The discussion was started here, this is my reply on the cammerjeff's post.
Of course, it is foolish to deny the facts of espionage - moreover, may be not all of them are still connected with the Tu-144 development. For example, the information on the aerodynamics of the Mirage IV seems to have played a certain role for the optimizing of the aerodynamics of the Tu-144. Nevertheless, the huge amount of original research was incomparable to what was obtained by espionage.
The Tu-144 was larger than the Concorde, had similar (if not better!) aerodynamic performance, its main problem were engines (unreliable, with too high SFC) - indeed, there were many problems, but the others were not as crucial. Additionally, the reasonability of its exploitation in the conditions of the USSR was not obvious. Nevertheless, it was (and remains) an outstanding achievement of the Soviet aircraft industry.
Surprisingly enough, there was some cooperation besides espionage - for example, an official exchange of samples of alloys used in the design of Concorde (AU2GN) and Tu-144 (AK4-1) was mentioned, now I am trying to verify this information.
Here is a book (album) on the history of the Tu-144, 550 pages:
The book provides some ideas (but in my opinion, insufficient) on the amount of research carried out during the development of the Tu-144. It also contains some information about heat protection and the cabin air conditioning system.
Other sources could be mentioned, but since they are in Russian, they are unlikely to be of interest to the audience.
With all due respect, it is a very arrogant and completely undeserved nickname.
Of course, it is foolish to deny the facts of espionage - moreover, may be not all of them are still connected with the Tu-144 development. For example, the information on the aerodynamics of the Mirage IV seems to have played a certain role for the optimizing of the aerodynamics of the Tu-144. Nevertheless, the huge amount of original research was incomparable to what was obtained by espionage.
The Tu-144 was larger than the Concorde, had similar (if not better!) aerodynamic performance, its main problem were engines (unreliable, with too high SFC) - indeed, there were many problems, but the others were not as crucial. Additionally, the reasonability of its exploitation in the conditions of the USSR was not obvious. Nevertheless, it was (and remains) an outstanding achievement of the Soviet aircraft industry.
Surprisingly enough, there was some cooperation besides espionage - for example, an official exchange of samples of alloys used in the design of Concorde (AU2GN) and Tu-144 (AK4-1) was mentioned, now I am trying to verify this information.
Here is a book (album) on the history of the Tu-144, 550 pages:
The book provides some ideas (but in my opinion, insufficient) on the amount of research carried out during the development of the Tu-144. It also contains some information about heat protection and the cabin air conditioning system.
Other sources could be mentioned, but since they are in Russian, they are unlikely to be of interest to the audience.
According to feedback from Tu-144 passengers, the noise level was very high only in the rear compartment of the cabin, in the front compartment it was much lower.
