FA: THE TUPOLEV-144

THE TUPOLEV-144
Moon, Howard: SOVIET SST: THE TECHNO-POLITICS OF THE TUPOLEV-144
New York: Orion Books, 1989. First edition.

From Publishers Weekly
In 1961, Khrushchev ordained that the Anglo/French effort to produce a
supersonic transport was to be surpassed by a parallel Russian effort,
thereby launching a program in which nationalistic preening took precedence
over commonsense engineering. Although the TU-144 beat the Concorde into the
air, making its maiden flight on December 31, 1968, two later crashes doomed
the project. In his account of the political and technical aspects of the
program, Moon, a student of Soviet technopolitics, concludes that the TU-144
was both "an astounding achievement" and "a magnificent failure." Referred
to sneeringly as the Concordski in Western aeronautical circles, the Soviet
SST was, as the author details, significantly different despite the
similarity of profile. In an impressive piece of detective work, Moon
suggests the cause of the disastrous 1973 crash at the prestigious Paris air
show. This is a well-written history of a promising program that, according
to the author, was ruined by the insistence of Soviet leaders that the
TU-144 should be primarily "a political stick to use against the West."
Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Near Fine with Near Fine jacket. Very light wear. Top edges spotted. Rear
panel of dust jacket lightly soiled.

starting bid: $9.00
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