Tupolev Tu-114
| Tupolev Tu-114 Rossiya | |
|---|---|
 Tupolev Tu-114 |
|
| Type: | Turboprop - airliner |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
November 15, 1957 |
| Commissioning: |
April 24, 1961 |
| Production time: |
1958-1964 |
| Number of pieces: |
31 |
.svg){kind=small}
The Tupolev Tu-114 Rossija ( Russian Туполев Ту-114 Россия , NATO code name : Cleat ) was the most powerful and fastest turboprop airliner in the world. It was developed from the Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bomber , which has a large payload, range and speed. One of the tasks was to build a superior aircraft in the shortest possible time to demonstrate the superiority of the socialist system. The Tupolev design office already had experience with the design of a civilian machine ( Tu-104 ) based on a military machine ( Tu-16 ).
construction
One of the problems to be solved was the lack of experience with large pressurized cabins at the time . The Tu-95 bomber, which served as a base, had only one pressurized crew cabin. On the basis of the existing Tu-95, the development work therefore concentrated particularly on the pressurized cabin and the aircraft's air conditioning system . The main difference between the Tu-95 and the Tu-114 is the fuselage .
_(2).jpg)
A low-wing aircraft was developed from the airframe of the Tu-95, which was designed as a middle -wing aircraft . Because of the large propellers with a diameter of 5.60 meters, the landing gear had to be constructed unusually high, which made special high gangways necessary. The frame of the nose landing gear measured over three meters. The wings were slightly modified to carry a larger load. As is common with many Soviet aircraft of the time, the navigator's workplace was located in the glass nose of the aircraft .
The aircraft to be built had to be safe for the transatlantic flights, also because of the flights over the undeveloped expanses of Siberia, where there were hardly any alternative airports in the event of an engine failure.
After the success of the Tupolev Tu-104 , Tupolev decided to end the names of all of its civil aircraft with the "4" (Tu-104, 114, 124, 134, 144, 154, 204 ... 444).
Four 14,795 hp each Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop engines drove four pairs of coaxially opposed AB-60 propellers. The engines, which were also used in the Tu-95, are the most powerful turboprop engines produced in series. The propellers were developed at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute . Due to the propellers, the volume level in the cabin was up to 112 dB. However, they showed high efficiency even at high speeds of over 800 km / h. They were equipped with a thrust reverser and a feathering mechanism, with which there were initially problems. The high airspeed (over 850 km / h) was unusual for a turboprop aircraft. That is why the Tu-114 was often accompanied by US Air Force machines on transatlantic flights in order to determine the airspeed.
history
The civil version Tu-114 was developed by decree of the Council of Ministers from August 12, 1955 under the factory name Tu-95P (for passenger aircraft) and should be able to transport 120 passengers at a speed of 750 km / h over 8000 km. The difference to the Tu-95 consisted of the air-conditioned pressurized cabin with a diameter of 4.2 m and changes to the wings, tail and landing gear as well as the on-board equipment. The official name was Tu-116 , which was changed to Tu-114 a short time later. The Tu-116 was intended as a stopgap solution for a Tu-95 equipped with a passenger cabin for 24 people in case the development of the Tu-114 should fail. Therefore only two pieces were built. However, some sources also refer to the Tu-114D as Tu-116. The aircraft (СССР-D5600) made its first flight on November 15, 1957 ( Zhukovsky Airfield ) with a crew under the direction of test pilot A. Jakimow on board and was at the time the largest passenger aircraft in the world. In 1958 three machines were delivered. On May 16, 1959, the first long-haul flight from Moscow to Khabarovsk was completed over 13,500 km in a flight time of 18 hours and 50 minutes. On June 28, 1959, a Tu-114 flew non-stop from Moscow to New York in 11 hours 6 minutes.
The Tu-114 was developed to meet the demand for the growing long-haul traffic within the Soviet Union, for example to fly the 8,000 km flight route from Moscow to Khabarovsk non-stop, as well as for transatlantic flights. During the Khrushchev thaw under Khrushchev , the number of Western tourists who visited the Soviet Union, strongly, and foreign trips of Soviet citizens increased. At that time, the Ilyushin Il-14 was available for domestic flights, covering the Moscow-Khabarovsk route with four stopovers ( Sverdlovsk , Novosibirsk , Irkutsk and Chita ; alternative route: Perm , Tyumen , Krasnoyarsk and Chita ) in 27 hours. Transatlantic passenger flights in front of the Tu-114 were not possible with the Ilyushin Il-18 or the Tupolev Tu-104 . With a passenger capacity of 80 seats, they also had significantly fewer seats.
On April 9, 1960, a Tu-114 controlled by Iwan Suchomlin with a 25-ton payload flew over a distance of 5000 kilometers at an average speed of 877.212 km / h, which is still the official FAI speed record for propeller-driven aircraft. In comparison, the speed of a Boeing 777 (first flight: 1994) is only slightly higher at 896 km / h (at 10,670 meters).
The first regular passenger flight after completion of the test phase took place on April 24, 1961 on the Moscow-Khabarovsk route. In the following 15 years this route was the main area of operation for the Tu-114. Up until July 1961 there were two flights a week, until 1966 three flights a week, until 1969 two flights a day and from 1969 five flights a day on this route. From April 1961 the Tu-114 flew on routes from Moscow to Vladivostok , Tokyo , Havana , Montreal and Paris . Other destinations included New Delhi and, from the beginning of 1966, Brazzaville in the Congo. Until the mid-1960s there was a cook on every airplane. On September 15, 1960, a Tu-114 Nikita Khrushchev flew to the USA, where he gave his famous speech with the shoe at the UN.
Of the 31 series copies produced, 12 were converted to the Tupolev Tu-126 AWACS platform at the beginning of the 1970s , and the remainder were replaced by the successor, the Ilyushin Il-62 , and shut down between 1967 and 1975 . The fuel consumption of the Il-62 was about 50 percent higher than that of the Tu-114: the Il-62 had a fuel consumption of about 7 tons per hour, while the Tu-114 consumed only 4.5 tons per hour, in the first Hour after takeoff 5.6 tons per hour.
However, the Tu-114 was too big for use at most airports of its time. For the Tu-114, special oversized gangways were required for boarding and alighting. This also limited intra-Soviet operations to the routes:
- Moscow-Domodedovo- Tashkent airport,
- Domodedovo- Alma-Ata ,
- Domodedovo- Anadyr ,
- Domodedovo- Novosibirsk
- Domodedovo- Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (1974)
- Domodedovo- Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (from 1974)
- Domodedovo-Vladivostok (from 1974)
A total of 31 aircraft were produced in Kuibyshev Aircraft Factory No. 18:
- 1958 - 3
- 1959 - 5th
- 1960 - 3
- 1961 - 6
- 1962 - 6
- 1963 - 4
- 1964 - 4
Three more prototypes were built for flight tests and two more aircraft for static ground tests.
Flights to Havana
In February 1962, the US government imposed a total trade embargo on Cuba . In May 1962, under the code name Operation Anadyr, the USSR began stationing SS-4 medium-range missiles and 40,000 soldiers of the Soviet Army in Cuba that could be equipped with nuclear warheads . This led to the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 . In order to have a direct flight connection to befriended Cuba, scheduled flights Moscow- Havana were started in 1962 . Stopover was in Conakry ( Guinea ). The first flight took place on July 10, 1962, the flight time was 21 hours 16 minutes. The Tu-114 carried out a demonstration flight over Havana. During the Cold War, Guinea refused permission to land after four flights under pressure from the USA - on the grounds that the runway's carrying capacity was limited to 150 tons. Then Dakar ( Senegal ) was used for the stopover. But here too, after only four flights, the landing permit was refused - on the grounds that the Soviets were transporting weapons. Next, Algiers was used for the stopover. After three flights, this last stopover in Africa was also canceled. Ultimately, non-stop flights across the Atlantic were used, with a stopover in Murmansk , which is relatively close to Moscow. The flight route followed the coast of Finland, Norway and Great Britain, past Reykjavík , South Greenland and Gander , New York and Varadero . To save fuel, the aircraft climbed to greater heights during the flight ( step climb ). In strong headwinds, however, the fuel was insufficient and the Tu-114 had to land several times to refuel at the US air force base in Nassau ( Bahamas ) due to lack of fuel . Despite the Cold War, there were no problems with it. The flight distance Murmansk-Havana was 10,900 kilometers, the first flight took place on January 7, 1963 (flight time 13 hours 55 minutes). There was one flight a week. The return flight was much less problematic because of the favorable westerly winds. In some cases, a ground speed of 1100 km / h (593 knots) was achieved. Often it was possible to fly directly from Havana to Moscow without a stopover in Murmansk. The flights were carried out by the Tu-114 until at least 1968.
For the direct flights to Havana, a modification was made in June 1962 with an increase in fuel capacity by 15 tons through additional tanks and a limitation of the number of passengers to 60 people. The version was named Tu-114D, the "D" stands for dalny (German: long distance) or diplomat .
Decommissioning
In 1976 it was decided to decommission the Tu-114 after damage to the engine mounts of several machines was discovered. The last scheduled flight took place on December 2, 1976 on the Moscow-Khabarovsk-Moscow route. The Tu-114 was used for passenger transport in military service until May 1983, when the last flight of a Tu-114 took place (transfer of the СССР-76490 to Ulyanovsk).
Incidents
From the first flight in 1957 to the end of operations in 1983, the Tu-114 suffered two total losses of aircraft. One of them killed 21 people.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | 5 (captain, copilot, navigator, radio operator and flight engineer) |
| Passengers | depending on the version 120/170/220 |
| length | 54.10 m |
| span | 51.10 m |
| height | 15.50 m |
| Wing area | 311.10 m² |
| Wing extension | 8.39 |
| Wing swept | 35 ° |
| cabin | Length: 40.30 m Width: 3.92 m Volume: 332.20 m³ |
| Cargo hold volume | 70.00 m³ |
| Empty mass | 91,000 kg |
| Payload | 73,000 kg |
| payload | normal 15,000 kg maximum 30,000 kg |
| Takeoff mass | normal 164,000 kg maximum 171,000 kg (Tu-114D: 182,000 kg) |
| Wing loading | 527.14 kg / m² |
| Power load | 2.73 kg / hp |
| drive | four turboprops Kuznetsov NK-12MW |
| power | 11,186 kW (15,209 hp) each |
| Tank volume | 99,600 l |
| Propeller diameter | 5.60 m |
| Top speed | 870 km / h at an altitude of 8,000 m |
| Cruising speed | maximum 770 km / h economical 740 km / h |
| Landing speed | 205 km / h |
| Service ceiling | 12,000 m |
| Range | 9,950 km with maximum tank volume 6,200 km with maximum payload |
| Take-off / landing route | 2,850 m / 2,650 m (over 15 m) |
Preserved copies
There are currently three planes that have been in the open air in various aircraft museums and cemeteries in the former Soviet Union for decades:
- СССР-L5611 (prototype, former Khrushchev presidential machine, in Monino , 55 ° 49 ′ 58 ″ N , 38 ° 10 ′ 54 ″ E )
- СССР-76485 ( Krywyj Rih / Ukraine, 47 ° 56 ′ 7.4 ″ N , 33 ° 19 ′ 18.5 ″ E )
- СССР-76490 ( Ulyanovsk , 54 ° 17 ′ 25.4 ″ N , 48 ° 14 ′ 4 ″ E )
Due to the long idle times and the poor condition, it is unlikely that one of the machines can be restored to an airworthy condition. A Tu-114 (СССР-76464) exhibited in the entrance area of Moscow's Domodedovo Airport since 1978 was scrapped in 2006, sparking protests from airplane fans around the world.
literature
- Heinz A. F. Schmidt: Soviet planes . Transpress, Berlin 1971, p. 72 .
- Jefim Gordon , Wladimir Rigmant: Tupolev Tu-114: The First Soviet Intercontinental Airliner . ISBN 978-1-85780-246-7 .
Web links
- Global security: Tu-114
Individual evidence
- ↑ Heiko Thiesler: Tu-114 flies intercontinental. In: Fliegerrevue No. 04/2015, PPVMedien, Bergkirchen, ISSN 0941-889X , pp. 48–50
- ↑ a b FlugRevue May 2009, pp. 90–93, The beautiful woman with long legs - Tupolev Tu-114
- ↑ Aviastar: Tu-116
- ↑ Sukhoi: Tu-116
- ↑ Karl-Heinz Eyermann , Wolfgang Sellenthin: The air traffic of the USSR . 1967, p. 31
- ↑ Moscow disaster: Veil in front of the bow in: Der Spiegel 9/1966
- ↑ Sukhoi: Tu-114
- ↑ O. Tchernikov, D. Samborsk: Tupolev Tu-114th A Flying Palace , http://samdimdesign.free.fr/HTML/Tu114/doc/history.html
- ^ Accident statistics Tupolev Tu-114 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 17, 2017.