Second edition. Hardcover. Coated paper. Text in Russian. High illustrated edition. 1000+ unique photographs, schemes, plans. 536 pages, format 220 x 290 mm, weight 2.4 kg.
This large illustrated album is currently the best book about Tupolev Tu-144. History and design of all modifications of Tupolev Tu-144, including Tupolev Tu-144LL. Rare photos of Tu-144 planes taken in Zhukovsky, at Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports, in Hanover, Le Bourget, Kiev, Tashkent, Baku, Alma-Ata, Khabarovsk, Novosibirsk; general types of modifications with theoretical dimensions; drawings of some aircraft components and systems; colored profiles of all Tu-144s produced. A story about all unrealized projects related to the Tu-144 program. In the special section "Additional materials", among other materials, a lot of space is given to regular passenger transportation, including the reasons for their cancellation. In a special study, based on aircraft logs, the exact figure of the number of regular passenger flights was derived. There is also a lot of space dedicated to the Tu-144 crash at Le Bourget. The book contains interesting information about some external differences in the design of Tu-144 airplanes: large and small vertical tail, the presence of wingtips etc. Provided the register of Tu-144 aircraft and other materials, including a chapter on cooperation between the Tupolev Design Bureau and the French company Aerospatial. In this sense, the logical conclusion of the book was a large chapter on the Concorde aircraft - the most ambitious and innovative project in Western Europe.