1973 Paris Air Show Tu-144 crash - GIF

[Floradawg]

You are describing the crash of the Concorde SST. This was the USSR Supersonic passenger plane. I think they only built a couple and if I remember correctly, it didn't go into regular service. They just wanted to be first. They also just wanted to be first with a space shuttle. It never went into service either but it did fly once without anyone on board before NASA's did. This crash had to be a huge embarrassment to them. I'm sure some heads rolled. I think they tried to blame the crash on another plane that was in their way causing the TU-144 to make a maneuver that caused it to break apart. There was no nearby plane however. It was just them trying to cover up what was probably a faulty design of the structure.