RUSSIA’S FIRST JET AIRLINER

Charles Woodley reflects on Tupolev’s 1950s twin-jet Tu-104.

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The Tu-104B was a high-density version originally intended for Aeroflot’s internal route network. CCCP-42416 was photographed at Düsseldorf in November 1972.
Dietrich Eggert

In the early 1950s, Russian state airline Aeroflot needed a fast, modern transport aircraft to replace its piston-engine Lisunov Li-2s and Ilyushin Il-12s flying over the vast expanses of the Soviet Union.

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