It was supposed to be a Soviet triumph. Instead, it became the most public crash in the history of Cold War aviation. A ...

When the first Tupolev Tu-144 thundered its way into aeronautical history 50 years ago, lifting off from Zhukovksy airfield on the last day of 1968, much of the supersonic programme remained ...

But during the approach the Tu-144 crew – perhaps emboldened to end the tame sequence with a flourish, and steal some of Concorde’s spotlight – cleaned the configuration, powered up the ...

Postscript. Part of the Tu-144’s myriad problems are attributable to the very high level of aerospace engineering that needed to go into a viable supersonic jet airliner design.

The Tu-144’s extra weight stemmed from the extra wheels it had to carry under its wings. Unlike the French-Anglo Concorde, the Soviet Tu-144’ landing gear had a whopping 12 wheels.

That said, the Tu-144 is quite a draw, to some people perhaps more so than the Buran. The museums are about 30 minutes apart by car, though you probably couldn't do both in the same day.

After another crash of a Tu-144 during a test flight in 1978 killed two flight engineers, the passenger service was shut down, then the entire Tu-144 program was ended in 1983.

That is why Tupolev Tu-144 was so important for the reds to finish building first. The soviet plane first went supersonic on 5 June 1969 and on 26 May 1970 became the first commercial transport to ...