Sukhoi T-4 Sotka (100) Soviet Heavy Supersonic Bomber landin

On August 22, 1972, chief pilot and hero of the USSR V.S. Ilyushin along with A. Alferov took off from Zhukovsky flight center. The flight lasted 40 minutes. During the ninth flight (6 August, 1973) the T-4 reached Mach=1.28 at a height of 12100 m above sea level. On January 22, 1974 the second stage of testing had started. During this flight T-4 reached Mach=1.36 at a height of 12000 m. At the second stage it was supposed to finish speed of an airplane up to 3000 km/h (Mach = 2,8) with a maximum take-off weight 128 t and to start tests «102» plane with the full complete set of avionics. But by March, 1974 all has stopped. Total flying time was made 10 h 20 min.