The end of December 1968 was foul. Low clouds stood over the testing aerodrome of Zhukovsky. Phone calls kept coming from the Ministry: "The aircraft must take off before the New Year!" It was no accident. It was not just another new aircraft. It was supposed to be the debut of the supersonic passenger airliner TU-144… The Anglo-French "Concord" was getting ready for its first flight at the same time… It was important to overrun competitors. Prestige of the Soviet state was at stake. On December 31, the last day of the year, TU-144 took off... It was that aircraft, which entered the history as the first in the world supersonic passenger airliner. Civil aviation was in transition to a new quality level...
