Among the operational moments of the novelty stood out: high cruising flight speed (should have been three times higher than the flight speed of the main passenger aircraft of Aeroflot of those years Li-2 and Il-12); the ability to fly at high altitudes, without chatter and shaking; high passenger capacity and carrying capacity with a sufficiently high comfort. For the first time in the Soviet Union, it was a question of developing a mass airliner for a civilian air fleet that could turn high-speed air transport into a mass vehicle.
At the same time, according to the opinion of Tupolev Design Bureau workers, a substantial economic gain should have been given by the modification approach to creating a passenger aircraft based on the Tu-16 long-range jet bomber developed by the Soviet industry. At the same time, it was supposed to make full use of the accumulated experience in the construction, development and operation of the prototype bomber, which was supposed to ensure the safety and high reliability of operation, which are so important for civilian aircraft. Also, the cost of sending the liner to mass production was significantly reduced, due to this, its cost was reduced and the economic characteristics of the machine increased. The problems of preparing the ground and flight crews for the new passenger airliner were also facilitated, primarily due to the use of specialists who had already been trained in the Air Force on military aircraft with similar construction, operational and flight characteristics.
Even before the official decision on the construction of the aircraft was made, the Tupolev Design Bureau began work on its design. Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 1172-516 on the creation of the Tu-16P long-range passenger high-speed aircraft (designation according to Tupolev Design Bureau is “104”, then adopted as official — Tu-104, after which the four always stood last in the official designation of Tupolev passenger aircraft number).
The new passenger aircraft was a twin-engine low-wing turbojet with engines located at the root of the swept wing and single-tail plumage. When creating the Tu-104, the designers of the Tupolev Design Bureau decided to leave part of the design of the Tu-16 jet bomber. In particular, a wing, tail, landing gear, cockpit layout and flight and navigation instruments were borrowed from a combat aircraft. At the same time, the fuselage and engine air intakes were re-designed for the passenger liner, achieving greater spaciousness. Designers of the Design Bureau have created new units of the air conditioning system, shadowless interior lighting, electrical appliances for heating and cooking, and radioification of passenger cabins.
In the course of work on the creation of the Tu-104 passenger airliner, designers paid special attention to ensuring the high reliability of its design, as well as increasing the resource of the airframe and, in particular, its pressurized cabin. Knowing about the problems that the British faced with the passenger Comet, the glider underwent cyclic tests in the new specially constructed TsAGI hydraulic pool for the first time in Russian practice when creating the Soviet jet liner program. Carrying out these tests allowed the designers of the Tupolev Design Bureau to identify weaknesses in the design of the aircraft, to carry out the necessary improvements and ensure the necessary durability of the airframe.
At the same time, for the Tu-104 aircraft, a search was made for rational layout schemes for the location of passenger salons, domestic premises and the kitchen. Work was underway on the design of comfortable passenger seats, shadowless illumination of the liner’s salons, the colors of the aircraft’s interiors and materials intended for lining and upholstery of partitions and seats were selected. The interior of the passenger aircraft was originally designed from the premise that a sense of security and comfort can be achieved by creating a “home environment” inside the liner (implementing the “salon-house” idea). Hence there was some congestion in the interior of the aircraft with elements of the traditional imperial style, as well as fragmentation of the total volume and individual details, the use of constructions and forms of carriage architecture, abundant walnut and gold trim. However, all these excesses and features in the interior were inherent only to the first prototype aircraft. In the future, already in the production Tu-104, the interior of the passenger compartment became much more “democratic”, approaching the generally recognized world standards of those years.
Work on the project of the first Soviet jet passenger aircraft was at a record pace: already in December 1954, the state commission approved the layout of the future airliner, and in March 1955 the first Tu-104 model was completely ready at the Kharkov Aviation Plant. An experienced passenger aircraft was immediately transferred to the Zhukovskoy flight test and development base, where the process of preparing the aircraft for a series of flight tests began.
On June 17, 1955, the crew of test pilot Yu. T. Alasheev performed the first flight in a new aircraft. As a result of tests, which lasted until October 12 of the same year, the Tu-104 airliner was recognized as fully suitable for mass production and subsequent on-line operation. On March 22, 1956, the Tu-104 prototype aircraft with Soviet diplomats aboard flew to London, where at that moment the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, N. S. Khrushchev, was located. The latest Soviet jet passenger plane was appreciated by foreign experts, who noted that the USSR brilliantly coped with the task of developing a jet passenger plane. It became clear to the entire world community that the aviation industry of the Soviet Union was aimed not only at constantly updating its fleet of military aircraft, but also at creating first-class passenger liners.
The production of the Tu-104 passenger aircraft was discontinued 5 years after the start of mass production of the machine. In the early to mid-1960s, work began on the creation of second-generation passenger liners equipped with more modern and economical turbofan engines in the Soviet Union. By that time, the first-born of Soviet jet civil aviation managed to become obsolete. Despite this, the aircraft continued to be operated and operated regular passenger flights until 1979. During production, the Tu-104 aircraft was repeatedly modernized. Over time, the aircraft’s engines were replaced by more reliable and powerful ones, liner modifications with an increased number of passenger seats were released, and radio engineering and flight-technical equipment were constantly updated. In total, three serial aircraft factories (No. 135 in Kharkov, No. 22 in Kazan and No. 166 in Omsk) assembled more than 200 aircraft in modifications of the Tu-104, Tu-104A and Tu-104B, which differed from each other in the number of passengers carried ( 50, 70 and 100, respectively), as well as some structural elements and equipment.
In the period from 1957 to 1960, on a Tu-104 aircraft, it was possible to establish 26 world records for carrying capacity and flight speed, more than on any other passenger airliner of this class. The legendary aircraft was operated until the end of the 1970s, after which it was finally removed from Aeroflot's regular flights. The passenger flight Tu-104 made its last flight on November 11, 1986, when one of the surviving aircraft, flying from the Kola Peninsula, successfully landed in Ulyanovsk, where the aircraft took pride of place in the local civil aviation museum.
Along with another first-generation Soviet jet passenger aircraft Il-18, the Tu-104 airliner for a long time became the main passenger aircraft of the Aeroflot company. For example, in 1960, a third of all passenger air transportation in the Soviet Union was made on a Tu-104 airplane. In total, over the 23 years of operation, the Tu-104 passenger aircraft fleet transported about 100,000,000 passengers, spending 2,000,000 flight hours in the air and completing about 600,000 flights.
On the basis of the Tu-104 aircraft, a new passenger liner was developed for the local Tu-124 airlines, which belonged to the transitional generation of passenger aircraft. In particular, he has already received dual-circuit turbojet engines. However, this machine did not receive due popularity and was discontinued. At the same time, the experience of creating Tu-104 and Tu-124 jet passenger aircraft was subsequently used by Tupolev Design Bureau specialists to create the Tu-134 passenger aircraft, a very successful airliner that has been in operation from 1963 to the present day.
The performance characteristics of the Tu-104B (extended version with a 100-seat fuselage):
Overall dimensions: length - 40.06 m, height - 11.9 m, wingspan - 34.54 m, wing area - 183.5 m2.
Take-off weight - 78 100 kg.
The payload is 12,000 kg.
The power plant - two turbojet engines of the RD-3M-500 type, take-off thrust 2x8750kgs.
Cruising flight speed - 750-800 km / h.
The maximum speed is 950 km / h.
Practical ceiling - 12,000 m.
Flight range with a full load of 12,000 kg - 2120 km.
The number of passengers is 100 people.
The crew is 4-5 people.
Sources of information:
http://www.amic.ru/news/313350
http://avia.pro/blog/tu-104
http://www.tupolev.ru
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