On February 6, 1950, during another test, the Soviet jet fighter The MiG-17 in level flight exceeded the speed of sound, accelerating to almost 1070 km/h. This made it the first mass-produced supersonic aircraft. Developers Mikoyan and Gurevich were clearly proud of their brainchild.

For combat flights, the MiG-17 was considered near-sounding, since its cruising speed did not exceed 861 km / h. But this did not prevent the fighter from becoming one of the most common in the world. IN different time it was in service with Germany, China, Korea, Poland, Pakistan and dozens of other countries. This monster even took part in the fighting in the Vietnam War.

The MiG-17 is far from the only representative of the supersonic aircraft genre. We will talk about a dozen more air liners that also got ahead of the sound wave and became famous all over the world.

Bell X-1

The US Air Force specially equipped the Bell X-1 with a rocket engine, as they wanted to use it to study the problems of supersonic flight. On October 14, 1947, the device accelerated to 1541 km / h (Mach number 1.26), overcame a given barrier and turned into a star in the sky. Today, the record-breaking model rests in the Smithsonian Museum in the States.

Source: NASA

North American X-15

The North American X-15 is also equipped with rocket engines. But, unlike its American counterpart Bell X-1, this aircraft reached a speed of 6167 km / h (Mach number 5.58), becoming the first and for 40 years the only manned hypersonic aircraft in the history of mankind (since 1959). who performed suborbital manned space flights. With its help, even the reaction of the atmosphere to the entry of winged bodies into it was studied. In total, three units of X-15 type rocket planes were produced.

Source: NASA

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

It is a sin not to use supersonic aircraft for military purposes. Therefore, the US Air Force designed the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a strategic reconnaissance aircraft with a maximum speed of 3,700 km/h (Mach 3.5). The main advantages are fast acceleration and high maneuverability, which allowed him to evade missiles. Also, the SR-71 was the first aircraft to be equipped with technologies to reduce radar visibility.

Only 32 units built, 12 of which crashed. Removed from service in 1998.

Source: af.mil

MiG-25

We cannot but recall the domestic MiG-25 - a 3rd generation supersonic high-altitude fighter-interceptor with a maximum speed of 3000 km / h (Mach number 2.83). The plane was so cool that even the Japanese coveted it. Therefore, on September 6, 1976, Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko had to hijack a MiG-25. After that, for many years in many parts of the Union, the aircraft began to fill up not to the end. The goal is to prevent them from flying to the nearest foreign airport.

Source: Alexey Beltyukov

MiG-31

Soviet scientists did not stop working for the aerial good of the fatherland. Therefore, in 1968, the design of the MiG-31 began. And on September 16, 1975, he first flew into the sky. This two-seat, supersonic, all-weather long-range fighter-interceptor accelerated to a speed of 2,500 km/h (Mach number 2.35) and became the first fourth-generation Soviet combat aircraft.

The MiG-31 is designed to intercept and destroy air targets at extremely low, low, medium and high altitudes, day and night, in simple and difficult weather conditions, with active and passive radar interference, as well as false thermal targets. Four MiG-31s ​​can control airspace up to 900 kilometers long. This is not a plane, but the pride of the Union, which is still in service with Russia and Kazakhstan.

Source: Vitaly Kuzmin

Lockheed/Boeing F-22 Raptor

The most expensive supersonic aircraft was built by the Americans. They modeled a fifth-generation multirole fighter, which became the most expensive among their peers. The Lockheed/Boeing F-22 Raptor is the only fifth-generation fighter in service today and the first production fighter with a supersonic cruising speed of 1,890 km/h (Mach 1.78). The maximum speed is 2570 km / h (Mach 2.42). Until now, no one has surpassed him in the air.

Source: af.mil

Su-100/T-4

The Su-100/T-4 ("weave") was developed as an aircraft carrier fighter. But the engineers of the Sukhoi Design Bureau managed not only to achieve their goal, but to model a cool attack and reconnaissance bomber-missile carrier, which they later wanted to use even as a passenger aircraft and booster for the Spiral aerospace system. The maximum speed of the T-4 is 3200 km/h (Mach 3).

One of the examples of existing supersonic aircraft projects.

Today I'll start with a little preface 🙂.

On this site I already have a flight of aircraft. That is, it is high time to write something about supersonic, especially since I promised to do it :-). The other day I took up the work with considerable zeal, but I realized that the topic is as interesting as it is voluminous.

Recently, my articles have not shined with brevity, I don’t know if this is an advantage or a disadvantage :-). A release on the topic " supersonic"Threatened to become even bigger, and no one knows how long I would have to" create "it" :-).

So I decided to try to make some articles. A sort of small series (three or four pieces), in which each component will be devoted to one or two concepts on the topic supersonic speeds. And it will be easier for me, and I will bother readers less :-), and Yandex and Google will be more favorable (which is important, you understand :-)). Well, what will come of this to judge, of course, you ..

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So let's talk today about supersonic and supersonic aircraft. The very notion of supersonic" in our language (especially in superlatives) flashes much more often than the term " subsonic".

On the one hand, this is, in general, understandable. Subsonic aircraft have long become something quite ordinary in our lives. A supersonic aircraft, although they fly in airspace for 65 years now, but still seem to be something special, interesting and deserving of special attention.

On the other hand, this is quite fair. After all, flights to supersonic- this, one might say, is a separate area of ​​\u200b\u200bmovement closed by a certain barrier. However, inexperienced people may well have a question: “What, in fact, is so outstanding in this supersonic sound? What is the difference between an airplane flying at a speed of 400 km/h or 1400 km/h? Give him a more powerful engine and everything will be all right!” Approximately in this semantic position was aviation at the dawn of its development.

Speed ​​has always been the ultimate dream, and initially these aspirations were quite successfully implemented. Already in 1945, the Messerschmitt test pilot L. Hoffmann in level flight on one of the world's first aircraft with jet engines, ME-262, reached a speed of 980 km / h in level flight at an altitude of 7200 m.

However, in reality, everything is far from being so simple. After all, the flight supersonic differs from subsonic not only in the magnitude of the speed and not so much in it. The difference here is qualitative.

Already from speeds of about 400 km / h, such a property of air as compressibility begins to gradually appear. And there is nothing, in principle, unexpected. is a gas. And all gases, as you know, unlike liquids, are compressible. When compressed, gas parameters change, such as, for example, density, pressure, temperature. Because of this, various physical processes can already proceed differently in a compressed gas than in a rarefied one.

The faster an airplane flies, the more it, together with its aerodynamic surfaces, becomes like a kind of piston, in a certain sense compressing the air in front of it. Exaggerated, of course, but in general exactly like that :-).

With increasing speed, the aerodynamic pattern of the flow around the aircraft changes and the faster, the more :-). And on supersonic it is qualitatively different. At the same time, new concepts of aerodynamics come to the fore, which often simply do not make any sense for low-speed aircraft.

To characterize the flight speed, it now becomes convenient and necessary to use such a parameter as the Mach number (Mach number, the ratio of the aircraft speed relative to air at a given point to the speed of sound in the air stream at this point). Another type of aerodynamic drag appears and becomes tangible (very tangible!) wave resistance(along with the already increased conventional drag).

Such phenomena as the wave crisis (with a critical number M), above sound barrier , shock waves and shock waves.

In addition, the controllability and stability characteristics of the aircraft deteriorate due to the rearward displacement of the point of application of aerodynamic forces.

When approaching the region of transonic speeds, the aircraft may experience severe shaking (this was more typical for the first aircraft that stormed the then mysterious boundary of the speed of sound), similar in its manifestations to another very unpleasant phenomenon that aviators had to face in their professional development. This phenomenon is called flutter (a topic for another article :-)).

There is such an unpleasant moment as the heating of the air as a result of its sharp braking in front of the aircraft (the so-called kinetic heating), as well as heating as a result of viscous friction of air. At the same time, the temperatures are quite high, about 300ºС. The skin of the aircraft is heated to such temperatures during a long supersonic flight.

We will definitely talk about all the concepts and phenomena mentioned above, as well as the reasons for their occurrence, in other articles in more detail. But right now, I think it's quite clear that supersonic- this is something completely different than flying at subsonic (especially low) speed.

In order to get along with all the newly emerging effects and phenomena at high speeds and fully comply with its purpose, aircraft should also change in quality. Now this should be supersonic aircraft, that is, an aircraft capable of flying at a speed exceeding the speed of sound in a given section of airspace.

And for him it is not enough just to increase the engine power (although this is also a very important and mandatory detail). Such aircraft usually change externally as well. Sharp corners and edges, straight lines appear in their appearance, in contrast to the "smooth" outlines of subsonic aircraft.

supersonic aircraft have a swept or triangular wing in plan. A typical and one of the most famous delta wing aircraft is the remarkable MIG-21 fighter (maximum speed at an altitude of 2230 km / h, near the ground 1300 km / h).

Supersonic aircraft with a triangular wing MIG-21.

One of the swept variants is an ogival-shaped wing, which has an increased lift coefficient. It has a special influx near the fuselage, designed to form artificial spiral vortices.

MIG-21I with an animated wing.

MIG-21I - animated wing.

Animal wing of TU-144.

It is interesting that a wing of this type, later installed on the TU-144, was tested on a flying laboratory based on the same MIG-21 (MIG-21I).

The second option is supercritical wing. It has a flattened profile with a certain curved rear part, which makes it possible to delay the occurrence of a wave crisis at high speeds and can be economically advantageous for high-speed subsonic aircraft. Such a wing is used, in particular, on the SuperJet 100 aircraft.

SuperJet 100. An example of a supercritical wing. The profile bend is clearly visible (rear part)

Photos are clickable.

Exactly 15 years ago, the last three British Airways Concorde supersonic passenger aircraft made their farewell flight. On that day, October 24, 2003, these aircraft, flying at low altitude over London, landed at Heathrow, and thus ended the short history of supersonic passenger aviation. However, today aircraft designers around the world are once again thinking about the possibility of fast flights - from Paris to New York in 3.5 hours, from Sydney to Los Angeles - in 6 hours, from London to Tokyo - in 5 hours. But before supersonic aircraft return to international passenger routes, developers will have to solve many problems, among which one of the most important is reducing the noise of fast aircraft.

A short history of fast flights

Passenger aviation began to take shape in the 1910s, when the first aircraft specifically designed to transport people through the air appeared. The very first of these was the French Bleriot XXIV Limousine from Bleriot Aeronautique. It was used for pleasure air rides. Two years later, the S-21 Grand appeared in Russia, created on the basis of the Russian Knight heavy bomber Igor Sikorsky. It was built at the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works. Then aviation began to develop by leaps and bounds: first, flights began between cities, then between countries, and then between continents. Airplanes made it possible to get to your destination faster than by train or ship.

In the 1950s, progress in the development of jet engines accelerated significantly, and flights at supersonic speed became available for military aircraft, albeit for a short time. Supersonic speed is usually called movement up to five times faster than the speed of sound, which varies depending on the propagation medium and its temperature. At normal atmospheric pressure at sea level, sound travels at a speed of 331 meters per second, or 1,191 kilometers per hour. As the altitude increases, the density and temperature of the air decreases, and the speed of sound also decreases. For example, at an altitude of 20 thousand meters, it is already about 295 meters per second. But already at an altitude of about 25 thousand meters and as it rises to more than 50 thousand meters, the temperature of the atmosphere begins to gradually increase in comparison with the lower layers, and with it the local speed of sound increases.

The increase in temperature at these altitudes is explained, among other things, high concentration ozone in the air, which forms an ozone shield and absorbs part of the solar energy. As a result, the speed of sound at an altitude of 30,000 meters above the sea is about 318 meters per second, and at an altitude of 50,000 - almost 330 meters per second. In aviation, the Mach number is widely used to measure airspeed. In simple terms, it expresses the local speed of sound for a particular altitude, air density and temperature. Thus, a conventional flight speed equal to two Mach numbers at sea level will be 2383 kilometers per hour, and at an altitude of 10 thousand meters - 2157 kilometers per hour. For the first time, the sound barrier at a speed of 1.04 Mach (1066 kilometers per hour) at an altitude of 12.2 thousand meters was overcome by the American pilot Chuck Yeager in 1947. This was an important step towards the development of supersonic flights.

In the 1950s, aircraft designers in several countries around the world began working on designs for supersonic passenger aircraft. As a result, in the 1970s, the French Concorde and the Soviet Tu-144 appeared. These were the first and so far the only passenger supersonic aircraft in the world. Both types of aircraft used conventional turbojet engines optimized for long-term supersonic flight. Tu-144s were operated until 1977. The planes flew at a speed of 2.3 thousand kilometers per hour and could carry up to 140 passengers. However, tickets for their flights cost an average of 2.5-3 times more than usual. Low demand for fast but expensive flights, as well as the general difficulties in operating and maintaining the Tu-144, led to the fact that they were simply removed from passenger flights. However, the aircraft were used for some time in test flights, including under contract with NASA.

Concorde served noticeably longer - until 2003. Flights on French liners were also expensive and not very popular, but France and Great Britain continued to operate them. The cost of one ticket for such a flight was, in terms of today's prices, about 20 thousand dollars. The French Concorde flew at a speed of just over two thousand kilometers per hour. The plane could cover the distance from Paris to New York in 3.5 hours. Depending on the configuration, Concorde could carry from 92 to 120 people.

The history of the Concorde ended unexpectedly and quickly. In 2000, the Concorde plane crash occurred in which 113 people died. A year later in passenger air transportation the crisis caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 began (two planes with passengers hijacked by terrorists crashed into the towers of the World shopping center in New York, another, a third hit the Pentagon in Arlington County, and a fourth fell in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania). Then the warranty period for Concorde aircraft, which was handled by Airbus, expired. All these factors together made the operation of supersonic passenger aircraft extremely unprofitable, and in the summer and autumn of 2003 airlines Air France and British Airways took turns decommissioning all the Concordes.

After the closure of the Concorde program in 2003, there was still hope for the return of supersonic passenger aviation to service. Designers hoped for new fuel-efficient engines, aerodynamic calculations, and computer-aided design systems that could make supersonic flight economically affordable. But in 2006 and 2008 the International Organization civil aviation adopted new aircraft noise standards that prohibited, among other things, any supersonic flights over populated land areas in Peaceful time. This ban does not apply to air corridors specially allocated for military aviation. Work on the projects of new supersonic aircraft slowed down, but today they have begun to gain momentum again.

Quiet supersonic

Today, several enterprises and government organizations in the world are developing supersonic passenger aircraft. Such projects, in particular, Russian companies Sukhoi and Tupolev, the Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, the French Dassault, the Japan Aerospace Research Agency, the European concern Airbus, the American Lockheed Martin and Boeing, as well as several startups, including Aerion and Boom Technologies. In general, the designers are conditionally divided into two camps. Representatives of the first of them believe that it will not be possible to develop a “quiet” supersonic aircraft corresponding in terms of noise to subsonic airliners in the near future, which means that it is necessary to build a fast passenger aircraft that will switch to supersonic where it is allowed. Such an approach, the designers from the first camp believe, will still reduce the time of flight from one point to another.

The designers from the second camp mainly focused on the fight against shock waves. In flight at supersonic speed, the airframe of an aircraft generates many shock waves, the most significant of which occur in the nose and in the tail area. In addition, shock waves usually appear on the leading and trailing edges of the wing, on the leading edges of the tail, in the areas of swirlers of the flow and on the edges of the air intakes. A shock wave is a region in which the pressure, density, and temperature of the medium experience a sharp and strong jump. Observers on the ground perceive such waves as a loud bang or even an explosion - it is because of this that supersonic flights over the populated part of the land are prohibited.

The effect of an explosion or a very loud pop is produced by the shock waves of the so-called N-type, which are formed during the explosion of a bomb or on the airframe of a supersonic fighter. On the graph of pressure and density growth, such waves resemble the letter N of the Latin alphabet due to a sharp increase in pressure at the wave front with a sharp drop in pressure after it and subsequent normalization. In laboratory experiments, researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency found that changing the shape of a glider can smooth out peaks in a shockwave graph, turning it into an S-type wave. Such a wave has a smooth pressure drop, which is not as significant as that of the N-wave. NASA experts believe that S-waves will be perceived by observers as the distant slam of a car door.

N-wave (red) before aerodynamic optimization of a supersonic airframe and similarity of S-wave after optimization

In 2015, Japanese designers assembled the D-SEND 2 unmanned glider, whose aerodynamic shape was designed to reduce the number and intensity of shock waves generated on it. In July 2015, the developers tested the airframe at the Esrange missile range in Sweden and noted a significant reduction in the number of shock waves generated on the surface of the new airframe. During the test, D-SEND 2, not equipped with engines, was dropped from hot air balloon from a height of 30.5 thousand meters. During the fall, the glider, 7.9 meters long, picked up a speed of Mach 1.39 and flew past tethered balloons equipped with microphones located at different heights. At the same time, the researchers measured not only the intensity and number of shock waves, but also analyzed the influence of the state of the atmosphere on their early occurrence.

According to the Japanese agency, the sonic boom from aircraft comparable in size to the Concorde supersonic passenger aircraft and made according to the D-SEND 2 scheme, when flying at supersonic speeds, will be half as intense as before. The Japanese D-SEND 2 differs from the gliders of conventional modern aircraft in the non-axisymmetric arrangement of the bow. The keel of the device is shifted to the bow, and the horizontal tail unit is all-turning and has a negative installation angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the airframe, that is, the fin tips are below the attachment point, and not above, as usual. The airframe wing has a normal sweep, but is made stepped: it smoothly mates with the fuselage, and part of its leading edge is located at an acute angle to the fuselage, but closer to the trailing edge this angle increases sharply.

According to a similar scheme, the supersonic American startup Aerion is currently being created and is being developed by Lockheed Martin by order of NASA. With an emphasis on reducing the number and intensity of shock waves, the Russian (Supersonic Business Aircraft / Supersonic Passenger Aircraft) is also being designed. Some of the fast passenger aircraft projects are scheduled to be completed in the first half of the 2020s, but aviation regulations will still not be revised by then. This means that the new aircraft will initially perform supersonic flights only over water. The fact is that in order to remove the restriction on supersonic flights over the populated part of the land, developers will have to conduct many tests and submit their results to the aviation authorities, including the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency.

S-512/Spike Aerospace

New engines

Another serious obstacle to the creation of a mass-produced passenger supersonic aircraft is the engines. Designers today have found many ways to make turbojet engines more economical than they were ten or twenty years ago. This includes the use of gearboxes that remove the rigid coupling of the fan and turbine in the engine, and the use of ceramic composite materials to optimize the temperature balance in the hot zone of the power plant, and even the introduction of an additional - third - air circuit in addition to the already existing two, internal and external. In the field of creating economical subsonic engines, designers have already achieved amazing results, and ongoing new developments promise significant savings. You can read more about advanced research in our material.

But, despite all these developments, it is still difficult to call supersonic flight economical. For example, the promising supersonic passenger aircraft of the Boom Technologies startup will receive three turbofan engines of the JT8D family from Pratt & Whitney or J79 from GE Aviation. In cruise flight, the specific fuel consumption of these engines is about 740 grams per kilogram-force per hour. At the same time, the J79 engine can be equipped with an afterburner, which increases fuel consumption by up to two kilograms per kilogram-force per hour. Such an expense is comparable to the fuel consumption of engines, for example, of the Su-27 fighter, whose tasks differ significantly from the transportation of passengers.

For comparison, the specific fuel consumption of the world's only serial D-27 turbopropfan engines installed on the Ukrainian An-70 transporter is only 140 grams per kilogram-force per hour. The American CFM56 engine, the “classic” of Boeing and Airbus liners, has a specific fuel consumption of 545 grams per kilogram-force per hour. This means that without a major redesign of jet aircraft engines, supersonic flights will not become cheap enough to be widely adopted, and will be in demand only in business aviation- high fuel consumption leads to an increase in ticket prices. It will not be possible to reduce the high cost of supersonic air transportation by volumes either - the aircraft being designed today are designed to carry from 8 to 45 passengers. Ordinary planes can accommodate more than a hundred people.

However, in early October of this year, GE Aviation projected a new Affinity turbofan jet engine. These power plants are planned to be mounted on a promising supersonic passenger aircraft AS2 from Aerion. The new power plant structurally combines the features of jet engines with a low bypass ratio for combat aircraft and power plants with a high bypass ratio for passenger aircraft. At the same time, there are no new and breakthrough technologies in Affinity. The new GE Aviation engine is classified as a medium bypass powerplant.

The basis of the engine is a modified CFM56 turbofan gas generator, which, in turn, is structurally based on the gas generator from the F101, the power plant for the B-1B Lancer supersonic bombers. Power point will receive an upgraded electronic-digital engine management system with full responsibility. The developers did not disclose any details about the design of the promising engine. However, GE Aviation expects the specific fuel consumption of the Affinity engines to be not much higher than, or even comparable to, the fuel consumption of modern turbofan engines in conventional subsonic passenger aircraft. How this can be achieved for supersonic flight is not clear.

Boom / Boom Technologies

Projects

Despite the many projects of supersonic passenger aircraft in the world (including even the unrealistic project of converting the Tu-160 strategic bomber into a passenger supersonic liner, proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin), the AS2 of the American startup Aerion, S-512, can be considered the closest to flight testing and small-scale production. Spanish Spike Aerospace and American Boom Technologies Boom. It is planned that the first will fly at Mach 1.5, the second at Mach 1.6, and the third at Mach 2.2. The X-59 aircraft, created by Lockheed Martin by order of NASA, will be a technology demonstrator and a flying laboratory; it is not planned to launch it into a series.

Boom Technologies has already said it will try to make supersonic flights very cheap. For example, the cost of a flight from New York to London was estimated at Boom Technologies at five thousand dollars. This is how much a flight on this route costs today in the business class of an ordinary subsonic airliner. The Boom liner will fly at subsonic speeds over populated land and go supersonic over the ocean. The aircraft, with a length of 52 meters and a wingspan of 18 meters, can carry up to 45 passengers. Until the end of 2018, Boom Technologies plans to select one of several new aircraft projects for implementation in metal. The first flight of the aircraft is scheduled for 2025. The company has postponed these deadlines; Boom was originally scheduled to take to the air in 2023.

According to preliminary calculations, the length of the AS2 aircraft, designed for 8-12 passengers, will be 51.8 meters, and the wingspan will be 18.6 meters. The maximum takeoff weight of the supersonic aircraft will be 54.8 tons. The AS2 will fly over water at a cruising speed of Mach 1.4-1.6, decelerating to Mach 1.2 over land. A slightly lower flight speed over land, coupled with a special aerodynamic shape of the airframe, will, as the developers expect, almost completely avoid the formation of shock waves. The flight range of the aircraft at a speed of Mach 1.4 will be 7.8 thousand kilometers and 10 thousand kilometers at a speed of Mach 0.95. The first flight of the aircraft is planned for the summer of 2023, and for October of the same year - the first transatlantic flight. Its developers will coincide with the 20th anniversary of last flight"Concord".

Finally, Spike Aerospace plans to begin flight testing of the full S-512 prototype no later than 2021. Deliveries of the first production aircraft to customers are scheduled for 2023. According to the project, the S-512 will be able to carry up to 22 passengers at speeds up to Mach 1.6. The flight range of this aircraft will be 11.5 thousand kilometers. Since last October, Spike Aerospace has several smaller models of supersonic aircraft. Their purpose is to test design solutions and the effectiveness of flight controls. All three promising passenger aircraft are being created with an emphasis on a special aerodynamic shape that will reduce the intensity of shock waves generated during supersonic flight.

In 2017, the volume of air passenger traffic worldwide amounted to four billion people, of which 650 million made long-haul flights ranging from 3.7 to 13 thousand kilometers. 72 million "long-haul" passengers flew first and business class. It is these 72 million people that the developers of supersonic passenger aircraft are targeting first, believing that they will gladly pay a little more money for the opportunity to spend about half the time in the air than usual. However, supersonic passenger aviation is likely to develop rapidly after 2025. The fact is that research flights of the X-59 laboratory will begin only in 2021 and will last for several years.

Research results obtained during X-59 flights, including over settlements- volunteers (their residents have agreed to have supersonic aircraft fly over them on weekdays; after the flights, the observers will tell the researchers about their perception of noise), it is planned to be submitted to the US Federal Aviation Administration. As expected, on their basis, it may revise the ban on supersonic flights over the populated part of the land, but this will not happen until 2025.

Vasily Sychev

The exploration of the sky for many centuries was an unattainable dream for mankind. After the expanses nevertheless managed to conquer, the aircraft became more and more perfect and more enduring. A significant achievement in this field was the invention of supersonic military and passenger aircraft. One of these liners was the Tu-244, the features and characteristics of which we will consider further. Unfortunately, this project did not develop to mass production, like most similar developments. Currently, funds are being sought to resume the development of this project or similar aircraft.

Where did it all begin?

Aviation began to develop rapidly after the Second World War. Various projects of aircraft with jet engines were developed, which were supposed to replace conventional power units. An important point in the creation of supersonic airliners was not reaching the speed of sound, but overcoming this barrier, since aerodynamic laws change at such speeds.

Massively similar technologies have been used since the fifties of the last century. Among the serial modifications, domestic MiGs, American North American fighters, Delta Dagger, French Concordes and many others can be noted. In passenger aviation, the introduction of supersonic speeds has been much slower. Tu-244 is an aircraft that could not only compete in this industry, but become a world leader in it.

Development and creation

The first experimental civil aircraft capable of breaking the sound barrier appeared in the second half of the sixties of the 20th century. Since then and until now, only two models have been put into mass production: the Tu-144 and the French Concorde. Liners were typical aircraft for ultra-long flights. The operation of these machines ceased to be relevant in two thousand and three. Now supersonic airliners are not used to transport passengers.

There were attempts to create new modifications of jet civilian liners, but most of them remained under development or were closed altogether. Such long-term projects include the Tu-244 supersonic passenger aircraft.

He was supposed to replace his predecessor, have improved characteristics, borrowed from prototypes - the Concorde and some American aircraft. The project was completely taken over by the Tupolev Design Bureau, in 1973 the liner under development was named Tu-244.

purpose

The main objective of the project under development was the creation of a supersonic jet aircraft capable of safely, quickly and over long distances to transport passengers. At the same time, the device was supposed to significantly exceed conventional jet aircraft in all respects. The designers made a special bet on speed.

In other aspects, supersonic aircraft were inferior to their counterparts. First, transportation did not pay off economically. Secondly, flight safety was lower. By the way, the serial production and use of the Tu-244 predecessor in civil aviation was discontinued precisely for the second reason. Tu-144 during the first year of operation suffered several accidents that led to the death of the crew. The new project was supposed to eliminate existing shortcomings.

Tu-244 (aircraft): characteristics of the technical plan

The final model of the liner in question was to have the following performance indicators:

1. The crew piloting the liner includes three pilots.
2. Passenger capacity varied from 250 to 300 people.
3. Estimated cruising speed - 2175 kilometers per hour, which is twice the sound barrier.
4. Power plants - four motors with turbine fans.
5. The flight range is from seven to nine and a half thousand kilometers.
6. The carrying capacity is three hundred tons.
7. Length / height - 88 / 15 meters.
8. The area of ​​a working surface - 965 sq.m. m.
9. Wingspan - forty-five meters.

If we compare the speed indicator, then the projected Tu-244 passenger aircraft, the history of which is quite interesting, has become a little slower than its direct competitors. However, due to this, the designers wanted to increase the capacity and increase the economic benefits of operating the machine.

Future prospects

The development of a new project, the result of which was to be the Tu-244 supersonic passenger aircraft, dragged on for many years. A lot of changes and improvements were made to the design. However, even after the collapse of the USSR, the Tupolev Design Bureau continued to work in the given direction. In 1993, they were even presented details about the project.

Nevertheless, the economic crisis of the nineties had a negative impact on this area. There was no official announcement of the closure of development, active actions too. The project was on the verge of freezing. Specialists from the United States are involved in the work, negotiations with which have been going on for a long time. To continue research, two liners of the one hundred and forty-fourth series were converted into flying laboratories.

What's next?

The supersonic Tu-244 (the aircraft, the photo of which is presented below) suddenly disappeared from the project documentation as an object of study. It was adopted in 2012 and assumed that the first hundred units of passenger airliners would enter service no later than 2025. Such leapfrog with the documentation caused a number of questions and rumors. In addition, several more interesting and promising developments have disappeared from this program.

Such a prospect was seen in a negative way. The facts testified that the project was frozen or completely closed. However, there has been no official confirmation or denial of this. Given the instability of the economy, one can make a lot of assumptions in a subjective configuration, but the facts speak for themselves.

Today's realities: Tu-244 (aircraft)

History of creation this aircraft has been stated above. And how are things now? Given all of the above, it can be assumed that the project in question is currently at least hovering in the air, if not covered at all. There is no official submission of a statement about the fate of the development, as well as the reasons for the reduction and suspension of the project. It is quite possible that the main problem lies in insufficient funding, its economic inconsistency or obsolescence. Alternatively, all three of these factors may occur together.

Not so long ago (2014), information about the possible resumption of the Tu-244 project slipped through the media. However official version on this issue, again, this was not done. For the sake of objectivity, it is worth noting that foreign developments of passenger supersonic liners are also far from complete, many of them are closed or are under big question. I would like to believe that this grandiose machine will be built in accordance with all modern standards in the near future.

A little about the predecessor

The development of TU-144 by decision of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union began in 1969. Construction of supersonic civil aircraft started at MMZ "Experience". The estimated flight range of the liner should be three and a half thousand kilometers. To improve aerodynamics, the aircraft received a modified shape of the wings in plan and increased their area.

The length of the fuselage is made with the calculation of the internal accommodation of one hundred and fifty passengers. Two pairs of engines were placed under each wing. The jet aircraft made its first flight in 1971. The factory test program provided for about two hundred and thirty sorties.

Comparative characteristics

The supersonic Tu-244 is an aircraft whose dimensions are somewhat more significant than those of its predecessor. It has distinctive parameters in other tactical and technical values. For comparison, consider the performance of the Tu-144 liner:

• crew - four people;
• capacity - one and a half hundred passengers;
• length / height - 67 / 12.5 meters;
• thrust with afterburner - 17,500 kg / s;
• weight limit - one hundred and eighty tons;
• cruising speed is 2,200 kilometers per hour;
• practical ceiling - eighteen thousand meters;
• the maximum range is six and a half thousand kilometers.

The main external difference between the new aircraft (Tu-244) and its predecessor was to be a change in the design of the curved nose.

The cardinal feature of the two hundred and forty-fourth project from its prototype under the index "144" is the absence of a nose deflected down. Cabin glazing is made in the minimum equipment. Such a solution is focused on the fact that during the flight the necessary visibility will be provided, and takeoff and landing, regardless of weather conditions, is controlled by the electronic view optics unit.

It is worth noting that the current requirements of the environmental plan for civil airliners significantly impede the creation of a supersonic aircraft of this class, since its operation a priori becomes economically detrimental. Developments were undertaken to create a supersonic business class aircraft capable of breaking the supersonic barrier. However, the Tu-444 project was also suspended. Its advantages over competitors are its relative cheapness compared to the Tu-244, as well as the solution of technical issues related to environmental requirements for modern aircraft. For reference: the supersonic liner in question was presented to the general public in France (1993, air show in Le Bourget).

Finally

If all Soviet undertakings in aviation were finalized and implemented, it is quite possible that this industry would make a huge leap forward. However, economic, political and other problems significantly slow down this process. One of the brightest representatives in the world of supersonic civil aviation was to be the Tu-244 liner. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, the project is still in development or "suspended" state. I would like to hope that there will be people who will finance the project, and this will ultimately lead to the creation of not only the fastest passenger aircraft, but also the transport of the future, which is distinguished by efficiency, capacity and safety.

Late 1950s, the arms race during the Cold War spurred the development of technology, and military aviation successfully overcomes the sound barrier. The world rejoices: this period of time characterizes the introduction advanced technologies in all areas of life. It is logical that the next step that world aviation is trying to take is the creation of supersonic passenger aircraft. They are called the future of civil aviation, airlines are in a hurry to keep up with the times and place orders for new aircraft. It was believed that the time of subsonic aircraft had passed.

The birth of Concord

Concord, which translates as "consent" - the joint "brainchild" of France and Great Britain. Initially, these countries conducted independent research in the field of creating a supersonic passenger aircraft, but it soon became obvious that for a number of reasons it was easier to join forces, which happened in 1961. The work on the project was coordinated and divided: part of the development was carried out by France, part by the UK, as well as the production and final assembly of the aircraft.

The first flight of the Concorde took place on March 2, 1969. By that time, more than 70 pre-orders had been placed on the supersonic aircraft. various airlines. The commercial prospects for Concord looked very attractive, and success was predicted for him.

Around the same time, in 1969, Boeing was introducing its new long-haul Boeing 747 aircraft to the market. Boeing management was very depressed by rumors about the Concordes: they seemed to be serious competitors to the Jumbo, and they even planned to transfer the 747 to cargo flights after the launch of the Concordes on line.

The advertising campaign of the Concordes was impressive: the periodical press of the time assigned supersonic aircraft a dominant role in passenger traffic, parties were held in honor of the Conchords, they participated in promotional tours. Ordinary citizens dreamed of being the first to board the Concorde as passengers.

Supersonic in the USSR

In parallel with the creation of Concorde development of supersonic passenger liner were carried out in the USSR. It was developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau, and made its first flight on December 31, 1968. The Tu-144 had some design features that distinguish it from the Concorde, for example, the front horizontal tail, which gave it an advantage during descent and landing. 18 airports in the territory of the Soviet Union could serve the Tu-144.

However, there were difficulties with the operation of the aircraft. The Tu-144 made its first flight on December 26, 1975 on the Moscow-Alma-Ata route with postal cargo on board. Tu-144 began to serve passenger flights on November 1, 1977 on the same route. There were no trained crews to serve it - test pilots of the Tupolev Design Bureau always played the role of commander, Aeroflot pilots acted as co-pilots. High operating costs, including increased fuel consumption, have been reflected in ticket prices. The cost of a ticket for Tu-144 on the Moscow-Alma-Ata route exceeded regular price almost one and a half times.

Passenger traffic Tu-144 ceased already in 1978 due to low profitability, later they were used to transport goods from Moscow to the Far East of the country, flight tests, or as a "flying laboratory".

End of the era of supersonic passenger aircraft

The conchords were the latest aircraft of that time, which required new design solutions and innovations, which greatly increased the cost of its production and, as a result, the final cost of the machine. The cost of maintaining the aircraft was greatly underestimated, and fuel consumption, which was significantly higher than that of subsonic passenger liners.

As a result of the 1973 oil crisis, world prices for oil and jet fuel rose. In addition, since 1970, the economical and promising Jumbo Boeing 747 has been on the line. Having estimated operating costs, airlines began to recall orders placed earlier for Concordes.

By that time, 14 serial aircraft had been produced, 9 of which were purchased by Air France and British Airways, and even more in order to maintain the reputation of the Concorde developing countries. The remaining five aircraft were sold at a symbolic price of one pound sterling (or one franc for the French). The main condition for acquiring Concordes at such prices is the commercial operation of aircraft. They were also purchased by English and French airlines.

Against all odds, the Concordes are on the line. Almost immediately it becomes clear that their operation is unprofitable - Concords cannot even reach self-sufficiency. Trying to make up for high ticket prices high level service. Flights served by supersonic aircraft are positioned as flights for businessmen and wealthy people who value time, not money. At least some profit is brought by charter flights.

The main routes of the Concorde were flights across the Atlantic: Paris-New York (Air France), London-New York and London-Barbados (British Airways).

So Concorde maintained the prestige of their airlines until 2000.

Concorde disaster near Paris

July 25, 2000 in International airport Named after Charles de Gaulle, the Air France Concorde was preparing for takeoff. He was supposed to make a flight on the Paris-New York route, there were one hundred passengers and nine crew members on board.

During the runway runway, the Concorde ran into a titanium fragment of the engine of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 that had taken off earlier, the tire of one of the landing gear burst, and a piece of rubber hit the plane's wing. The fuel tank was damaged by the blow, kerosene began to leak, which immediately ignited.

Despite the fire, the crew could no longer stop the takeoff run of the aircraft. The commander decided to take off, he expected to produce emergency landing at Le Bourget airport on three engines, but soon another one of them failed. The plane began to break up right in the air, and the Concorde lost control.

He collapsed three kilometers from the airport, in the suburbs of Paris. A small hotel was in the affected area. All on board the Concorde were killed, four people on the ground, and several were injured.

This tragedy had irreversible consequences. Flights of the Concordes were suspended for more than a year, their popularity plummeting. After the resumption of flights, Concordes no longer enjoyed the former loyalty of the few passengers loyal to him. Supersonic passenger aircraft began to incur more and more losses, and the question of decommissioning the Concordes was raised.

Goodbye Concord!

In 2003, two airlines - the main operators of the Concorde, announced the termination of its commercial operation. The Concorde made its last flight on November 26, 2003. His fans, aviation enthusiasts from different countries, arrived at the airport for the solemn farewell to the aircraft. Since then, Concords have been permanently parked in various museums. They can be seen at Le Bourget at the Aerospace Museum, at Heathrow Airport in the UK, and other exhibits.

The Soviet supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-144 also won its place in the museum. Tu-144s are permanently parked in Monino, in the Air Force Museum; at the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation Museum, etc.

Concorde and Tu-144 are the only supersonic passenger aircraft that have been operated on commercial flights. With their departure, the era of supersonic civil aviation of the last century ended.