ACA1699 - Academy - 1/360 TU-144 Supersonic Transport - WWHP111349

ACA1699 - Academy - 1/360 TU-144 Supersonic Transport - WWHP111349

Preowned, Resealed, Mint

The Tu-144 beat Concorde into the air by three months in December 1968, a fact the Soviets made much of. The similarities between the two aircraft were striking enough that Western press dubbed it "Concordski," though the engineering was largely independent. Its public career was short and troubled — a dramatic crash at the 1973 Paris Air Show, a brief passenger service run, and retirement from commercial use by 1978. It later found a second life as a research platform, but the dream of Soviet supersonic travel never really materialized.

Academy's 1/360 kit from their "Sky Giants" airliner range. Decals are marked for CCCP-77102 — the aircraft that crashed at Goussainville during the Paris Air Show. A compact, simple build and a genuinely unusual subject for any aviation collection.