The Soviet Union though, and Tupolev do deserve a bit of credit for the Tu-144. They beat their rivals to the sky and built an aircraft that could carry more passengers than the Concorde.

When the first Tupolev Tu-144 thundered its way into aeronautical history 50 years ago, lifting off from Zhukovksy airfield on the last day of 1968, much of the supersonic programme remained ...

By then Concorde had already been in service for two years. The Tu-144 made only 55 passenger flights. It turned out that the maintenance costs of the airliner were too high.

But they were less refined. At one point the Tupolev design bureau approached the Concorde team in order to try and negotiate an engine-management computer system for use with their Tu-144.

The Tu-144 first flew in 1968, two months before the Concorde. Top speed was an impressive Mach 2.15, slightly faster than the Concorde, and it could carry over 40 more passengers.

That is why Tupolev Tu-144 was so important for the reds to finish building first. The soviet plane first went supersonic on 5 June 1969 and on 26 May 1970 became the first commercial transport to ...

It was the Tupolev Tu-144, it was Soviet, and it was loud as hell. If you're wondering why you've never heard of the Tu-144, or why you never saw it screaming over your house, it's because it didn ...

The TU-144 also proved incredibly unreliable in commercial flight. In just 180 hours of flight time, the first 16 TU-144’s suffered more than 226 failures, nearly a third of them in the air.

The Tupolev Tu-144 inevitably dubbed ‘Concordski’ was once the pride of its nation but incredible pictures show one of the 1400mph planes in a semi-dilapidated state.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Tupolev Tu-144 was the Soviet rival to what? Earlier this year, which singer chose a basket containing photos of homing pigeons as his luxury item on Desert ...

But they were less refined. At one point the Tupolev design bureau approached the Concorde team in order to try and negotiate an engine-management computer system for use with their Tu-144.