Tu-114

Already in the early 1950s, it became clear that the future was for jet passenger aircraft. But for a number of reasons, the USSR decided to design a high-speed high-capacity aircraft with turboprop engines. The development of the Tu-114 aircraft was started at the Tupolev Design Bureau in 1955 on the basis of Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 1561-868. Leading designer was appointed N.I. Bazenkov . The aircraft was designated Tu-95P or the internal code of the design bureau is “aircraft 114”.

The development was not without difficulties. Unlike the Tu-95, the Tu-114 was designed as a low wing, which forced the designers to significantly increase the height of the landing gears, as a result of which it was significantly higher than other civilian aircraft. And this subsequently added problems in the operation of the liner. Two years after the start of development - November 15, 1957 - the Tu-114 "Russia" made its first flight, piloted by the crew of the test pilot A.P. Yakimov. At the time of its creation and until the end of the 60s, the Tu-114 was considered the largest passenger aircraft in the world. The pilot operation of the aircraft was carried out in the Vnukovo 206 flight detachment of Aeroflot.

2 Tu-116 ( Tu-114D ) aircraft were not modifications of the Tu-114 and were specially converted from passenger Tu-95 bomber for long-range flights of the USSR leadership, built in case of unforeseen delays in the production of the first Tu-114. They had a sealed passenger capsule cabin with portholes and built-in ladder , which was built into the slightly converted bomber fuselage, with a built-in gangway , including two salons for 20 people, a kitchen , a toilet , and an office room. They had a civil coloring.

Aircraft Tu-114 is a four - engine turboprop low - wing with swept wing, single- tail plumage and controlled stabilizer . It is equipped with four NK-12MV turboprop engines with two co-axial anti-rotating propellers AB-60 on each. The total engine power in takeoff mode is 60 thousand liters. with. ^[4] , with an hourly fuel consumption of 7200 kg in the first hour of flight and 5000–5500 kg / h in cruise flight. ^[5] .

The fuselage has two decks connected by a ladder , on the lower of which there are two luggage compartments, a crew lounge and a kitchen, and on the top there is a passenger cabin. The kitchen is equipped with an elevator for serving meals to the salon, initially the cook was part of the crew.

For passengers of the Tu-114 was provided three salons and four compartments. In the first salon 41 seats were installed (rows 1 to 7), in the second salon 48 seats (rows 8 to 15) installed face to face with tables between them, then behind the sideboard and stairs to the lower deck there were four 24-day compartments or 12 berths and 54 passengers were accommodated in the third cabin. On domestic flights, seats were sold in the following order ^[6] : the third cabin (from 21 rows), then the first cabin, and lastly the second cabin. This corresponds to the level of comfort: the second cabin is located above the wing, in the area of ​​increased noise from the screws. In addition, the seats located back to back are not adjustable. When transporting official delegations, this salon was used as a restaurant for changing passengers' meals ^[7] . In addition, cots for the 16th row of seats, installed separately, near the buffet, were provided for passengers with children. A feature of the aircraft was the separation of toilets in the rear of the male and female.

On international flights, where Aeroflot offered two-class service, first-class tickets were sold in two of the four compartments, with three seats in each compartment.

Later, during the boom of air travel and the race for passenger capacity, coupes were dismantled and ordinary passenger seats were installed in their place.

On May 19, 1959 a non-profit flight was made from Moscow ( Vnukovo ) to Khabarovsk and back with passengers on board, mainly aviation specialists.

The first demonstration flight to New York by Tu-114 (tail number USSR-L5611) was performed in the summer of 1959; the plane landed at Isdelwild Airport (later named after John F. Kennedy ) and brought a government delegation led by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR to the "Exhibition of Achievements of Soviet Science, Technology and Culture", which opened in New York; the plane itself became an exhibit at the airport ^[8] . In September of the same year, another flight was made from Moscow across the ocean - the USSR delegation headed by N. S. Khrushchev flew to the USA .

The first regular flight to Khabarovsk was made on April 24, 1961 .

The first flight from Moscow to Havana with a landing in Guinea ( Conakry airfield , built by Soviet specialists) was performed on July 10, 1962. In total, four flights via Conakry were completed, and then the Guinean government banned, under US pressure , "landing aircraft weighing more than 150 tons." Four more flights were landed in Dakar ( Senegal ), after which flights were banned under the pretext of “having weapons on board”. Three more flights were made through Algeria , but even here, under pressure from the United States, flights were banned. I had to look for a new route, fulfilling the obligation to the Cuban government on regular air services. The first technical flight with a landing for refueling in Murmansk was completed on December 22, 1962. The first flight to Havana on the northern route with passengers on board, on a Tu-114D USSR-76480 aircraft, was performed on January 7, 1963 . From that moment, regular flights began, with landing for refueling at a military airfield in Olenegorsk, the Murmansk Region.

However, sometimes a strong headwind over the Atlantic forced a technical landing for refueling at the US air base in Nassau in the Bahamas. Payment for kerosene and collateral was made in cash dollars and Shell company coupons. Sometimes in the cockpit of the Tu-114D there were navigators of Tu-95 bombers , who received good practice during flights over the Atlantic. The Tu-114 escort was also used by combat Tu-95s to the point of return.

For flights to Japan , two aircraft were converted - the cabin was divided into 1st class and economy, with a total capacity of 105 passengers. The operation was carried out jointly with the Japanese airline Japan Airlines , the crew included Japanese flight attendants, and the Aeroflot - JAL partner livery was applied to the aircraft. The first flight was carried out on April 17, 1967. ^[9]

In the following years, domestic flights were carried out from Domodedovo to Alma-Ata , Tashkent , Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk.

During their flight operation, Tu-114 aircraft were included only in the fleet of Aeroflot and Japan Airlines . In addition, the Tu-114 was also used for long-distance flights of senior officials of the USSR and various state delegations. Tu-114 made long-distance demonstration and commercial flights within the USSR, to the USA , Canada , India , and African countries.

The cessation of operation on Tu-114 civil airlines occurred ten years after the end of mass production, in December 1976 ^[10] .

On December 2, 1976, the USSR-76485 made its last flight on the route Domodedovo - Khabarovsk - Domodedovo , thus completing the history of passenger operation of Tu-114 aircraft ^[11] .

Most of the cars by this time flew for 15,000 hours, cracks appeared in the power panels of the engines. They decided not to work on improvements and repairs, since by that time the turboprops were already morally obsolete and the much more modern IL-62 firmly occupied the niche of long-haul transportation.

They wrote off the aircraft by the summer of 1977, and then twenty-one aircraft were immediately cut into scrap metal. After that, several machines continued to be used by the Soviet Air Force until the early 80s.

Records

On the Tu-114 was established 32 world aviation records. Among the achievements of the Tu-114:

• The world's largest turboprop passenger aircraft;
• the world's fastest turboprop passenger aircraft;
• the world's only turboprop passenger aircraft with swept wings;
• a turboprop passenger aircraft with the most powerful turboprops and with the highest total power of all the turboprops installed on one plane.

Current status

There are currently no Tu-114 and Tu-116 aircraft remaining in flight condition. Three flightless copies of Tu-114 and one Tu-116 were preserved ^[12] :

• in the Central Museum of the Air Force of the Russian Federation in Monin , near Moscow, is the oldest Tu-114 USSR-L5611 - the very first prototype aircraft built in 1957 (1 machine);
• in the Ulyanovsk Museum of Civil Aviation, 2 aircraft: 1 Tu-114 USSR-76490 (serial number 64M471) and 1 Tu-116 USSR-76462 (serial number 7802);
   

  Tu-114 at Domodedovo Airport
• at the aerodrome of the Aviation College in the city of Kryvyi Rih ( Ukraine ) is stored at Tu-114 USSR-76485 (serial number 63M461), which is supposed to be installed at the State Aviation Museum in Kiev .

An instance of Tu-114 USSR-76464 (serial number 98413), which stood on a pedestal at the entrance to Domodedovo Airport since 1976, was destroyed on August 2, 2006 by the owner of the airport, East Line , during the reconstruction of the airport. ^[12]

A copy of the Tu-114 USSR-76470 was located on the territory of the Vnukovo Aircraft Repair Plant (400th VARZ) and served as a training center for civil defense. It was sawn in the summer of 2006 during the reconstruction of Vnukovo Airport.

Aircraft Losses

The only accident with the Tu-114 aircraft (tail number CCCP-76491) occurred on February 17, 1966 in Sheremetyevo . The reason is the erroneous decision to take off in bad weather conditions at night with a runway that is not cleared from the snow to its full width. ^[13]

The crew of the ship’s commander V. A. Filonov , having received a take-off order from the crew chief, Yu. K. Valerius, head of the transport department of the Main Directorate of Civil Air Fleet, was unable to withstand the take-off direction along the axis of the runway, when the plane left the landing gear caught on the snow truck the parapet on the edge of the strip, which caused the aircraft to throw to the left with the nose bowed, the crew tipped the liner to the right, and that, catching the screws of the 3rd and 4th engines of the right wing console on the ground, crashed into the airfield, collapsed and burned down.
Some passengers and crew (21 people, including crew commander V.A. Filonov and navigator ND Solyanov) were killed. Yu. K. Valerius and several others survived.

In addition to this side, only one aircraft was lost during operation - in August 1962 , in Vnukovo, when servicing the liner, a nose landing gear was formed due to a technician’s error.

The data of the Tu-114 . Data source: Gunston, 1995, p. 184; Arseniev, 2000.

Specifications

• Crew : 5
• Passenger Capacity: 170—220
• Payload : 22 500 kg
• Length : 54.1 m
• Wing span : 51.1 m
• Height : 15.5 m
• Wing Area: 311.1 m²
• Empty weight: 85 800–88 200 kg
• Normal take-off weight: 164,000 kg
• Maximum take-off weight : 179,000 kg
• The mass of fuel in internal tanks: 60 800 kg (82 000 l)
• Powerplant : 4 × TVD NK-12M
• Engine power: 4 × 15 000 l. with. (4 × 11 185 kW)

Flight characteristics

• Maximum speed: 880 km / h at 7100 m
• Cruising speed : 750-770 km / h
• Landing speed: 205 km / h
• Practical range: 9,720 km (with a load of 15,000 kg)
• Practical ceiling : 12,000 m
• Takeoff run: 1600 m
• Mileage: 1550 m
• Noise Level: 108-112 dB

• For maintenance, a ramp with a higher height was required than for other aircraft.
• High noise level (108 ... 112 dB ) and vibration in the cabin from the operation of propellers of powerful NK-12 engines;
• Imperfect wing design of 1955 with soft fuel tanks instead of caisson tanks ;
• At maximum fuel loading (for ultra-long-haul flights), adequate take-off safety was not provided in case of failure of one of the engines.

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  Tu-114 at the 1961 Paris Aviation Salon

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  Cab control Tu-114. Below under the instruments, in the bow lamp , the place of the navigator.

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  Passenger Salon Tu-114

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  Tu-114 at the Monino Museum in the original factory livery

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  Tu-114 at the Aviation Museum of Ulyanovsk, in the Aeroflot brand livery of the 1973 model

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  Postage stamp 1958 with the image of the Tu-114

Tu-114, standing on a pedestal in Domodedovo, is noticeable in the film " Crew " (1979); several Tu-114 at the airport are shown in the film "The Adventures of the Yellow Case" (1970).

In the film “Russian Souvenir” (1960), the heroine Lyubov Orlova makes a flight along the route Novosibirsk - Moscow to the Tu-114, managing to overtake the Tu-104 that had flown earlier on the same route. In the film, the plane causes delight and admiration among foreign tourists.

Similar aircraft of the 1950-1960s:

• IL-62
• IL-62M
• Boeing 707
• Douglas DC-8
• Vickers vc10
• Convair 990

• Arsenyev E.V. et al. Chapter 8. Aircraft Design Bureau A. N. Tupolev // History of aircraft designs in the USSR 1951 - 1965 - M: Engineering, 2000.
• Gordon, Yefim and Davison, Peter. Tupolev Tu-95 Bear. - North Branch, MN, USA: Specialty Press, 2006 .-- 104 p. - (WarbirdTech Series. Vol. 43). - ISBN 1-58007-102-3 .
• Gunston, Bill. Tupolev Aircraft since 1922. - Naval Institute Press, 1995. - P. 181-184. - 254 p. - (Putnam Aviation Series). - ISBN 1557508828 .
• Zatuchny A.M., Rigmant V.G., Sineokiy P.M. "Turboprop aircraft Tu-95 / Tu-114 / TU-142 / Tu-95MS" - M., Polygon Press, 2017, 600 pages, col. silt

• Tu-114 at KRoN Airbase - page of Tu-114 at Airbase website
• A copy of the Tu-114 on the site of the Central Museum of the Russian Air Force in Monin.
• Tu-114 from the Ulyanovsk Museum of Civil Aviation
• Register issued Tu-114 on the website of aviation history
• Tu-114 page on the site “Aviation, clear to everyone”