Woe to the world’s first passenger supersonic jet, the Soviet built Tupolev 144.  A great plane that had a tragic accident at the Paris Air Show in 1973.

At the Air Show, French Mirage Air Force planes were flying around (aka spying) to photograph the Tu-144.  The Soviet pilot thought the Tu-144’s airspace was empty, and when he saw the unexpected French jets fighter jets, he maneuvered to make sure there wasn’t a multi-plane crash over Paris. 

His quick piloting unfortunately made the plane contort in such a way that there was no way anyone on board would survive.  The French denied doing this until the 1990’s. 

This is a stamp cover of the first flight (which carried cargo) of the Tu-144 from Moscow to Alma-Ata (then Kazakh SSR, today Kazakhstan) on December 26, 1975.  It is postmarked both Moscow and Alma-Ata.

It’s a pretty amazing aircraft and they still display it at Moscow Airshows!

See more pictures and learn more here: http://www.tu144sst.com/