Designed to bring the Soviet Union into the jet era, the story of the Tupolev Tu-104 is a story of what could’ve been. A story of how the Soviet Union could’ve proven the virtues of communism over capitalism, all whilst embarrassing the West on the international stage!
Although it was the only operational jet airliner between 1956 and 1958, it was only the second jet airliner to enter service, after Britain’s de Havilland Comet, which entered service in 1952 (and was later grounded between 1956 and 1958 due to structural defects).
Background
During WWII, the Soviet Union (as with every other major power in the war) had been trying to create a working jet engine, and with it, a working fighter jet.
Though they had several theoretical designs by the end of the war, it wasn’t until after the war – when they’d captured German rocket scientists and reverse-engineered German jet engine designs – that the Soviets finally had a jet engine of their own.
Known as the RD-30 (a reverse-engineered BMW 003), the Soviets installed it on the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9, which became the first jet-powered fighter used by both the Soviet Air Forces and the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
Developing bigger and better jet engines, both of their own design and based off captured German designs, Soviet aircraft manufacturers began producing more and more fighters to use these new engines, and eventually worked out how to make jet bombers too.
In early 1953, Soviet state-run airline and flag carrier, Aeroflot, found themselves in a tricky position.
Many of their prewar and wartime piston-powered airliners were over 15 years old and were becoming unreliable. To make matters worse, these ageing aircraft needed more and more maintenance with each passing year and Aeroflot feared it may cease turning a profit.
The same issue was also facing airlines in the capitalist West, who’d demanded aircraft manufacturers design and build jet-powered airliners for them, thus solving this issue. By 1950, several jet airliners were under development in the West.
Knowing that it would be an embarrassment for the Soviet Union to still be using piston airliners in a time when the rest of the world was using jets, Aeroflot asked the Soviet state-owned aircraft manufacturers to kill two birds with one stone (so to speak).
Passing their demands on to the relevant bureaucrats, these bureaucrats then assigned Tupolev to design an airliner to fit Aeroflot’s needs…
A Jet is Born
Given the requirements that this jet airliner had to be capable of 25,000 to 30,000 flight hours, cruise at 750 km/h (470 mph; 400 kn) and carry 50 passengers, Tupolev began designing Aeroflot’s dream airliner.
Wary of history repeating itself – the de Havilland Comet had been grounded for two years due to structural defects – Tupolev eventually decided against designing an airliner from scratch and instead used their famed Tu-16 bomber as a start point.
Keeping the wing, control surfaces and engines (the Mikulin AM-3) of the Tu-16, the primary obstacle facing Tupolev engineers was a complete redesign of the Tu-16’s fuselage.
Designed to carry nuclear bombs over large distances, the Tu-16’s fuselage was certainly strong enough to carry 50 passengers, their luggage and everything else that makes a modern airliner, all Tupolev had to do was widen the fuselage and pressurize it.
The only other major difference between what would become the Tu-104 was the addition of a drag parachute, which reduced landing distance by 400 m (1,300 ft) as very few airports at the time had long enough runways to accommodate the longer runway needs of jet aircraft.
Completing this by early 1955, Tupolev had the first prototype completed by June that year and was first flown on June 17, piloted by Tupolev test pilot Captain Y. T. Alasheev and First Officer B. M. Timoshok.
After presenting test details to Soviet ministers, that confirmed the jet had a sturdy design that would do the job, the Soviet government approved further production of what they called the Tu-16P.
To avoid confusion with the bomber it was derived from, Tupolev renamed the jet the Tupolev Tu-104 before mass production started. This likely allowed the Soviets to fly the jet into the non-Soviet-aligned West without a fighter escort.
Interestingly, this marked the first time the company designated a passenger airliner with the number 4 at the end – a naming tradition they still do today!
Further Development
Operational History
Aeroflot
CSA
Since day one, Tupolev (and by extension, the Soviet government) had tried to convince the flag carriers of other Soviet-aligned nations to buy the Tu-104, thus increasing the bonds between the Soviet-aligned countries and the Soviet Union (and also their dependence on them).
Despite repeated attempts by Tupolev to gain orders, no one seemed interested in the jet. For some bizarre reason, most airlines were happy buying brand new, turboprop-powered, Soviet-made airliners like the Ilyushin Il-14.
In 1957, however, CSA Czechoslovak Airlines (the state-owned flag carrier of the Czech Republic) placed an order for four new Tu-104s and two used examples, which were delivered before the end of the year.
Incidentally, this also made CSA the only non-Aeroflot commercial operator of the Tu-104.
First used on CSA’s Prague-Moscow route, CSA actually made history with this, as their Prague-Moscow route was the world’s first jet-only connection (every other airline used a mix of jets and piston/turboprops).
Needless to say, this provided CSA, Tupolev and the entire Soviet Union/Soviet bloc with bragging rights over the West, who wouldn’t have jet-only connections for another few months. They wouldn’t become common for another few years!
Aside from their Prague-Moscow route, CSA also employed the Tu-104 on their Prague-Paris and Prague-Brussels routes too.
Sadly, CSA’s Tu-104 fleet was quite accident-prone and three of them were later written off. By the early 1970’s, CSA had phased their three remaining Tupolev Tu-104s out of service in favor of the Tu-154, just as Aeroflot was in the process of doing.
Military (Testbed, freighter, trainer
Museum
As one of the most built Soviet airliners of its time, and a pioneer of the Soviet jet age, the Tu-104 is a highly prized display aircraft for many aviation museums… particularly in Eastern Europe.
Not long after Aeroflot retired their Tu-104 fleet, one was acquired by Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport to serve as the airport’s gate guardian, as the Tu-104’s first commercial flight had flown from Vnukovo to Irkutsk via Omsk on September 15 1956.
Likewise, after CSA retired their Tu-104s, one was placed on display at the Kbely Aviation Museum just outside of Prague where it remains today, still in CSA colors.
One of the Tu-104s used by the Soviet military to train cosmonauts, serial number 8350705, has been preserved at the Central Air Force Museum in Monino, 14 km east of Moscow.
Another example, CCCP-L5415, painted in Aeroflot colors, currently stands on display at the Ukraine State Aviation Museum, having been there since 2003.
Previously, CCCP-L5415 had been on display at the Kiev Institute of Civil Engineering since it had been withdrawn from service, but had fallen into disrepair since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, requiring major restoration works before it was put on display at the Ukraine State Aviation Museum.
Incidentally, the last flight of the Tu-104 occurred in 1986, and was a former Aeroflot Tu-104 flying to the Ulyanovsk Aviation Museum in the Ulyanovsk Oblast of central Russia (surprisingly not too far from where Vladimir Lenin was born).
Though not a museum display per se, the wreckage of OK-MDE – a CSA Tu-104 that crashed near Nicosia International Airport in August 1973 – has not been moved since the crash and is a local tourist attraction, especially among the avgeek community.
Specifications
| Specifications | Tupolev Tu-104B |
|---|---|
| Length | 40.06 m (131 ft 5 in) |
| Wingspan | 34.54 m (113 ft 4 in) |
| Height | 11.9 m (39 ft 1 in) |
| Crew | 7 |
| Passengers | 50-115 (115 typical) |
| Cruise Speed | 750 km/h (470 mph; 400 kn) |
| Range | 2,120 km (1,320 mi; 1,140 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 39,000 ft (12,000 m) |
| MTOW | 182,320 lb (87,200 kg) |
What Was it Like it to Fly The Tupolev Tu-104?
How Safe Was The Tupolev Tu-104?
Legacy
Soviet Union
The introduction of the Tu-104 in 1956 was a huge morale boost for the Soviets.
Soviet newspapers reported about how when a Tu-104 showed up in London in 1956 (generally considered a middle finger to the British as their Comet airliner was then grounded), it caused mass hysteria as it showed the British that the Soviets could master jet technology just as easily as they could.
After all, not only had the British built the first jet airliner (the Comet), they’d also created the Allies’ (of which the Soviets were a part of) only operational jet aircraft of the war, in the form of the Gloster Meteor.
Despite no contemporary Western newspapers corroborating the story, this “event” provided the Soviet propaganda ministry with enough ammunition to feature the Tu-104 heavily in Soviet movies in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
If you were a Soviet filmmaker and you wanted your characters to fly on an airliner, they did it on a Tu-104. They only stopped using the Tu-104 when the supersonic Tu-144 “Concordski” entered service in 1968.
Other than being used in Soviet films, the Tu-104 was also featured on Soviet postage stamps from 1958 to 1969. Interestingly, these stamps are somewhat prized by collectors and can be worth up to $10 in the right condition!
Future Aircraft
Though the Tu-104 proved unpopular internationally, Aeroflot placed orders for nearly 200 Tu-104s, meaning that 201 Tu-104s were built between 1956 and 1960. Defined as a “success” by the Soviet government and Tupolev, the Tu-104 served as the basis many more aircraft…
The first of these Tu-104-derived aircraft came in 1957. Realizing that foreign airlines weren’t buying the Tu-104 because it couldn’t cross large expanses of ocean safely, Tupolev began designing a Tu-104 derivative with four engines.
Known as the Tu-110, the project looked quite promising before the Soviet government terminated it in 1958 after four prototypes had been built.
In the late 1950’s, Tupolev produced a 75% scaled-down variant of the Tu-104, with new engines, flaps, a large center-section airbrake and automatic spoilers, designed for short-haul trips which they called the Tu-124, and proved just as successful as its larger cousin.
Tupolev even designed a troop transport/freighter/paratrooper variant of the Tu-104 for the Soviet military, which they called the Tu-107, though the Soviet military never ordered it as its fuselage was unpressurized.
On another note, the success of the Tu-104 and subsequent development of the Tu-124 convinced VEB Flugzeugwerke Dresden, based in the Soviet-aligned East Germany, to design and build the Baade 152 quadjet to rival it, though it was ultimately unsuccessful.
In turn, this led to the development of the Tu-134, a derivative of the Tu-124 (and thus the Tu-104!)
What do you think about the Tupolev Tu-104? Have ever seen/flown it? Tell me in the comments!
The Tu-104 was used in the English movie “Jet Storm” for exterior shots of taxiing and flight.