Tupolev Tu-104
The Tupolev Tu-104 (NATO reporting name: Camel)
was a twin-engined medium-range narrow-body turbojet-powered Soviet
airliner and the world's first successful jet airliner. Although it
was the sixth jet airliner to fly (following, in order, the British
Vickers Type 618 Nene-Viking, de Havilland Comet , Canadian Avro
Canada C102 Jetliner, US Boeing 367-80 and French Sud Caravelle),
the Tu-104 was the second to enter regular service (with Aeroflot)
and the first to provide a sustained and successful service (the
Comet which had entered service in 1952, was withdrawn from
1954-1958 following a series of crashes due to structural failure).
The Tu-104 was the sole jetliner operating in the world between
1956 and 1958.
In 1957, Czechoslovak Airlines – CSA, (now
Czech Airlines) became the first airline in the world to fly a
route exclusively with jet airliners, using the Tu-104A variant
between Prague and Moscow. In civil service, the Tu-104 carried
over 90 million passengers with Aeroflot (then the world's largest
airline), and a lesser number with CSA, while it also saw
operations with the Soviet Air Force. Its successors include the
Tu-124 (one of the first turbofan-powered airliners), the Tu-134
and the Tu-154.
At the beginning of the 1950s, the Soviet
Union's Aeroflot airline needed a modern airliner with better
capacity and performance than the piston-engined aircraft then in
operation. The design request was filled by the Tupolev OKB, which
based their new airliner on its Tu-16 'Badger' strategic bomber.
The wings, engines, and tail surfaces of the Tu-16 were retained in
the airliner, but the new design adopted a wider, pressurised
fuselage designed to accommodate 50 passengers. The prototype
(SSSR-L5400) first flew on June 17, 1955 with Yu.L. Alasheyev at
the controls at the Kharkov plant in Ukraine. It was fitted with
drag chutes to shorten the landing distance by up to 400 metres
(1,300 ft), since at the time, not many airports had sufficiently
long runways.
The arrival of the Tu-104 in London during a
1956 state visit[dubious – discuss] by Nikolai Bulganin and
Nikita Khrushchev totally surprised Western observers who, at the
time, thought the Soviets lacked the advanced technology required
to build a commercial airliner with such performance. By the time
production ceased in 1960, about 200 had been built.
The Tu-104 was powered by two Mikulin AM-3
turbojets placed at the wing/fuselage junction (remotely resembling
the solution used on the de Havilland Comet). The crew consisted of
5 people: two pilots, a navigator (placed in the glazed "bomber"
nose), a flight engineer and a radio operator (the radio operator
was later eliminated). The airplane raised great curiosity by its
lavish "Victorian" interior – called so by some
Western-hemisphere observers – due to the materials used:
mahogany, copper and lace.
Tu-104 pilots were trained on the Il-28 bomber,
followed by mail flights on an unarmed Tu-16 bomber painted in
Aeroflot colors, between Moscow and Sverdlovsk. Pilots with
previous Tu-16 experience transitioned into the Tu-104 with
relative ease. The Tu-104 was considered tricky to fly, as it was
heavy on controls and quite fast on finals, at low speeds it would
display a tendency to stall, a feature common with highly-swept
wings. Experience with the Tu-104 led the Tupolev Design Bureau to
develop the world's first turbofan series-built airliner Tupolev
Tu-124, designed for local markets, and subsequently the more
commercially successful Tu-134.
On September 15, 1956, the Tu-104 began revenue
service on Aeroflot's Moscow-Omsk-Irkutsk route, replacing the
piston-engined Ilyushin Il-14. The flight time was reduced from 13
hours and 50 minutes to 7 hours and 40 minutes, and the new jet
dramatically increased the level of passenger comfort. By 1957,
Aeroflot had placed the Tu-104 in service on routes from Vnukovo
Airport in Moscow to London, Budapest, Copenhagen, Beijing,
Brussels, Ottawa, Delhi, and Prague.
In 1957, CSA Czechoslovak Airlines became the
only export customer for the Tu-104, placing the aircraft on routes
to Moscow, Paris and Brussels. CSA bought six Tu-104As (four new
and two used examples) configured for 81 passengers. Three of these
aircraft were subsequently written off (one due to a refuelling
incident in India and another to a pilot error without
fatalities).
In 1959, the plane was leased to Sir Henry Lunn
Ltd. (Lunn Poly) of London which used the plane for 12 holidays to
Russia and boasted of a 4.5 hours flight.
The Tu-104 continued to be used by Aeroflot
throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Some 16 aircraft were lost in
crashes (some due to hijackings/bombings). The safety record is
comparable to other early jet airliners of its day, but was poor
compared to more modern airliners. Aeroflot retired the Tu-104 from
civil service in March 1979 following a fatal accident at Moscow.
Following this, several aircraft were transferred to the Soviet
military, which used them as staff transports and to train
cosmonauts in zero gravity. However, after a Tu-104 crash in
February 1981 killed 52 people (17 of whom were senior army and
naval staff), the type was permanently removed from service. The
last flight of the Tu-104 was a ferry flight to Ulyanovsk Aircraft
Museum in 1986.
Variants:
Tu-104 – initial version seating 50 passengers. It used 2
Mikulin AM-3 engines, each with 6,735 kg of thrust. 29 airframes
were built.
Tu-104A – Improved version appearing in June 1957; continued
improvements of the Mikulin engines (Mikulin AM-3M each with 8,700
kg of thrust) permitted significant growth in capacity, resulting
in a 70-seater variant. The Tu-104A became the definitive
production variant. On September 6, 1957, it flew with 20 t of
payload at 11,211 m of altitude. On September 24, 1957, it reached
970.8 km/h average speed with a 2 tonne payload. A total of 80
airframes were built, of which six were exported to
Czechoslovakia.
Tu-104B – Further improvements made by stretching fuselage
1.2 meters and fitting new Mikulin AM-3M-500 turbojets (9,700 kg of
thrust each). The Tu-104B was able to accommodate 100 passengers.
This variant took advantage of the newer fuselage from the Tupolev
Tu-110 and the existing wings. It began revenue service with
Aeroflot on April 15, 1959 on the Moscow-Saint Petersburg route. A
total of 95 airframes were built. Most were subsequently
re-equipped as the Tu-104B-115 with 115 seats; sporting new
navigation, flight and radio equipment;
Tu-104V – The first use of this designation was for a
projected 117 seat medium haul version with six-abreast seating.
Project cancelled.
Tu-104D – VIP version with two sleeper cabins forward and a
39-seat cabin aft.
Tu-104G – VIP version for the Federal government with two VIP
cabins forward and a 54-seat cabin aft.
Tu-104E – A higher performance Tu-104 powered by RD16-15
engines giving better fuel economy as well as higher thrust. Two
prototypes were converted from Tu-104B's CCCP-42441 and CCCP-42443,
but the programme was cancelled in the mid-1960s in favour of the
Tu-154.
Tu-104V – The second use of this designation was used for
Tu-104A airframes rebuilt to accommodate 100/105 passengers. A
later version packed 115 passengers in by reducing seat pitch and
adding seat rows.
Tu-104D-85 – Tu-104A airframes rebuilt to accommodate 85
passengers.
Tu-104V-115 – Tu-104B airframes rebuilt to accommodate 115
passengers, with new radio and navigational equipment.
Tu-104AK – one unit modified for Zero-G Cosmonaut
training
Tu-104SH – Navigator trainer in two versions
Tu-104LL – Several serial numbers converted for use in
testing Tu-129, Tu-22M electronics, and air-to-air missile systems
(including launch).
Tu-107 – Proposed military transport version with rear
loading ramp and defensive turret armed with paired cannon. One
prototype built; project cancelled
Tu-110 – Four-engined version intended for export. A number
of prototypes were built; project cancelled.
Tu-118 – A projected turboprop powered medium haul airliner
variant to be powered by Kuznetsov TV-2 or NK-8 turboprop
engines.
Tu-124 – Turbofan powered short-haul redesign of the
Tu-104.
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