Tupolev Tu-104
| Tu-104 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104B at Arlanda Airport in 1972 | |
| Role | Narrow-body jet airliner |
| Manufacturer | Tupolev OKB |
| Designer | Andrei Tupolev |
| First flight | June 17, 1955 |
| Introduction | 15 September 1956 (Aeroflot) |
| Retired | 1986 |
| Status | Retired |
| Primary users |
Aeroflot ČSA |
| Produced | 1956–1960 |
| Number built | 201 |
| Developed from | Tupolev Tu-16 |
| Variants |
Tupolev Tu-110 Tupolev Tu-124 |
The Tupolev Tu-104 (NATO reporting name: Camel) was a twin-engined medium-range narrow-body turbojet-powered Soviet airliner and the world's first successful jet airliner. Although it was the sixth jet airliner to fly (following, in order, the British Vickers Type 618 Nene-Viking, de Havilland Comet , Canadian Avro Canada C102 Jetliner, US Boeing 367-80 and French Sud Caravelle), the Tu-104 was the second to enter regular service (with Aeroflot) and the first to provide a sustained and successful service (the Comet which had entered service in 1952, was withdrawn from 1954-1958 following a series of crashes due to structural failure). The Tu-104 was the sole jetliner operating in the world between 1956 and 1958.
In 1957, Czechoslovak Airlines – ČSA, (now Czech Airlines) became the first airline in the world to fly a route exclusively with jet airliners, using the Tu-104A variant between Prague and Moscow. In civil service, the Tu-104 carried over 90 million passengers with Aeroflot (then the world's largest airline), and a lesser number with ČSA, while it also saw operations with the Soviet Air Force. Its successors include the Tu-124 (one of the first turbofan-powered airliners), the Tu-134 and the Tu-154.
At the beginning of the 1950s, the Soviet Union's Aeroflot airline needed a modern airliner with better capacity and performance than the piston-engined aircraft then in operation. The design request was filled by the Tupolev OKB, which based their new airliner on its Tu-16 'Badger' strategic bomber. The wings, engines, and tail surfaces of the Tu-16 were retained in the airliner, but the new design adopted a wider, pressurised fuselage designed to accommodate 50 passengers. The prototype build in MMZ 'Opit' first flew on June 17, 1955 with Yu.L. Alasheyev at the control. It was fitted with a drag parachute to shorten the landing distance by up to 400 metres (1,300 ft), since at the time, not many airports had sufficiently long runways.
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