1/72 Tupolev Tu-144

Description

This is an injection-plastic airliner model kit.

From the manufacturer:

The Tupolev Tu-144 is the Soviet supersonic airliner constructed under management of the Soviet design bureau in the 1960s. The prototype first flew on Dec. 31, 1968 near Moscow, two months before the first flight of the Concorde. The Soviet supersonic airliner first went supersonic on June 5, 1969, and on July 15, 1969 became the first comercial transport to exceed Mach 2.

At the Paris Air Show on June 3, 1973, the development program suffered a severe blow when the first Soviet supersonic airliner production aircraft (reg. 77102) crashed.

The Soviet supersonic airliner went into service on Dec. 26, 1975, flying mail and freight between Moscow and Alma-Alta in preparation for passenger services, which commenced in November 1977 and ran a semi-scheduled service until the first supersonic airliner (with index “D”) experienced an in-flight failure during a pre-delivery test flight and crash-landed with crew fatalities on May 23, 1978. The Aeroflot flight on June 1, 1978 would be the Soviet supersonic airliner’s 55th and last scheduled passener service.

This is an absolutely huge kit!