Was This The Most Dangerous Airliner Ever?

This video was made possible thanks to CuriosityStream. Watch thousands of high-quality documentaries and get access to my streaming service, Nebula, using the link in the description. In the 1950s,

this

is the pride of the Soviet Union. A sleek new

airliner

, one of the first aircraft-powered. It flies faster, farther and is a showcase of Soviet technology. But something is wrong with

this

plane. Because over the course of a few months, planes like this one have been involved in a series of really strange incidents. These planes not only crash, but are thrown into the sky, sometimes s

ever

al thousand feet.

Leaving investigators running for answers. The 1950s saw the beginning of a boom in commercial air travel. Flying had become safer, faster and more comfortable. And those who had the means could now cross entire continents in just a few hours. Or travel to the other side of the world in less than a day. Air travel had entered a golden age. At least in the Western world. Because in the Soviet Union flying was radically different. Soviet aircraft were at least a generation or two behind Western designs. They were slower, smaller and offered little comfort. Worse still, they couldn't fly very far.

And in a country as big as the Soviet Union, that was a problem. Because flying cross-country from Moscow to Vladivostok meant having to stop to refuel at least six times. The journey could last up to fifty hours and was made even more grueling aboard cramped, noisy planes that could not fly high enough to avoid poor weather conditions. In the early 1950s, the Soviet Union desperately needed a new, modern

airliner

. But instead of simply catching up with the West, they were about to make a huge bet on a new technology. In 1952, the British surprised the world by introducing the first jet-powered passenger airliner.

The De Havilland Comet flew al

most

twice as fast as any previous passenger plane and at an altitude of five thousand meters. Developing it had been a huge effort that required years of research and development. And although jet engines were still relatively new and unproven, many could see that they were the next evolution in air travel. Including a famous aircraft designer from the Soviet Union named Andrei Tupolev, who saw them as a way to bring Soviet air travel into the future. A passenger plane like the Comet would reduce flight times by a third and enable large-scale air travel.

The problem was that Soviet leaders considered the planes to be unreliable, fuel-intensive, and expensive. An excess is better left in the hands of greedy Western capitalists. What's more, the comet had taken al

most

10 years and millions to develop. Time and resources that Soviet leaders were not willing to invest. But knowing this, Tupolev had a plan. He promised the Soviet top brass that he could build them an aircraft in just three years. A reliable airliner with even more passenger capacity than the Comet, built at a fraction of the cost. What's more, a Soviet-designed airliner would demonstrate to the world that the Soviet Union was as advanced as the West.

It was an offer they couldn't refuse. But how do you build a cutting-edge aircraft like the Comet in just three years? Well, you start with a huge shortcut. This is the Tu-16 bomber. Built to wreak havoc on Europe and for Tupolev, the base for his new plane. After finishing designing it for the Soviet Air Force, Tupolev thought he was already halfway there. He would only need to widen the fuselage. But he could keep the engines, even if they were not the most efficient and a little noisy. You could also reuse the wings. Although more suitable for high-speed bombing, it would save engineering time.

Pilots may have to land a little faster. Same concept for the tail and vertical stabilizer. They could be largely reused. The landing gear, avionics and other components could also be pulled directly from the bomber assembly line. The heavy-duty military components would total almost a hundred thousand pounds. Making a robust airliner. Designed in record time and built at a fraction of the cost, Tuplev would call the new aircraft Tu-104. As Tupolev was putting the finishing touches on his new plane, it was becoming clear that the transition to jet travel would not be so easy. In 1954, design flaws on the Comet caused a series of tragic accidents that ultimately grounded the plane.

The Comet was banned from commercial flights for four years while investigators resolved the problems. It meant that when the Soviet Union's new airliner made its first test flight in June 1955, the Soviets suddenly found themselves with the world's only operational airliner. But instead of taking it as a sign of caution, they seized the opportunity for propaganda. While the 104 was still undergoing flight testing in 1956, a delegation of Soviet leaders flew to Britain aboard the new aircraft. The rakish-looking plane took many by surprise. British aviation experts and journalists still recovering from the comet's fall went into a frenzy. The press was convinced that the Soviets were years ahead of the West with a much larger and technologically superior design.

For the Soviets, it was a propaganda windfall. And it wouldn't be the last time they would show off their new jet. Over the following months, the 104 visited cities across Europe. On each occasion, crowds saluted the plane and dignitaries had the opportunity to marvel at Soviet technology. In 1957, a 104 was even presented at the Paris Air Show, marking the first appearance of a non-Western built aircraft. A few months later, the new plane flew to the United States for another state visit, marking the first transatlantic crossing by a jet aircraft. For the Soviets, the 104 was a major propaganda victory and quickly converting it into a bomber seemed like a masterstroke of genius.

But the first signs of problems were already beginning to appear. Compared to other aircraft, the Tu-104 was difficult to fly. Pilots complained that the controls were heavy and unresponsive. And the plane's enormous weight and highly swept wings made low-speed flying particularly challenging. Landing at busy civilian airports was a white-knuckle affair. Pilots were so afraid of stalling that it was common practice to land the plane at higher speeds than designed. Stopping was another problem, the plane had no air brakes, no thrust r

ever

sers and a weak set of wheel brakes. A hastily deployed parachute was often the only thing preventing the plane from continuing beyond the runway.

But the Soviet authorities ignored the complaints. That is, until 1958, when the plane began exhibiting behaviors that were impossible to ignore. The first sign of trouble came in February, when a CSA 104 ran into turbulence, causing both engines to shut down. Without power, the plane fell six thousand feet, before the frantic pilots managed to restart the engines. A month later, another 104 also suffered turbulent weather conditions. But this time, the plane was launched into the sky and the pilots could not stop it from climbing to forty-four thousand feet. Higher than the plane should ever fly. Eventually, the plane stopped and began to fall back to the ground before the pilots managed to regain control.

Despite the near-disasters, Soviet authorities were quick to blame the pilots. But the incidents continued. In August, another 104 was mysteriously thrown into the sky. The plane stopped again. But this time, the pilots could not recover and, tragically, there were no survivors. Just two months later, a 104 flying between Beijing and Moscow was thrown into the sky again. This time, the pilot heroically radioed the details as they happened. Although he could not save the plane, the information transmitted by radio would prove essential. The authorities could no longer ignore the strange series of accidents. It was evident that something was wrong with the plane.

But, surprisingly, they did not ground the plane. Instead, let it continue carrying passengers while they were still working to uncover the mystery. Eventually, researchers would realize that the cause was powerful updrafts that pilots could not counter. And the plane's origins, derived from the bomber, were at least partly to blame. The 104's larger pressurized cabin was prone to its center of gravity shifting rearward, depending on how the aircraft was loaded. This meant that there was a natural tendency to pitch upwards in an updraft and the 104 was not powerful enough to counteract these forces, leaving the pilots helpless.

A series of emergency modifications were made and the aircraft was prevented from flying above a certain altitude. But not before another incident in 1959, when another 104 crashed into an updraft before the pilots managed to recover. A critical design flaw had cost 144 lives. And although repairs were made, the plane would continue to gain an extensive history of other accidents. The most common were runway overruns, thanks to the complicated nature of flying the airliner derived from the heavy bomber. Almost one in five Tu-104s built would end up destroyed in accidents. But given the secretive nature of the Soviet Union, these incidents received little news coverage.

Still, the plane developed a notorious reputation among the traveling public. Even becoming the theme of a popular song from the 60s. Like the British, the Soviets paid a lot for pioneering jet travel. But by 1958, the Comet had been largely redesigned and was back in service. And the Americans had introduced their own airliner. Any programming value the 104 once had was gone. But the Soviet Union's first airliner played a vital role in modernizing air travel within the country. To accommodate the aircraft, air traffic control systems were modernized, new terminals were built, and runways were expanded across the Soviet Union.

And the operational lessons learned from the 104th would help pave the way for future Soviet airliners, earning the 104th a place among the world's pioneering aircraft. I've been busy working on my most ambitious video yet about the history of the most advanced aircraft ever built, the Northrop B-2 Spirit. I cover the Cold War origins of the mysterious aircraft, the controversy surrounding its development and why, forty years later, it remains the world's most feared bomber. What started out like any other Mustard video has grown into my biggest project yet. And the video in which I have invested the most energy.

I'm releasing it on December 16th on Nebula. Nebula is where you can watch exclusive Mustard videos, like the history of the MiG-31 Interceptor, the legendary F-117 Nighthawk, and the M-50 Bounder, along with lesser-known weird offerings like the MiG-25 executive jet and the Crazy Soviet Plan. to fly aircraft carriers. Nebula is where you'll also find hundreds of other exclusives from great indie creators like Real Life Lore Wendover and Real Engineering. At Nebula, there is no algorithm that punishes creators for trying something new or taking risks on big-budget projects. And because Nebula is ad-free, creators aren't limited to creating content that YouTube deems advertiser-friendly.

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