The USSR's failed attempt to get ahead of everyone: top 5 interesting facts about the supersonic Tu-144. Video

When it first flew on New Year's Eve in 1968 from Moscow's Zhukovsky Airport, the Tu-144 of the then Soviet Union became the first supersonic aircraft to grace the skies, marking the beginning of the reality of supersonic commercial flight. With a maximum speed of Mach 2.15, the Tu-144 was to leave a significant legacy around the world.

The aircraft did not fly for long and was inferior to the British-French rival Concorde in many respects due to its short service life, writes Simple Flying.

The speed of mail delivery

Back in the days of the Soviet Union, the major cities of the USSR were huge and sparsely populated, which was one of the main reasons why government officials wanted to make supersonic air travel a reality. But before it was used for commercial passenger air transportation, the Tu-144 was used for mail and cargo transportation between Moscow and Alma-Ata.

Less than 60 passenger flights

The Tu-144 was largely unsuccessful and made only 102 flights. Of this small number, only 55 were passenger flights, the rest were mail and cargo flights, with the last scheduled passenger flight taking place on June 1, 1978.

Only 16 Tu-144s were built

Although the last scheduled commercial flight of the Tu-144 took place in 1978, production was completely discontinued only in 1983.

This means that at that time, 16 airworthy Tu-144s were built and flew.

Of these 16 aircraft produced, only one is preserved and displayed in Germany, while the rest are on display in various cities of the former Soviet Union.

Volume in the cabin

Although the Tu-144 was faster than the Concorde, the Soviet-built aircraft had disadvantages in other aspects, such as overall noise. Due to the constant use of afterburners for supersonic speeds and the addition of an active thermal insulation system used for air conditioning, passengers had to endure an average high noise level of approximately 90-95 decibels in the cabin.

Some airplanes were given a second life as research vehicles

When the Tu-144 program was canceled in 1983, the Soviet government decided to try to salvage the remaining aircraft for further use. Such uses included airborne laboratories for space mission training, and in 1985, pilots used Tu-144Ds in preparation for the Soviet Buran mission.