Tu-144

while adding the moscow taxi videos to youtube, it threw up this clip of the tupolev tu-144, the soviet supersonic airliner:

which reminded me that i have a tu-144 publicity brochure which my uncle brought back from russia in the 1970s.

in some ways i prefer the look of the tu-144 to concorde - the central engines, the angularity. it's not clear why it flew for such a short time - issues of cost, and safety i presume. did it ever live up to the brochure?