Ancestor of MS-21: why the Tu-154 is so important for the Russian aircraft industry

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Exactly half a century ago, on October 3, 1968, the debut of the legendary Tu-154 took place. This aircraft has repeatedly become a record holder: among domestic-built airliners, it carried the largest number of passengers, its production continued until 2006, and to this day, fifty Tu-154 continue to operate successfully.


In the seventies, Aeroflot simultaneously used three medium-haul airliners: Tu-104, which was distinguished by high speed, unpretentious to the runways An-10 and the most economical of all Soviet passenger aircraft Il-18. The need for unification of air transportation is long overdue.



It is believed that the creation of a new airliner Nikita Khrushchev was inspired by the French turbojet Caravel he saw. In Moscow, the Secretary General gathered all the representatives of the leading design bureaus and set the goal of giving the USSR a proper response to the western challenge. It turned out that suitable operating time is available in the design bureau of Tupolev:

We have just launched into mass production the beautiful Tu-124 aircraft at the Kharkov aircraft plant. His engines are at the root of the wing. I will transfer them to the tail, and here is our “Caravel”


Khrushchev gave the go-ahead, and work began on a medium-haul airliner under the working title Tu-124A. The new aircraft was supposed to combine all the strengths of its predecessors: the speed of the Tu-104, the cost-effectiveness of the Il-18 and the simplicity of the An-10. Moreover, he had to accommodate one and a half times more passengers than the Tu-104.

The resulting aircraft had excellent characteristics for its time. Its cruising speed was 950 kilometers per hour, the liner was stable and perfectly controlled. The Tu-154 with tail-mounted engines was very reliable thanks to triple duplication of control systems. Even in case of failure of two of them, the liner could confidently deliver passengers to the airport. At the same time, the Tu-154 was beautiful and elegant. After optimizing the layout of the passenger compartment, fuel consumption for the transportation of one person was reduced, which made the Soviet liner the most profitable and massive. A cargo version of the Tu-154C was also created.

The technical solutions of the Tu-154B were so good that the American Boeing could not resist and acquired the rights to use a chassis with a six-wheeled three-axle truck from a Soviet competitor. Thanks to him, the load on the runway was radically reduced.
It is worth noting that, based on the Tu-154, Soviet engineers worked out the most advanced Technology. For example, it was this airliner that became the prototype of the Buran, and the control and landing systems of the spaceplane were tested on it. Moreover, on the Tu-154, domestic designers experimented with alternative types of jet fuel - LNG and liquefied hydrogen. The flying laboratory was called Tu-155. The first hydrogen flight as fuel was carried out in 1988. And in the next 1989 - already on methane. On the Soviet Tu-155, the USSR set 14 world records.

Interestingly, the honored veteran continues to be confidently exploited to this day, including by the Russian military. According to some reports, China uses Soviet airliners as military intelligence aircraft. Tu-154 is a living testimony of the height of the design idea and production power of the USSR.

Today, the medium-range airliner MS-154 is called the Tu-21 successor.
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  1. +2
    5 October 2018 00: 01
    A good essay, a worthy story about a Soviet aircraft.
  2. 0
    5 October 2018 16: 03
    But the MS stalled. And in the year 8, the government preferred to buy Boeing instead of TU, ​​they wrote
  3. 0
    10 October 2018 18: 13
    Did the author make a mistake by jumping from 124 to 154? Development 124 was TU-134 !!! As a basis, its fuselage was just taken. Serious administration to the selection of articles. Incompetence, to say the least ...
  4. 0
    10 October 2018 18: 16
    Initially, the Tu-134 was not designed as a new aircraft. The design bureau had the idea of ​​upgrading the Tu-124. The aircraft has lengthened the fuselage, moved the engines to the tail, and also replaced the plumage with a T-shaped. The project under the designation Tu-124A was developed in 1961. The first two prototypes (b / n USSR-45075 and 45076) were made in 1963. In July of that year, the plane first flew into the sky.

    https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ту-134
  5. +1
    26 October 2018 19: 41
    MS-21 was originally a project of Yakovlev Design Bureau, the ancestor of the Yak-42, respectively, the magnificent and perhaps the most reliable, thoughtful and convenient Soviet aircraft.