Key takeaways
- The Tu-104 was the Soviet Union’s first jetliner – first flight in 1955, scheduled service with Aeroflot from September 1956.
- It is a converted bomber: wing, engines and tail come from the Tu-16, only the fuselage is new.
- Fastest way to identify it: glazed nose, engines in the wing roots and landing gear pods behind the wing.
- ČSA was the only foreign airline operator; one of its aircraft, OK-LDA, stands today in the museum at Prague-Kbely.
- Out of service for decades: Aeroflot withdrew it from passenger service in 1979, the military in 1981. You can see it only as a museum piece.
Contents
- 1.What is the Tu-104?
- 2.Arrival in London: the shock of 1956
- 3.The variants at a glance
- 4.The features that are enough to identify it
- 5.Tu-104, Comet or Tu-134?
- 6.The Tu-104 with ČSA
- 7.Safety and retirement
- 8.Where you can see the Tu-104 today
- 9.Photo tips for the Tu-104 in the museum
- 10.Common mix-ups and how to rule them out
- 11.Conclusion
Profile
| Manufacturer | Tupolev design bureau; series production in Kharkiv, Kazan and Omsk |
|---|---|
| Role | Medium-haul airliner with two jet engines (historic) |
| Basis | Tu-16 bomber: wing, engines and tail adopted, new pressurized fuselage |
| First flight | June 17, 1955 (prototype) |
| Scheduled service | from September 15, 1956 with Aeroflot (Moscow–Omsk–Irkutsk) |
| Production period | 1956 to 1960 |
| Built | around 200 (most often cited: 201) |
| Engines | 2 × Mikulin AM-3 (AM-3, AM-3M or AM-3M-500 depending on version) |
| Length | around 40.1 m (Tu-104B) |
| Wingspan | around 34.5 m |
| Height | around 11.9 m |
| Seats | 50 (Tu-104), 70 (Tu-104A), 100 (Tu-104B), converted up to 115 |
| Cruise speed | around 750–850 km/h |
| Max. takeoff weight | around 78 t (Tu-104B) |
| Range | around 2,100 km with 12 t payload (Tu-104B) |
| Operators | Aeroflot, ČSA, Soviet and Czechoslovak air forces (all historic) |
Identifying features
Is this really the aircraft type in front of you?
- Glazed nose tip with a navigator station below the cockpit – a direct legacy of the Tu-16 bomber
- Two large engines deep in the wing roots, with the air intakes right next to the fuselage
- Elongated landing gear pods on the wings that extend far beyond the trailing edge – typical of Tupolev
- Strongly swept low wing with small boundary layer fences on the upper surface
- Conventional tail with the horizontal stabilizer on the fuselage, no tail-mounted engines
- Slim fuselage with comparatively few windows; the Tu-104B is a good meter longer than the Tu-104A
Updated: October 2026 – A slender jet with a glazed nose like a bomber, the engines hidden deep in the wing roots, long pods for the landing gear behind the wings: that is the Tupolev Tu-104. In 1956 it brought the Soviet Union into the jet age of civil aviation and caused a stir in the West. You haven’t seen it fly for decades – but in several museums you can get very close to it. Here you learn how the Tu-104 came about, how to recognize it reliably and where the preserved examples stand.
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What is the Tu-104?
The Tu-104 is a twin-jet medium-haul airliner from the Soviet design bureau Tupolev and is considered the Soviet Union’s first jetliner. In the early 1950s Aeroflot still flew piston-engine aircraft like the Il-14, which were slow and not very comfortable for the country’s vast distances. The state leadership wanted a jet aircraft for passengers quickly – partly for reasons of prestige, since in Britain the de Havilland Comet had already entered scheduled service in 1952 as the first jetliner.
Andrei Tupolev chose the fastest route: he took the Tu-16 bomber, which was just entering series production, as the basis. Wing, engines, landing gear and tail were largely adopted, with a new, wider fuselage with a pressurized cabin added. This approach saved enormous time but also explains why the Tu-104 still looks so military today.
The prototype with the registration CCCP-L5400 first flew on June 17, 1955. On September 15, 1956, scheduled service began with Aeroflot on the route Moscow–Omsk–Irkutsk. By 1960 around 200 aircraft were built at the Kharkiv, Kazan and Omsk plants; the figure 201 is most often cited.
Arrival in London: the shock of 1956
In the West hardly anyone knew the new aircraft when the prototype landed at London Heathrow in March 1956. On board was a Soviet delegation preparing a state visit by the Moscow leadership. For the British public the appearance was a surprise: their own Comet was grounded after several crashes, and now, of all things, a Soviet jet was rolling across the apron of London Heathrow Airport.
When Aeroflot began scheduled service a few months later, the Tu-104 was the only jetliner in regular scheduled service in the world for about two years. Only in autumn 1958 did the revised Comet 4 return, and shortly afterward the Boeing 707 entered service in the USA. The background of this race is covered in the articles on the history of the de Havilland Comet and on the Boeing 707.
In 1957 Tu-104 crews set several international records, including an altitude record with a 20-tonne payload and a speed record over a closed circuit at an average of around 970 km/h. For Soviet propaganda that was a welcome proof of technical parity.
The variants at a glance
The Tu-104 was developed further several times within a few years. The differences lie mainly in seat count, fuselage length and engine power.
| Version | Seats | Engines | Special feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tu-104 | 50 | AM-3 | First series, around 30 aircraft |
| Tu-104A | 70 | AM-3M | More powerful engines, also delivered to ČSA |
| Tu-104B | 100 | AM-3M-500 | Fuselage stretched by around 1.2 m |
| Tu-104B (conversion) | 115 | AM-3M-500 | Retrofitted with denser seating |
| Tu-104D | – | – | Salon or VIP version |
There were also test and military offshoots: the Tu-107 was a single transport prototype with a rear ramp, and the four-engine Tu-110 got no further than a few prototypes. Tupolev also derived the smaller Tu-124 from the Tu-104, which in turn gave rise to the Tu-134.
Retired aircraft served with the Soviet air forces as transports, trainers and test beds. One well-known use: in converted Tu-104s, cosmonauts trained for weightlessness on parabolic flights.
The features that are enough to identify it
Anyone standing in front of a Tu-104 in a museum recognizes it with three looks. It gets interesting mainly with old photos, where it can be confused with the Comet or later Tupolev types.
Look at the nose
Below the cockpit sits a glazed nose tip with a navigator station. This feature comes directly from the Tu-16 bomber and is found on no Western jetliner.
Look for the engines
The two large engines are buried in the wing roots close to the fuselage. There are neither nacelles under the wing nor engines at the tail.
Look behind the wing
The main gear retracts rearward into long, streamlined pods that extend beyond the wing trailing edge. This solution is a Tupolev trademark.
Together the three points give an unambiguous picture. Telling the Tu-104A from the Tu-104B is harder: the B version is a good meter longer and has slightly more windows. In a museum the registration helps, and the version is usually on the info board.
Practical tip in the museum
Photograph the Tu-104 at an angle from the front and slightly from below. That way you get the glazed nose, the intake in the wing root and the landing gear pod in a single picture – exactly the three features that make up the type.
Tu-104, Comet or Tu-134?
The most common mix-ups happen with archive pictures. The finder helps you narrow it down with three observations.
Quick ID: early jetliner
Tupolev Tu-104
Two engines in the wing root, a glazed nose and a conventional tail are the typical Tu-104 look. Also look for the landing gear pods behind the wing.
de Havilland Comet
The Comet also has engines in the wing roots, but four instead of two, and its nose is smooth without navigator glazing.
Tupolev Tu-134
It shares the glazed nose and landing gear pods with the Tu-104, but the engines sit at the rear and the horizontal stabilizer perches on top of the fin.
Another candidate in old photos is the French Caravelle. It also has two engines, but they hang on the sides of the rear fuselage, and there is no glazed nose. How to place vintage aircraft in the sky and in pictures in general is explained in the guide Spotting vintage aircraft.
The Tu-104 with ČSA
The only foreign airline operator was Czechoslovakia’s ČSA. In early November 1957 it took delivery of its first Tu-104A with the registration OK-LDA and the name “Praha.” The first scheduled flight in December 1957 went from Prague to Moscow. In total six aircraft came to ČSA, the last two second-hand from Aeroflot.
ČSA used the Tu-104A on international routes and lost three aircraft in accidents in the following years. By the mid-1970s the era was over: by 1974 at the latest, ČSA had retired all Tu-104s. After retirement the OK-LDA was preserved and today belongs to the collection of the aviation museum in Prague-Kbely, where it stands as the largest exhibit in the outdoor area.
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Safety and retirement
The fast development had its price. The Tu-104 was considered demanding to fly, especially at low speed and in turbulence at high altitude. After a serious crash near Kanash in 1958, in which the aircraft lost control at high altitude, the permitted flight altitude was limited and the aircraft was technically improved. Over the entire service life numerous aircraft were lost in accidents – a high number measured against the small fleet.
Aeroflot withdrew the Tu-104 from passenger service in March 1979 after another fatal accident. With the military it flew until February 1981: after the crash of a Tu-104 near Pushkin close to Leningrad, in which senior officers of the Pacific Fleet died, the military fleet was also grounded. The very last flight was made by a Tu-104 in November 1986 – a ferry flight to the aviation museum in Ulyanovsk.
Successors on the Tu-104’s routes were the Tu-134 and the Tu-154. How Soviet civil aviation developed overall is covered in the overview of Soviet airliners.
Where you can see the Tu-104 today
There are no flying Tu-104s anymore. Some aircraft are preserved in museums and as monuments, mainly in Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Accessibility varies greatly.
| Place | Example | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Prague-Kbely Aviation Museum (Czech Republic) | Tu-104A OK-LDA, ex ČSA | Nearest location for spotters from the DACH region |
| Central Air Force Museum Monino (Russia) | early Tu-104 | Travel to Russia currently severely restricted |
| Ulyanovsk Aviation Museum (Russia) | CCCP-42322 | Destination of the last Tu-104 flight in 1986 |
| State Aviation Museum Kyiv (Ukraine) | CCCP-42329 | Check the situation beforehand because of the war |
| Other places in the Czech Republic and Russia | former ČSA and Aeroflot aircraft | Partly restaurant or monument, condition varies |
For spotters from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Prague is clearly the best address. The Kbely Aviation Museum shows the OK-LDA in the outdoor area; information for visiting from a spotter’s point of view can be found at the spot Letecké muzeum Kbely. It combines well with a detour to Prague Airport – tips for that are in the plane spotting guide for Prague.
Museums in Russia and Ukraine
A visit to Monino or Ulyanovsk currently involves considerable restrictions, and there is war in Kyiv. Check the current travel advisories before any planning. What applies to photography in Russia and Belarus is explained in the article on photography bans in Russia and Belarus.
Ready for your Tu-104 visit?
- I have checked the museum’s current opening hours.
- I know whether the aircraft stands in the outdoor area or in a hall.
- I know the three identifying features: glazed nose, engines in the wing root, landing gear pods.
- I have a wide-angle lens with me in case space around the aircraft is tight.
- I note the registration and version from the info board.
Photo tips for the Tu-104 in the museum
A museum aircraft holds still, but that does not automatically make it easy. Fences, neighboring aircraft and visitors are the typical opponents.
Emphasize the glass nose
The glazed nose tip is the signature detail. A close-up from slightly below with the cockpit above tells the bomber origin at a glance.
Put the wing root in the light
The air intakes next to the fuselage are often in shadow. Plan your visit so the sun falls on the wing root from the front and side.
Overall view from a distance
At around 40 meters in length the Tu-104 fits entirely in the frame only from a distance or with a wide angle. Step back instead of shortening the focal length too much, otherwise the fuselage distorts.
You can calculate in advance when the light is favorable at an outdoor site – how is shown in the guide Planning the sun position for your photo spot.
Common mix-ups and how to rule them out
It points to the Tu-104 if …
- the nose below the cockpit is glazed
- two large engines sit in the wing roots
- long landing gear pods extend beyond the wing trailing edge
- the horizontal stabilizer sits on the fuselage and not on top of the fin
Look more closely if …
- the photo is blurry or very old and you cannot reliably tell the number of engines
- the aircraft is painted in military colors – then it could also be a Tu-16 bomber
- you want to distinguish between the Tu-104A and Tu-104B
Conclusion
The Tu-104 is an aircraft between two worlds: technically a converted bomber, politically a prestige project and for Aeroflot the step into the jet age. In scheduled service it flew for only a good two decades, but its traces run through later Tupolev types all the way to the Tu-134. For spotters it is a pure museum destination today – and Prague-Kbely the most obvious place to check it off.
In short
Glazed nose, two engines in the wing root, landing gear pods behind the wing: that is the Tu-104. It has not flown since the 1980s; the former ČSA aircraft OK-LDA in Prague-Kbely is the easiest way to the original for spotters from the DACH region.
Summary
- The Tu-104 was created in the mid-1950s based on the Tu-16 bomber and brought the Soviet Union into the jet age of civil aviation.
- When the British Comet was grounded after its accidents, the Tu-104 was for a time the only jetliner in regular scheduled service.
- Three main versions – Tu-104, Tu-104A and Tu-104B – differ mainly in seat count, fuselage length and engine power.
- For spotters it is a museum type today: preserved examples stand in Prague-Kbely, Monino, Ulyanovsk and Kyiv, among other places.
Frequently asked questions
Was the Tu-104 the world’s first jetliner?
No. The first jet airliner in scheduled service was the British de Havilland Comet from 1952. After several crashes, however, the Comet was withdrawn in 1954. When Aeroflot started with the Tu-104 in September 1956, it was therefore the only jetliner in regular scheduled service for about two years – until the Comet 4 returned in autumn 1958.
Why does the Tu-104 have a glazed nose?
Because it descends from the Tu-16 bomber. The glazed nose with a navigator station was kept because Soviet aviation at the time still relied heavily on visual navigation. Later Tupolev types such as the Tu-134 also retained the position for a navigator.
What NATO reporting name does the Tu-104 have?
NATO called the Tu-104 “Camel.” In this system, transport and passenger aircraft received names beginning with C. Its bomber ancestor, the Tu-16, carried the name “Badger.”
What distinguishes the Tu-104, Tu-104A and Tu-104B?
The first series had 50 seats and weaker AM-3 engines. The Tu-104A offered 70 seats and more powerful AM-3Ms. The Tu-104B is stretched by around 1.2 meters, has even more powerful engines and 100 seats; some aircraft were later converted to 115 seats.
Where can I still see a Tu-104 today?
Only in a museum or as a monument. Closest in the German-speaking region is the Prague-Kbely Aviation Museum with the former ČSA aircraft OK-LDA. Other examples stand in the Central Air Force Museum in Monino, in Ulyanovsk and in Kyiv, among other places.
Why was the Tu-104 retired so early?
It was a quickly developed transitional type with thirsty engines, demanding handling at low speed and a high accident count. With the Tu-134 and Tu-154, more economical successors were ready in the 1960s and 1970s. Aeroflot ended passenger service in 1979, and the military used it until 1981.
Does the Tu-104 have an ICAO type designator?
We cannot give you a reliably documented ICAO type designator in use today. Since no Tu-104 has flown for decades, it no longer plays a role in tracking services either.
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- Plane spotting in Prague: spots, traffic and day plan at Václav Havel Airport
- Photography bans in Russia and Belarus: strategic sites and espionage charges