1973 Paris Air Show Tupolev Tu-144 crash

On 3 June 1973, the second production model of the Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 airliner was destroyed in a crash during the 1973 Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport. Whilst performing a display that included extreme manoeuvres, the aircraft stalled at low altitude, and during the attempted recovery disintegrated in mid-air, falling on the town of Goussainville, Val-d'Oise, France, killing all six crew members and eight people on the ground. The crash ended the development program of the Tupolev Tu-144. The official inquest did not conclusively determine the cause of the accident, and several theories have been proposed.

Accident

The aircraft involved was Tupolev Tu-144S СССР-77102, manufacturer's serial number 01–2, the second production Tu-144. It was first flown on 29 March 1972. This aircraft had been modified compared to the initial prototype to include landing gear that retracted into the nacelles and retractable canards. The pilot was Soviet test pilot Mikhail Vasilyevich Kozlov and the co-pilot was Valery M. Molchanov. Also on board were flight navigator G. N. Bazhenov; V. N. Benderov, deputy chief designer and engineer major-general; B. A. Pervukhin, senior engineer; and A. I. Dralin, flight engineer. The crash occurred in front of 250,000 spectators near the end of the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport, the world's largest air show and aerospace industry exhibition event.

During the show there had been "fierce competition between the Anglo-French Concorde and the Soviet Tu-144". The Soviet pilot, Mikhail Kozlov, had bragged that he would outperform the Concorde. "Just wait until you see us fly," he was quoted as saying. "Then you'll see something." On the final day of the show, the Concorde, which was not yet in production, performed its demonstration flight first. Its performance was later described as unexciting, and it has been suggested that Kozlov was determined to show how much better the Soviet aircraft was.

After several minutes in the air performing aerobatic manoeuvres in its second demonstration flight of the show, the Tu-144 flew a high-speed pass above the runway with the landing gear out and the "moustache" canards extended. Then, with all four engines at full power, it went into a steep and rapid climb. Below 2000 ft the aircraft stalled and fell into a steep dive. As the pilot tried to pull out of the dive at 400 ft with the engines at full power, "the entire left wing outboard of the left-hand engines broke away. The aircraft snap-rolled left and inverted, overload stresses fractured the fuselage forward of the wing, and fuel vapour ignited." The aircraft broke apart in mid-air and crashed in flames on the town of Goussainville, eight kilometres north of Le Bourget, destroying 15 houses and killing all six people on board the Tu-144 and eight more on the ground. Three children were among those killed and 60 people received severe injuries.