The Tupolev Tu-104 ‘Camel’ was a twin-engined medium-range turbojet-powered airliner. Built following the earlier British-built Comet and Canadian Avro Jetliner, the Tu-104 was the third design of jet airliner to fly. The aircraft, which first flew in June 1956, was designed to provide the Soviet airline Aeroflot with a modern design of aircraft. Produced by the Tupolev design bureau, the Tu-104 was a civilian version of the bureau’s jet bomber, the Tu-16 ‘Badger’. The first aircraft were designed to provide accommodation for 50 passengers, but subsequent variants saw this capacity increased to 100. A total of some 200 aircraft were manufactured by the time that production ceased in 1960, with the type also seeing service with the Czech airline CSA. The final examples were withdrawn from Aeroflot service in the early 1980s, although a number were then passed to the Soviet military authorities where they were used, among other things, for training cosmonauts in zero gravity.

The latest volume in the ‘Red Star’ series examines the development and operational record of the Tu-104 from the early 1950s to the end of its career with the Soviet forces. Detailing, in particular, the type’s civilian career, the book examines all of the variants produced, from the first version accommodating 50 passengers, through to the prototype Tu-110 four-engined transport aircraft. Compiled by Yefim Gordon, undoubtedly the world’s foremost expert on Soviet and Russian aircraft, the book is comprehensively illustrated throughout with both mono and color illustrations.

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