On Sunday June 15, 1958, Aeroflot TU-104 jetliner CCCP-175445 at the Vancouver airport airshow on Sunday, June 25, 1958. It was here that Boeing’s 707 Test Pilot Tex Johnson told the TU-104 what he thought about the aircraft after having had a flight on it that day: “I have a message for the captain. Please tell him that in my twenty-one thousand hours of piloting time, the TU-104 is the sorriest damn airplane I have ever had the misfortune of flying in.”

An airshow was held on Sunday June 15, 1958 at Vancouver’s Sea Island Airport as part of the Province’s 100th anniversary celebrations. The race for leadership in the passenger jetliner market was heating up in the late 1950s with numerous aircraft builders bringing brand new jet powered airliners to the forefront.

The cold war realities brought the Americans and the Russians face-to-face at the Vancouver Airshow with Boeing bringing their new Boeing 707, and the Russians bringing their new Tupolev TU-104 jetliner. Both jetliners performed demonstration flights that day, and the story of the friction between the two competing aircraft builders was relayed to the public in newspaper stories of the day.

What follows is an account as described by the Price George Citizen paper that was headlined “Incident at Vancouver Airshow: Russian Pilot Gives – And Gets – Emphatic ‘Niet’”

The East-West curtain was parted for a day in Vancouver on Sunday, June 15, 1958, and what might have been become an international aeronautical incident, was actually averted.

The giant Russian airliner, the all-jet Tupolev TU-104, was on public view at Vancouver’s International Airport at an airshow. Air Force officials estimated 100,000 people attended the airshow, part of a two-day British Columbia centennial event.

But Russian-United States relations became a little strained at one point during the day. Captain T. T. Frolov, the Russian plane’s pilot, had been granted permission to make a courtesy flight and visit to Victoria airport from Vancouver – a mere 75 miles as the jet flies. But the trip had to be cancelled.

The flight path of the aircraft would have brought it close to the international border where San Juan Island (American Territory) juts into Canadian territorial waters in the Georgia Strait.

Captain Frolov, fearing slight drift might accidentally cause him to cross the US boundary, asked that assurances would be given so that his aircraft would not be challenged by U.S. jet interceptors. Canadian Air Force officials were told by the Americans that no such assurances would be forthcoming from the U.S. Air Force authorities.

The Russian pilot was told “Nobody will say, they the Americans won’t scramble, even if just to take a look at you.” Therefore, diplomatically, the TU-104 flight to Victoria was cancelled, and instead a courtesy flight over greater Vancouver was planned, with government officials, aviation representatives from both Canada and the USA, and newspapermen being invited aboard.

Earlier in the day, Captain Frolov and his officers were taken on a demonstration flight aboard the Boeing 707 jet Stratoliner, as guests of A. M. Tex Johnston, Chief of Flight Testing for the Boeing Aircraft Company. Once the 707 was aloft, Tex Johnston invited Captain Frolov to sit in the pilot’s seat and handle the 707’s flight controls for most of the hour-long flight.

Captain Frolov said the Boeing 707 had “beautiful flight control” and seemed impressed with Boeing’s new jetliner. Later the same day, a reciprocal invitation was extended by the Russians to the Boeing 707 crew to join the Tupolev TU-104 demonstration flight. Johnston asked if the favour could be returned so he could handle the controls of the Tupolev TU-104. Frolov said “niet”.

Johnston then asked if he could sit in the Co-Pilot’s seat and Captain Frolov again refused the request, explaining that it took two trained men to fly the Russian plane. At this point, Johnston retired from the discussion, but later said the TU-104 appeared heavy to handle and slow to respond. Tex Johnston was quoted in the media as saying “For my money their plane is obsolete”.

At the airshow’s ground display, a number of people collapsed in the 100-degree outdoor temperature near the Russian plane, which was a major attraction of the airshow. On one occasion, the barriers around the TU-104 were carried away by the crowd when told to stand back to avoid being scorched by the jet exhausts.

In his book Jet Age Test Pilot, Tex Johnston provided a detailed account of the events that took place at the 1958 Vancouver airshow. Specifically, he recalled that when they were back on the ramp upon arrival from the TU-104 demonstration flight, with the deplaning stairway in place, and the engines winding down, Tex Johnston turned to the navigator and said, “I have a message for the Captain. Please tell him that in my twenty-one thousand hours of piloting time, the TU-104 is the sorriest damn airplane I have ever had the misfortune of flying in.” The navigator sat and looked at me. “Go ahead. Tell him exactly what I said.”

As airline history would transpire in the decades after this event, the Boeing 707 family of jetliners became the staple of international jet travel, and were only replaced when more fuel efficient wide-body jetliners were delivered to the world’s airlines in the 1970s. Conversely, the Tupolev 104 was a commercial failure with only 201 airframes built by the time produced ended in 1960. The Tupolev 104 was only operated by Aeroflot and Czech State airline CSA. By comparison 1010 Boeing 707s were built by the time production of the last 707 variants ended in the early 1980s.

This interesting facet of the history of the jet race coupled with Cold War tensions, took place on the apron at YVR, some half century ago. And now you know the story!

On Sunday June 15, 1958, an Aeroflot TU-104 jetliner CCCP-175445 participated in an airshow held at Vancouver airport in celebrations supporting the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Province.

A fabulous shot of Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104 CCCP-42416 at Lenningrad Airport in September 1974, with local observers watching the proceedings. Does not look like a safe place for a Western aviation fan to pull out his cameras and start taking photos! But Dr. John Blatherwick captured this amazing slide under such very demanding circumstances when he took this image. (Photo by Dr. John Blatherwick)

Story and photos by Dr. John Blatherwick

Dr. John Blatherwick

The person taking them would go for free. I asked if my wife could come and he said yes – for $200.00. I said I was in, Carol and I would go as their chaperones. But Carol and I were off to Hawaii in February, and it was not a problem as my friend got all the visas and made all the arrangements (he was taking a group to France).

We flew out on March 21, 1974, on World DC-8-63 N804WA. We stopped in Winnipeg and Helsinki Finland to refuel. On landing in Helsinki, the pilot slammed the aircraft down so hard he blew several tires. We had a delay of 1-2 hours in Helsinki which stretched to 12 hours. We also had a group of 200 senior high school students who spent all the time in the bar! Not our students though. We finally got to Moscow and had a wonderful time. We went to the Kremlin and saw Lenin’s body and to the Moscow ballet. We had 12 students and they were wonderful. Then we took an overnight train to Leningrad. That was funny as the students all rushed down to our section to tell us there was a woman in their compartment. Apparently the Russians placed these women in compartments to make sure there was no hanky panky!! Leningrad was wonderful. On our return flight, we landed at Goose Bay for fuel.

Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104 CCCP-42416 at Moscow April 1974. (Photo by Dr. John Blatherwick)

About the photos taken at Leningrad airport, I was told repeatedly that you could take photos anywhere – no restrictions. But you always felt that maybe you shouldn’t. At the Leningrad airport, our flight was delayed and there were all these great aircraft out on the tarmac. I pulled out my camera and went over by the window and started taking photos with my back fully to the window to prevent people behind me seeing what I was doing. I went through a roll of film which included shots of Russian military helicopters flying by. But my students came over and asked what I was doing and I forgot where I was and start to explain about airplane photo taking and took some photos without screening the camera from view. Shortly thereafter, four men cam over and said, “Would you come with us”. They didn’t touch me but I didn’t want to find out what they would do if I resisted.

All I remember is seeing the look on Carol’s face and on others waiting for the flight as I was marched away. We came to a huge door and they knocked. A man came out and they talked with him in Russian. He suddenly got mad and started shouting at them and all four ran – actually ran – away. He then said to me in a very friendly voice, “There is no problem – I apologize for what they did to you; you can go back to your group”. And that was that – except. About 15 minutes later, he came back and said, “It would make my life a lot easier if you would give me your film and sign this document saying you voluntarily gave me the film.”

The document was in Russian and I had one of the teachers who spoke Russian to read it and he said, “All it says is you have voluntarily given him your film”. I had the greatest urge to open the back of the camera, take out the film, and quickly expose it to light, but I didn’t. I wound it into the canister and gave him the film and singed the document. Then our aircraft arrived and as we boarded, they took our visa cards. As we were waiting for the aircraft to take off, two Russian officers in uniform with rifles came down the aisle of the plane.

You can imagine that I thought they were coming for me. However, nothing happened. We took off and the relief I felt was wonderful. We stopped at Helsinki (I image gas was cheaper in Helsinki than in Leningrad); and stopped at Goose Bay on our way back. It was a trip of a lifetime!

Flight log for this trip:

21 Mar World DC‑8‑63 N804WA Full Red Vancouver Winnipeg 2.6 hrs
21 Mar World DC‑8‑63 N804WA Full Red Winnipeg Helsinki Finland 8.8 hrs
21 Mar World DC‑8‑63 N804WA Full Red Helsinki Fin. Moscow USSR 1.7 hrs
29 Mar World DC‑8‑63 N803WA Full Red Leningrad USSR Helsinki Finland 0.8hrs
29 Mar World DC‑8‑63 N803WA Full Red Helsinki Goose Bay 6.5 hrs
29 Mar World DC‑8‑63 N803WA Full Red Goose Bay Vancouver 6.4 hrs

Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 CCCP-65613 at Moscow April 1974. (Photo by Dr. John Blatherwick)

Aeroflot IL-18 CCCP-75229 at Moscow APril 1974. (Photo by Dr. J. Blatherwick)

Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104 CCCP-42464 at Moscow in April, 1974. (Photo by Dr. John Blatherwick)

During the 1960s and 1970s Aeroflot, the Soviet Union’s State airline, operated aircraft that were manufactured entirely within the Soviet Union, by the great Soviet Design Bureau’s including Tupolev, Antonov, and Ilyushin.

Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104 CCCP-42416 at Leningrad April 1974. (Photo by Dr. John Blatherwick)

During this period, colour photos of Aeroflot aircraft taken within the Soviet Union were extremely rare because very few foreign tourists were able to visit the country, and the Cold War mentality placed terrific security concerns at airports making photography difficult at best. Therefore, Aeroflot aircraft had to be photographed when visiting airports outside of the Soviet Union, usually in Western Europe. Dr. Blatherwick passed through Moscow in April of 1974, and paid a visit to the observation deck where he was able to sneak a very quick images of the proceedings at hand, and I am pleased present them in this small photo presentation.

I am looking to purchase 35mm Kodachrome aircraft slide collections. Please contact me: henrytenby at gmail dot com

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