Tupolev Tu-104
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The Tupolev Tu-104 (NATO reporting name: Camel) was a twin-engined medium-range turbojet-powered Soviet airliner. After the British de Havilland Comet and Canadian Avro Jetliner, the Tu-104 was the third jet airliner to fly and the first to enter regular service. Known in the west by its NATO moniker, its arrival in London during a 1956 state visit shocked Western observers.
Development
At the beginning of the 1950s, the Soviet Union's Aeroflot airline desperately needed a modern airliner with better capacity and performance than any Soviet plane then in operation. The design request was filled by the Tupolev OKB, which based their new airliner on its Tupolev Tu-16 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 to accommodate 50 passengers.By the time production ceased in 1960, about 200 had been built. Aeroflot did not retire the Tu-104 from civil service until 1981. CSA Czechoslovak Airlines, the Czechoslovak national airline, bought a small number of Tu-104As configured for 81 passengers.
Following its removal from civil service, several disbanded aircraft were transferred to the Soviet military, which used them as staff transports and to train cosmonauts in zero gravity.
Variants
- Tu-104 - initial version seating 50 passengers.
- Tu-104A - Continuing improvements in the Mikulin engines permitted significant growth in the Tu-104 resulting in a 70-seater variant. The Tu-104A became the definitive production variant.
- * Tu-104D - Tu-104A airframes rebuilt to accommodate 85 passengers
- * Tu-104V - Tu-104A airframes rebuilt to accommodate 100 passengers
- Tu-104B - Further improvements were attained with the stretched Tu-104B fitted with new engines, the Mikulin AM-3M-500 turbojets, and able to accommodate 100 passengers.
- Tu-104E - Record breaking version.
- Tu-110 - Four-engined transport prototype.
Specifications (Tu-104B)
References and external links
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