VEB
PLASTICART 1/100-SCALE TUPOLEV Tu-134 TWIN-ENGINE NARROW BODY JET AEROFLOT
INTERFLUG (1972)
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Additional Information from Internet Encyclopedia
The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty)
is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union from 1966
to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain
other Russian airliners (including its sister model the Tu-154), it can operate
from unpaved airfields.
One of the most widely used aircraft in former
Comecon countries, the number in active service is decreasing because of
operational safety concerns and noise restrictions. The model has seen
long-term service with some 42 countries, with some European airlines having
scheduled as many as 12 daily takeoffs and landings per plane. In addition to
regular passenger service, it has also been used in various air force, army and
navy support roles; for pilot and navigator training; and for aviation research
and test projects. In recent years, a number of Tu-134s have been converted for
use as VIP transports and business jets. A total of 854 Tu-134s were built of
all versions (including test bed examples) with Aeroflot as the largest user;
by 1995, the Tu-134 had carried 360 million passengers for that airline.
Following the introduction of engines mounted on
pylons on the rear fuselage by the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, airliner
manufacturers around the world rushed to adopt the new layout. Its advantages
included clean wing airflow without disruption by nacelles or pylons and
decreased cabin noise. At the same time, placing heavy engines that far back
created challenges with the location of the centre of gravity in relation to
the centre of lift, which was at the wings. To make room for the engines, the
tailplanes had to be relocated to the tail fin, which had to be stronger and
therefore heavier, further compounding the tail-heavy arrangement.
During a 1960 visit to France, Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev was so impressed by the quiet cabin of the Caravelle, that on
1 August 1960 the Tupolev OKB received an official directive to create the
Tu-124A with a similar engine arrangement. The requirement was also driven by
the need to replace slow, aging piston-engined Il-14s on domestic routes. In
1961, the Soviet state airline, Aeroflot, updated its requirement
specifications to include greater payload and passenger capacity.
The first Tu-124A prototype, SSSR-45075, first
flew on 29 July 1963. On 22 October 1963, the prototype British BAC One-Eleven,
which had a similar layout, crashed with the loss of all crew while testing its
stalling properties. The aircraft had entered pitch-up: the high-mounted
tailplane became trapped in the turbulent wake produced by the wings (deep
stall), which prevented recovery from the stall. As a result, the tailplane on
Tu-124A was enlarged by 30% for greater control authority. Since Aeroflot's
requirements dictated a larger aircraft than initially planned, the Soloviev
Design Bureau developed the more powerful D-30 low-bypass turbofan engines. On
20 November 1963, the new airliner was designated Tu-134.
Design curiosities of the Tu-134 included a sharp
wing sweepback of 35 degrees, compared to 2528 degrees in its counterparts.
The engines on early production Tu-134s lacked thrust reversers, which made the
aircraft one of the few airliners to use a brake parachute for landing. The
majority of onboard electronics operated on direct current. The lineage of
early Soviet airliners could be traced directly to the Tupolev Tu-16 strategic
bomber, and the Tu-134 carried over the glass nose for the navigator and the
landing gear fitted with low-pressure tires to permit operation from unpaved
airfields.
Serial production began in 1966 at the Kharkov
Aviation Production Association, and production of the Tu-124 was discontinued.
The Tu-134 was designed for short-haul lines with low passenger traffic.
Originally the aircraft had 56 seats in a single class configuration, or 50
seats in a two-class configuration.
In 1968, Tupolev began work on an improved Tu-134
variant with a 72-seat capacity. The fuselage received a 2.1-meter (6 ft 11 in)
plug for greater passenger capacity and an auxiliary power unit in the tail. As
a result, the maximum range was reduced from 3,100 kilometers to 2,770
kilometers. The upgraded D-30 engines now featured thrust reversers, replacing
the parachute. The first Tu-134A, converted from a production Tu-134, flew on
22 April 1969. The first airline flight was on 9 November 1970. An upgraded
version, the Tu-134B began production in 1980, with the navigator position
abandoned, and seating capacity increased to 96 seats. Efforts subsequently
began to develop a Tu-134D with increased engine thrust, but the project was
cancelled.
Operational history
In September 1967, the Tu-134 made its first
scheduled flight from Moscow to Adler. The Tu-134 was the first Soviet airliner
to receive international certification from the International Civil Aviation
Organization, which permitted it to be used on international routes. Due to
this certification, Aeroflot used most of its Tu-134s on international routes.
In 1968, the first export customers, Interflug of East Germany, LOT Polish
Airlines and Malév Hungarian Airlines purchased the Tu-134. In 1969, the Tu-134
was displayed at the Paris Air Show.
From 1972, Aeroflot began placing the Tu-134 in
domestic service to Baku, Yerevan, Kyiv, Kishinev, Krasnodar, Leningrad, Omsk,
Riga, and Sochi from Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow.
In its early years, the Tu-134 developed a
reputation for reliability and efficiency, especially when compared with
previous Soviet designs. After the establishment of tougher noise standards in
the ICAO regulations in 2002, the Tu-134 was banned from most western European
airports for its high noise levels. In early 2006, 245 Tu-134s were still in
operation, 162 of which were in Russia. After a fatal accident in March 2007,
and at the instigation of Russian Minister of Transportation Igor Levitin,
Aeroflot announced that it would be retiring its fleet, and the last Tu-134 was
removed from service on 1 January 2008. Some were still in operations with
Aeroflot subsidiaries on local routes within Russia. The Tu-134 also found a
new life as a business jet with many having an expensive business interior
installed. High fuel and maintenance costs are increasingly limiting the number
used today.
In June 2011, as a response to RusAir Flight 9605
which resulted in 47 fatalities, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev ordered
preparations for taking the Tu-134 out of use by 2012
On 22 May 2019, the final passenger flight of the
Tu-134 in Russia took place.
Many Tu-134s have been preserved as memorials at
airports throughout the former Soviet Union. A former Malév Tu-134
(registration HA-LBA) is on display at the Aeropark at Budapest Ferenc Liszt
International Airport[4] in Hungary.
Variants
Tu-134
The glass-nosed version. The first series could
seat up to 64 passengers, and this was later increased to 72 passengers. The
original designation was Tu-124A.
Tupolev Tu-134A with its radar and glass nose
Tu-134UBL "Volga" from 1449th Airbase in
Tambov city
Tu-134A
Second series, with upgraded engines, improved
avionics, seating up to 84 passengers. All Tu-134A variants have been built
with the distinctive glass nose and chin radar dome, but some were modified to
the B standard with the radar moved to the nose radome.
Tu-134A-2
The glass nose was replaced.
Tu-134A-3
Second series, powered by two updated Soloviev
D-30 turbofan engines.
Tu-134A-5
Most recent version.
Tu-134B
Second series, 80 seats, radar moved to the nose
radome, eliminating the glazed nose. Some Tu-134B models have long-range fuel
tanks fitted under the fuselage; these are visible as a sizable bulge.
Tu-134BV
Space shuttle work model.
Tu-134LK
Cosmonaut training version.
Tu-134A of the Hungarian People's Republic at
Helsinki Vantaa Airport in 1978.
Tu-134M
Projected modernized version of Tu-134B, powered
by Progress D-436T1-134 engines.
Tu-134S
Projected cargo version based on Tu-134A.
Tu-134UBL
Tu-160 crew training version, with Tu-160 nose
cone.
Tu-134UBK
Naval version of Tu-134UBL. Only one was ever
built.
Tu-134BSh
Tu-22M crew trainer, fitted with a Tu-22M radar in
the nose.
Tu-134Sh-1
Crew trainer with bomb racks for heavy bomber
crews
Tu-134Sh-2
navigator trainer for tactical bomber crews
Tu-134SKh
Crop survey version.
Operators
Civil operators
As of 2019, just two Tupolev Tu-134s remain in
airline service. Operators are:
North Korea
Air Koryo
Syria
Syrianair (also used for VIP purposes)
Former civil operators
Soviet
Union/ Russia
Aeroflot
Polet Airlines
Afghanistan Afghanistan
Ariana Afghan Airlines
Albania Albania
Albanian Airlines
Albtransport Airlines
Bulgaria
Balkan Bulgarian Airlines
Czechoslovakia
CSA Czech Airlines
Estonia
Estonian Air
Georgia
Georgian International Airlines
Transair Georgia
Hungary
Malév Hungarian Airlines
Kazakhstan
Air Kazakhstan
Atyrau Airways
Berkut Air
Euro-Asia Air
Kazair West
Kazaviaspas
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan Air Company 1 crashed on December 28,
2011
Kyrgyzstan Airlines
Lithuania
Air Lithuania
Lithuanian Airlines
Moldova
Air Moldova
Peru
Imperial Air
Poland
LOT Polish Airlines
East
Germany
Interflug
Russia
Aero Rent
Aeroflot-Plus
Alrosa-Avia
BAL Bashkirian Airlines
Center-South
Izhavia
Rossiya Airlines (government fleet)
Samara Airlines
Kosmos Airlines
Meridian Airlines
Sirius-Aero
Turukhan Airlines
UTair Express
Romania
TAROM
Ukraine
Ukraine Air Enterprise
Vietnam
Vietnam Airlines
Yugoslavia/
Serbia
Aviogenex
Military operators
Tu-134Sh-2 Marina Raskova tactical navigator
trainer, on display at 1449th Air Base Tambov
Kazakhstan
Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan 2
used for passenger transport
Russia
Russian Air Force 1449th Air Base located at
Tambov
Russian Naval Aviation
Russian Coast Guard
Russian Presidential Transport Flight
Syria
Syrian Air Force
Ukraine
Ukrainian Air Force - 15th Transport Aviation
Brigade "Aircraft Designer Oleg Antonov" located at Boryspil International
Airport, Kyiv Oblast
Former military operators
Angola
People's Air and Air Defence Force of Angola
Armenia
Armenian Air Force 1 stored
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan Air Force
Belarus
Belarus Air Force
Bulgaria
Bulgarian Air Force
Czech
Republic
Czech Air Force
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovak Air Force Passed on to successor
states
Germany
German Air Force former operator, taken over
from East German Air Force after German reunification
Georgia
Georgian Air Force
East
Germany
East German Air Force
Moldova
Moldovan Air Force
North Korea
North Korean Air Force
Poland
Polish Air Force. Operated 2 from 1972 to 1977
(later LOT) and 2 from 1977 to 1992. Retired, replaced by 2 Tupolev Tu-154M.
Soviet
Union
Soviet Air Force
Soviet Naval Aviation. Passed on successor states.
Soviet Space Agency
Soviet Internal Troops Prisoner Transport
Service
Syria
Syrianair