Twenty-eight years after a Tupelov Tu-144 slammed into the ground here at Le Bourget killing six Soviet flight crew and seven French civilian onlookers, the last of the supersonic Russian aircraft has been sold online.
Reports say an unnamed Texan offered $11 million for the aircraft and the deal was concluded on the Internet.
No details were available on how he planned to take delivery of the aircraft, or his plans for it.
Project
Designed in the USSR in the 1960s, and dubbed Concordski in the West because of its uncanny resemblance to Concorde, the Tu-144 made its maiden flight at the end of 1968, two months ahead of the Anglo-French supersonic project.
It is said that the Anglo-French partners developing Concorde thought their technology was being copied by the Soviets and that they subsequently fed misinformation to the Tupelov team. A total of 16 aircraft were built.
The supersonic was withdrawn from service in 1985, but amazingly made a comeback 11 years later.
The aircraft sold on the Internet was made airworthy again in the 1990s for a joint venture with the US to research technology on a possible new High-Speed Civil Transport.
Source: Flight Daily News
