If you believe Concorde still holds the title of the fastest passenger aircraft, you're in for a surprise. What you're looking at is a masterpiece of Russian engineering — the Tupolev Tu-144 — the fastest passenger plane ever built, capable of exceeding Mach 2.
Often compared to Concorde, the Tu-144 shares several design features, such as a droop nose for improved pilot visibility during takeoff and landing, a similar delta-wing layout, and supersonic capabilities. Despite its promise, the Tu-144 had a relatively short operational life, with its final flight taking place in 1987.
There's also a photo in this post showing a side-by-side comparison of Concorde with what Europeans used to call "Concordski" — a nickname given to the Tu-144 due to its visual similarities with Concorde. In the image, the upper aircraft is the Concorde, and the one below is the Tu-144. Only 16 Tu-144 aircraft were ever built, making it a rare piece of aviation history.
well Russians are ahead of Europe in many fields. And it looks better then Concorde. And why it stopped in 1987?
ReplyDeleteand that's speedometer of alto? your profile pic one?
ReplyDeletemay be same reason as that of concorde... i don't know! & yeah that is speedo of alto...
ReplyDeleteEuropeans are copy cats...
ReplyDeletethis is much better than concorde...