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

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.