RARE TUPOLEV TU-144 LL RA-77114 Tupolev/NASA SST video

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Part of the movie Les ailes du futur - 2l3 - Géants et supersoniques civils

Hero of the Russian Federation, the test pilot 1st class captain Sergey Borisov talks about Tupolev Tu-144 LL flight testing.

In July, 1983 this aircraft was designated as "101" and established 14 world records. These records were including a height of flight of 18,200 m with payload from 10 to 30 tons, average speed of 2,031.55 km/h on a closed circuit of 1,000 km and 2,012.26 km/h on a closed circuit of 2,000 km.

When the TU-144 program was cancelled, CCCP-77114 was used as research aircraft in experiments about the radiation in top layers of the atmosphere, ozone layer, thermal influence in different materials and studies on aerodynamics. In 1990 was placed in nonflyable storage.

In 1993 08-2 was chosen to serve as testbed in a joint program between Tupolev, NASA and others US firms. The aircraft suffered an extensive modification that included the power plant, former Koliesov RD-36-51A engines were replaced by Kuznetsov NK-321 (engines of the TU-160 bomber). The new model was designated TU-144LL Flying Laboratory.

The first flight of TU-144LL was on November 29, 1996 and a total of 27 flights were realized until the end of the program in 1999.

Видео RARE TUPOLEV TU-144 LL RA-77114 Tupolev/NASA SST video канала TU-144 Supersonic