Tupolev Tu-134

The Tupolev Tu-134 is a Soviet twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner designed for short and medium-haul routes, serving as a workhorse of Soviet and Eastern Bloc aviation from the 1960s through the 1990s. First flown in July 1963 and entering service in September 1967, the Tu-134 was developed as a successor to the Tu-124, featuring a distinctive rear-mounted twin-engine configuration with Soloviev D-30 turbofan engines and a T-tail design. The aircraft is characterized by its twin Soloviev D-30-II low-bypass turbofan engines mounted on the rear fuselage, a swept wing with anhedral (negative dihedral), retractable tricycle landing gear suitable for unpaved runways, and glazed nose on early variants housing the navigator station (later replaced with conventional radar nose on Tu-134A onwards). The Tu-134 family includes the original Tu-134 with glazed nose (72 passengers, 34.3m length), the stretched Tu-134A (1970) with 2.1m fuselage extension for 84 passengers and conventional nose, and the Tu-134B (1980) with improved avionics and capacity for up to 96 passengers. Production ran from 1966 to 1989 at the Kharkiv Aviation Factory, with 854 aircraft built including prototypes, serving Aeroflot and numerous Soviet bloc airlines. The Tu-134 became one of the most successful Soviet airliners, providing reliable service on domestic and regional international routes throughout Eastern Europe, and continuing limited operations into the 21st century. NATO reporting name: "Crusty".