Possible causes of the Tu-144 disaster at Le Bourget

On June 3, 1973, at the Paris Air Show Le Bourget, a tragic event took place, which radically influenced the development of supersonic passenger aviation both in the USSR and around the world. A Soviet Tu-144 aircraft with tail number 77102 crashed, killing all six crew members and eight French citizens on the ground. Several houses were destroyed by the crashed liner.

Disaster investigation

The causes of the disaster, despite the investigation carried out, have not yet been established with 100% probability. Of the two black boxes, only one was found, and it was badly damaged. The airframe assembled in fragments also did not add clarity. In the Soviet Union, rumors began to circulate that envious Europeans had committed a sabotage in order to undermine the reputation of our aviation and eliminate a competitor to their Concorde, which, by a strange, at first glance, coincidence very similar to the Tu-144.

The history of the creation of the Tu-144

Work on the creation of supersonic civilian aircraft began in the early sixties. By that time, the world's leading manufacturers had already accumulated quite a wealth of experience in creating high-speed combat vehicles, defeated the flutter effect and significantly increased the reliability of aircraft. The first to announce an ambitious project was the Anglo-French concern made up by the firms Süd Aviation, Rolls-Royce BIC and SNECMA. But in the USSR they did not doze either - the response to such a step was the start, given in the Tupolev Design Bureau, to work on creating a domestic liner capable of making transcontinental flights at a speed of two and a half thousand kilometers.

Twin brothers?

Already in 1965, models of supersonic airliners were presented to the general public. The Soviet aircraft has already received the official index Tu-144. "Concorde", which was at about the same design stage, really had many similar design solutions with it, but this is not uncommon in aviation, the same technical specifications dictate the generality of schematic solutions. The lowering nose section provided better visibility from the pilot's cockpit, the delta wing and the absence of a horizontal tail were also the best option for this type of machine. But nevertheless, it is impossible to assert that one of the machines was copied from another, the difference in characteristics between them is significant, and not always in favor of the "European".

Who benefited from?

And yet, was the disaster of the Tu-144 beneficial to its competitors? That is unlikely. The export potential of Soviet aircraft was strongly limited by political reasons, the international situation was tense, so this aircraft clearly did not threaten the world market. All the same, only socialist countries could buy it, and then, if there was enough money, the car turned out to be not cheap. The liner was also expensive to operate, using eight times more kerosene than any other aircraft of similar capacity. Under the conditions of state-controlled prices for everything, including air tickets, using it for passenger transportation became unprofitable, and Soviet citizens would simply not be able to afford the real cost of the flight with their salaries. In a sense, the Tu-144 was doomed even if no catastrophe had happened at Le Bourget. The problems were compounded when another plane of this type crashed in 1978, this time in Yegoryevsk.

Most plausible version

With a high degree of probability, aeronautical engineers established that the cause of the death of the Tu-144 in Paris was an emergency situation in the demonstration flight zone. The Mirage interceptor filmed our plane, in turn the co-pilot also walked around the cockpit with a movie camera, he filmed a reportage for French television. The commander of the Soviet plane was warned of the presence of the fighter and, apparently, made a mistake, turning in the wrong direction. Avoiding the collision, he abruptly took the helm over himself, creating supercritical overloads in the glider, which led to the destruction of the wing structure. It is quite possible that too sharp horizontal maneuvers made at the beginning of the flight to make the spectacle more spectacular also contributed to this. Tu-144 has carried over three thousand passengers during its operation.