Why did the Americans not like the Tu-114

Nikita Khrushchev can be endlessly scolded for his addiction to corn and thanked for the "thaw", but there is another real merit of the next leader of the CPSU - the development of civil aviation. Moreover, the flight on the liner, according to the plan of the Secretary General, should be available not only to the chiefs, but also to ordinary citizens of the USSR. The implication was that the price of a plane ticket should be commensurate with the cost of travel in a train compartment on the same route. But where does the dissatisfaction of the States with the Tu-114 aircraft come into play? The liner almost became the cause of the scandal associated with the well-known situation around Cuba in 1962. But more on that later - first you need to figure out what kind of Tu-114 aircraft and how it appeared.

The decision to build a long-haul liner

At the end of the 50s, the Soviet Union developed rapidly: many international relations appeared, many countries sought friendship with the USSR, as did the "state of workers and peasants" itself. As a result, there was a need for rapid movement over considerable distances. At that time, there were only two large passenger liners in the Soviet Union - Tu-104 and Il-18.



But they firmly occupied "their" niche as medium-haul aircraft and could not carry a large number of passengers (more than a hundred people) to other continents.

How a bomber turned into an airliner

As a result, in 1955, the state order of the Tupolev Design Bureau appeared for the creation of an aircraft with a large passenger capacity, capable of making long direct flights. As a base to speed up construction, it was decided to use the ready-made strategic bomber Tu-95. The idea of ​​"retraining" is not new: earlier Tu-16 was made in exactly the same way from the Tu-104. The designed aircraft first received two names: Tu-95P and "product 114" (factory index).





Despite the fact that the path for the "reissue" of military vehicles had already been beaten, problems arose almost immediately after the start of the "conversion". It would seem, what is so difficult? Cut through the windows, put the chairs and you're done: the bomber has become an airliner. The first thing to be done was to ensure the tightness of the fuselage and its ventilation throughout the entire huge "body" of the aircraft. The number of passengers was well over a hundred, and the flight took place at an altitude of 11 thousand meters. After all, it is not known how 150 people “imprisoned” in a narrow fifty-meter metal pipe will feel - there was no experience in building such ships.



Soviet design engineers coped with the problems. But it was not possible to seriously reduce the noise. The problem was “solved” in an original way: tickets to the second salon, closest to which the engines were located, were sold last.

Tests, first flights and curiosities

The Tu-114 was made very quickly - it took only a couple of years for test pilot A.P. Yakimov to lift the car into the sky in November 1957 (about a month after the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite). The new airliner was one of the first to have a swept wing with coaxial engines.



Since the plane was originally copied from a bomber, there were some oddities. For example, they automatically “forgot” (more precisely, they didn’t think) to equip a dressing room for the crew of a civilian aircraft: military pilots definitely don’t need it. The toilet was also equipped with only one in the nose (for 150-224 people!). On the first samples, passenger luggage was originally loaded: not at the door, as in all liners, but from below, like bombs into the hatch. The glazed nose is also a legacy of the Tu-95: the navigator had to visually observe the target and therefore he sat in the very “vanguard” of the cockpit.



And one more "appendage" from the bomber - a solid height of the car. Because of it, the ladders already available at airports had to be increased.



And yet, the plane eventually became a civilian one. To a large extent, thanks to A. N. Tupolev, who, despite his authority, from the very beginning involved pilots in discussing the test results, listening to their comments. Identified disadvantages were eliminated immediately. One of the technical features of the aircraft is unprecedented efficiency, which was achieved due to the successful combination of the swept wing with the theater. Consumption ranged from 5,6 tons in the first hour of the flight and 4-4,4 tons in the next. For comparison, the Il-62M, released later and comparable in size and weight, consumed at least 7 t / h.



International "bride" "issued" in the form of a flight overseas. In 1958 Tu-114 arrived in New York. The dumbfounded Americans could not find either a tractor of adequate power or a suitable gangway. Huge coaxial propellers, wingspan - all this complemented the impression of the power of the new Soviet liner. And in Brazil, the influx of people wishing to inspect the aircraft was so huge that the show lasted for a week, the queues reached two kilometers.

The uniqueness of the internal design

Tu-114 is one of the first aircraft with two decks. At the bottom there was a luggage compartment, cargo, office space, a kitchen (until the beginning of the 60s there was a cook on staff!). the top floor housed the passengers and crew. Between themselves, the decks were connected by an elevator, through which, for example, it was possible to get from the kitchen to the buffet. The maximum capacity of the aircraft was 224 passengers, if the division into classes is eliminated.



The passenger cabin is divided into 3 classes. In the "economic" - the usual rows of seats in 3 pieces. In the first class, tables with a lamp were provided (they were removed later). And in the "business lounge" there were compartments, like in a train, designed for three beds!



All this was a fantasy and a miracle for an ordinary Soviet passenger, and for the people as a whole, who had just endured the hardest war in world history.

What did not please the plane to the States?

The liner made a strong impression not only on the ruling elite, but also on ordinary Americans, residents of other states, who enthusiastically greeted the appearance of the Tu-114 at airports. And who will like the demonstration of the power of the enemy state? And all this happened against the backdrop of the Caribbean crisis. The United States used a maximum of diplomatic "moves" to minimize the appearance of the liner in the countries they needed. There were no official prohibitions (as it is now), but suddenly a number of airfields refused to accept the Soviet airliner, motivating this by technical reasons, in particular, by exceeding the load on the runway of 150 tons. The Tu-114 weighed 179 tons.



The USSR decided to take a chance and sent a turboprop liner on an unprecedented journey from Olenegorsk (Murmansk region) to Cuba. The usual flight through Africa with refueling was banned by the Americans (of course, not directly, bypassing). It was to fly across the Atlantic directly and then along the coast of the United States to the south. When following the Tu-114, the Americans suddenly began to demand a decrease to 1500 m, citing the presence of other aircraft in the echelon. The commander of the ship, Nikolai Tskhovrebov, refused, noting that there was not a single aircraft within the line of sight of 10-12 kilometers, and at a distance of 1,5 km from the ground, his fuel consumption sharply increases. Moreover: the captain demanded to remove other planes from the path, saying that he was the "state board of the USSR." As a result, 16 hours of flight ended safely in Havana.



Since 1957, 31 Tu-114 liners have been produced in series of 3-6 pieces per year. The ship remained in service until 1967, when the jet Il-62 took its place. Today, only 3 copies of the legend remain (in the Russian Federation and Ukraine) in the form of open-air museum exhibits.