Midland Publishing

Red Star Volume 31, Tupolev Tu-114 The First Soviet Intercontinental Airliner

by  Yefim Gordon, and Vladimir Rigmant

Reviewed By  Phil Peterson, IPMS# 8739

MSRP: $36.95 USD ISBN: 1-85780-246-2 www.specialtypress.com 128 pages, 8-1/2 x 11", softbound I have never really modeled airliners and other than flying on them, haven't had much interest in the subject. So when this book and one other showed up, I was a little surprised. The cover picture looks like a Tu-95 Bear but as an airliner. I love the Bear and that was enough to get me to start reading. OKB Tupolev was originally tasked in the early 50's to design an intercontinental airliner. They had earlier designed the first Soviet Jet airliner by taking a Tu-16 Badger bomber and converting into a civil aircraft. So why not try that again, this time starting with the Bear whose turboprop engines gave it almost as much speed as a jet. The intial aircraft, the Tu-116, was pretty much the same plane as the Tu-95 with passenger cabins in the rear fuselage. This allowed it to carry 20-24 passengers, which was fine for VIP flights but not much help as a working airliner. The design was modified by designing an all-new fuselage of larger diameter and moving the wings from mid-wing to low-wing configuration. The landing gear, tail, engines, etc all stayed the same which really put this plane up in the air while sitting on the ground. The book goes through the design, talks about the prototype, and details the different versions and its service life. There are lots of b&w pictures, detail drawings and the typical color photo section at the end of the book. One thing that interested me was the many different interior layouts that the plane can be set up with depending on the flight. I have never noticed that with Western airliners. The other thing that I found out was that this aircraft was the one converted to the Moss AWACS plane, not the Tu-95. I have seen an old vacuform built of this version and never noticed the difference in wing location. A very interesting read. My only qualm is the detailed engineering info presented in this series of books. I would rather have a few more pictures or personal stories but that is just me. The book may be ordered by calling 1-800-895-4585 or by visiting www.specialtypress.com. A $4.95 shipping and handling fee is added to each order. When you order tell them you read about from IPMS/USA. I would like to thank Specialty Press for the review copy.

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