Tu-104 movements, LHR, March-April 1956

[redsetter]

A bit of a longshot, but, I don't suppose anyone has got a record of Tu-104 movements at LHR in March/April 1956 in connection with the Bulganin/Khrushchev visit ? The first arrival of the type was apparently on 22 March when one ferried in the Soviet security chief. At last three aircraft seem to have been involved during the visit and a number of flights were made during March/April. I'm trying to correlate the Tu-104 movements with certain RAF operations, for which I need the dates of flights in and out. I have of course Googled.

[WHBM]

Yefim Gordon's book on the 104 records that it was prototype CCCP-L5400 brought all the politicians in on 22 March. Doesn't really seem any other 104 aircraft would have been available at the time. However, as the same politicians are also generally shown in news reports of the day as having arrived at Portsmouth on thr cruiser Ordzhonkhidze, and thence taking a special train to London Victoria station, I'm not sure how accurate this Russian-originated account is.

[Sultan Ismail]

The first arrival of the type was apparently on 22 March when one ferried in the Soviet security chief

That was an understatement.

I recall the said gentleman was head of the KGB and the Daily Mirror for it's front page had a quite blunt comment on his past and future.

[WHBM]

I recall the said gentleman was head of the KGB and the Daily Mirror for it's front page had a quite blunt comment on his past and future.
That would be Serov, who among other things had masterminded the Katyn massacre.

[redsetter]

There's a photo apparently showing three Tu-104 at LHR in April 56 on airliners.net.

<http://www.airliners.net/photo/Aeroflot/Tupolev-Tu-104/1030606/L/>

The story seems to be that the Tu-104 was too new to be trusted with Bulganin and Khrushchev (but obviously not the KGB bloke). Hence they came via cruiser. However the Tu-104 were flown in and out in March/April on various errands. Intention obviously to impress the decadent West with Soviet progress.

[India Four Two]

redsetter,

It's hard to believe that picture was taken at Heathrow. It looks like the middle of nowhere!

[WHBM]

OK, re-reading my source it actually states that the 22 March flight was to carry Serov et al, to prepare the ground for the leaders later arrival.

The photo of the 3 aircraft has numbers L5412 and L5413, in addition to the prototype L5400. These were the first two production aircraft, built at Kharkov (the prototype was built in Moscow), delivered to Aeroflot for trials in May 1956.

[DaveReidUK]

L5400 during its March 56 visit, with an anonymous Viscount in the background:

http://www.abpic.co.uk/images/images/1001316M.jpg

[redsetter]

WHBM,

its certainly possible that the photo on airliners.net is wrongly captioned (the surroundings do look a bit socialist-realist) and in fact only the prototype Tu-104 visited London. One would have thought that the comings and goings of a Tu-104 at Heathrow were interesting enough to have have been recorded in detail somewhere.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

India 42... Heathrow has changed just an incy bit since then!!

There were also at least two Soviet Air Force IL-14s. They, along with CCCP-L5400, arrived on 16 April 1956 and I was fortunate enough to see them all from my parents house.

[India Four Two]

India 42... Heathrow has changed just an incy bit since then!!


HD,

I know. Even more since earlier in its history.

My dad never failed to remind us that his first flight out of London Airport was via the tent terminal on the north side!

[WHBM]

I just realise I've made the classic blunder in my first post of giving the reg of the aircraft as CCCP-L5400, because that is a mix of two alphabets. The CCCP of Soviet aircraft in Cyrillic is actually western characters SSSR (Sojus Sowjetskich Sozialistitscheskich Respublik in transliteration), whereas the Л is western L.

So, either SSSR-L5400 or CCCP-Л5400. Take your pick.

For any of you spotters L5412 and L5413 later became 42318 and 42319, which turned up from time to time at Heathrow for about the next 10-12 years on the Aeroflot service.

[Warmtoast]

...and did you know Mr B & Mr K visited RAF Marham during their stay?

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Image3-5_zpsc63d9fb7.jpg

[WHBM]

Now been up to get my Soviet Transports, from which selected pages (including for the 104) are on the web.

http://www.oldwings.nl/st/tu104_107_110_114_116_124_126.pdf

which says in the detail section that L5400 was first at Heathrow on 22 March, and both L5412 and L5413 were there on 25 April. As these dates seem to be first sightings it is of course possible that all three were there on the latter date. And they do appear to have got there before they were delivered to Aeroflot.

From the same source the two Soviet Air Force IL-14s Heathrow Director refers to above were serials 016 and 017, and were still there on 21 April.

[Warmtoast]

FWIW another press report stated:

The Russian Ambassador was among the group of Russian officials who awaited General Serov’s arrival at the airport. The twin-engined aircraft, a TU 104, was given a priority landing shortly after noon. The London Airport timetable for its flight was three-and-a-half hours for 1,364 miles non-stop—an average of 446 miles an hour.

Before landing it flew over the airport, showing off its distinctive lines and swept- back wings, then made a slow, perfect three-point landing, taking less than 100 yards to pull up. It had flown at 33,000ft during most of the flight with Squadron Leader J. Deverill a British Assistant Air Attach, as one of its passengers.

Squadron Leader Deverill, commenting on the airliner, said: “She flies beautifully.” During the flight he sat with the pilot and navigator, and as the aircraft reached London Airport he had the task of interpreting air traffic control procedure.

A feature of the airliner which at first puzzled experts was that although it had flown at 33,000 ft the cabin was not pressurized. Speculation was resolved when the crew took on board a number of oxygen cylinders and it was said that with each seat there was an oxygen mask for the passenger. This system, instead of pressurization is one of the big differences between the Russian jet airliner and the early Comets.

The aircraft and General Serov caused much excitement at the airport. General Serov smiled broadly as he walked with an escort of his security men and uniformed airport police towards newsreel and press cameras. He indicated that it was the aircraft that they should photograph.

British European Airways, whose staff handled the landing, were told that the airliner would be staying for several days—at least three. Barriers were placed round the aircraft after it had been refuelled, and airport police kept watch.

[DH106]

>>taking less than 100 yards to pull up

I sincerely doubt that !!
I might believe 1000 yards.......:uhoh:

[Haraka]

Similarly "flying at 33,000" Unpressurized. :D

[JW411]

It says in #15 that each passenger was supplied with an oxygen mask. Why should they not be at 33,000 feet if they are all on oxygen?

[Warmtoast]

A search of the Pathé website shows that there is a two-minute clip related to the visit of the TU-104s to London in 1956 that can be seen here:
BULGANIN AND KHRUSCHEV VISIT RUSSIAN TU 104 JET AIRLINER - British Pathé (http://www.britishpathe.com/video/bulganin-and-khruschev-visit-russian-tu-104-jet-ai/query/TU104)

..and Mr B & K's visit to RAF Marham features in this clip:
RUSSIAN LEADERS' TOUR aka B & K's TOUR - British Pathé (http://www.britishpathe.com/video/russian-leaders-tour-aka-b-ks-tour)

[Vzlet]

WHBM, rest assured that you did not err originally. Regarding nationality and registration marks, ICAO Annex 7 stipulates that "The letters shall be capital letters in Roman characters without ornamentation. Numbers shall be Arabic numbers without ornamentation."

The "CCCP" from Soviet registrations is indeed "cee cee cee pee" (rather than "ess ess ess err") because the letters are Roman. That combination was a clever choice that satisfied both international convention and Russian sensibilities.

[Chris Scott]

Another bit from Warmtoast’s quoted press report:
“...then made a slow, perfect three-point landing...”

Note: slow and three-point, and on a trike; according to the reporter. Plus ça change...

Wasn’t living in Blighty in 1956, but I do remember in early May going to the newsagent to spend all my pocket money on a rare copy of Flight (delivered by surface mail, for the overseas price of 2s 6d, IIRC), and seeing these pages:

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200344.html (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200344.html)

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200374.html (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200374.html)

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200376.html (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200376.html)

[WHBM]

WHBM, rest assured that you did not err originally. Regarding nationality and registration marks, ICAO Annex 7 stipulates that "The letters shall be capital letters in Roman characters without ornamentation. Numbers shall be Arabic numbers without ornamentation."

The "CCCP" from Soviet registrations is indeed "cee cee cee pee" (rather than "ess ess ess err") because the letters are Roman. That combination was a clever choice that satisfied both international convention and Russian sensibilities.
Hello Vzlet. I don't think that applies (or that the Soviet's applied it), because note that in the serial number part it is done as л instead of L, against this rule. CCCP is a standard set of Cyrillic characters as an abbreviation for the Soviet Union, and can be seen on all sorts of non-aviation items of that era across the old territory (though I did notice that at the old terminal in Vilnius, Lithuania, they have chiselled them off the stonework decoration !). It may be that compliance with ICAO was responsible for the subsequent change to Soviet registrations shortly after the Tu104 came along (and significant services to the west were started), from one Cyrillic letter and four digits to the five digit format.

It's just a chance that the characters C and P also appear in the western alphabet, and were retained as such for the national aircraft mark. For the same reason, Russian car licence plates, which incorporate letters, were re-formatted about 20 years ago so they now only use those 10 out of the 33 Cyrillic chraacters which also appear in the western alphabet, although often for completely different sounds.

I did read, in a recent supposedly authoritative book about Russia, that CCCP stood for Central Committee of the Communist Party, as if this universal abbreviation was somehow from the English. This caused considerable hilarity to my English language-knowledgeable Russian friends !

[Steve Bond]

I have photographs of all three at Heathrow, 5400, 5412 and 5413. However, I have never managed to work out how to post photos here.