Sonic Boom?

[Kanewpadle]

If you read the news today you may have heard about the F-15's that were scrambled from a ANG base in Portland, Oregon.

Scared the hell out of me. But I knew right away what is was.

Everyone ran out of the building and panicked. I laughed a little.

I worked on over 30 different aircraft while in the Air Force so I've heard sonic booms several times.

Local media made a big deal out of it. Knocked out the local 911 system, set off a bunch of car alarms, and broke a few windows.

But it was still cool.

 

[Ignatz]

I'm 55 and remember in 2nd or 3rd grade leaving our classrooms to stand outside while jets were passing by. The govt. was doing speed trials and our school was in the flight path!

 

[Hermann]

Nothing new here, at least once a week some windows are tested this way by USAF or NATO jets ...

 

[BarbC]

I once heard the double (actually triple) sonic boom of the incoming space shuttle, and that was cool.

When we lived in Hampton Roads, it was a veritable military air show almost every day except for Sunday, when the realtors show houses.

 

[Moonman]

Back in the 50's early 60's time-frame, the Air Force was simulating attacks on Cleveland at night with B-58 Hustlers I believe. You would hear a BOOM as they came in for their run and in a few minutes another BOOM as they exited the area. They spooked a lot of people and caused some broken windows and cracked plaster.

 

[scoutsdad]

The Air Force uses the Chiricahua Mtns behind my home to train. They think the narrow canyons are a lot like Afghanistan. Once in a while a chase stimulation is done and the throttle gets pulled back a little to much.

 

[BlackAgnes]

That's the sound of freedom, kids!

Tim
(former NORAD guy)

 

[Moonman]

+1 for Freedom and the Jet Jockey families along with all the other armed forces too!!!!

 

[Len]

Back when we lived in Fargo, ND, I remember huge flights of old F 86's from Grand Forks flying overhead.

You'd be there, minding your own business, playing with your Tonka trucks in the sandbox, and then there'd be a slew of sonic booms...or one great big one, depending on how they were flying.

We were used to it on a daily basis, but it still bounced you out of your socks when it happened.

Len

 

[Bullseye 2620]

The Air Force uses the Chiricahua Mtns behind my home to train. They think the narrow canyons are a lot like Afghanistan. Once in a while a chase stimulation is done and the throttle gets pulled back a little to much.

Ditto here in the Blue Ridge. I love the F-18s out of Oceana that come up here to practice their attack runs in our hills and hollers. However, once in a while we get C-5As, which, while they don't produce sonic booms, are loud and lumbering. Despite knowing better, I still wonder how something that big can get airborne.


Bullseye

 

[keith44spl]

Low Level

I remember...
Back in the sixties our place was on a flight path...A couple at mach 1 almost everyday for a while, scared hell outta the livestock at first.

Come to think of it, hadn't hear one in awhile. Ya never forget the sound or feeling...It's like, Victory!!!

Su Amigo,
Dave

 

[DWinter]

No sound is better than seeing an incoming F-14 Tomcat 3 miles behind the ship approaching at 700 knots doing a supersonic flyby. The quiet as he passes in front of you within 250 yards of the ship, the "boom" that rattles your teeth, and the screaming jet noise as he flies away into the blue sky at mach 1+. Over 11 years on carriers as a aviation electronics tech and I never got tired of seeing that. The only boom that came close was the A6E Intruders dropping a row of 1000lb'ers off the port side usually about a mile or less from us. Talk about a wall of liquid destruction.
From an old sailor who sometimes really misses it, May God bless my brothers in arms in all branches and their families.

 

[safearm]

This is what it looks like. I never had a picture of my aircraft breaking the barrier, but I was there a bunch of times.

 

[BarbC]

Do you hear it inside the plane?

 

[venomballistics]

Do you hear it inside the plane?

not possible to hear it in the plane ... which is a head trip.
the sound is from the shockwave that the plane has passed and outruns

 

[safearm]

Nope. There is a slight vibration as the pressure builds on the flight control surfaces and then you punch through. All you hear is the muted roar of the engines behind you.

 

[WC145]

This is what it looks like. I never had a picture of my aircraft breaking the barrier, but I was there a bunch of times.

Very cool pics, thanks!

 

[4330Inroute]

When I was is elementary school in the 60's planes from Lemoore NAS would fly over our school sometimes at a thousand feet or so but mostly higher. We would stand in the playground and try to identify the planes flying by. When our principal who had been a Navy Fighter pilot in WWII found out what we were doing as a group he began to hand out binoculars to us and tell us what kind of plane we were looking at. When one broke the sound barrier he would always tell us 'That, boys, is the sound of freedom.'
On the other hand when there was a sonic boom you would find my Dad under the table or under a truck on the ground. He would complain that it sounded too much like a &^%$*@! German 88.

 

[feralmerril]

Haveing worked my career at lockheed they were more than a daily occurance years ago. I have seen them set off many car alarms. But come to think of it, I hardley hear them anymore. In fact even before I retired I hadnt heard them in a long time. Its one of those things that have pretty much dissapeared probley due to noise abatement laws.

 

[handejector]

The first one I ever heard occured over south Atlanta when I was just a little kid! (yes, the jet was already around when I was a kid) Must have been a test from Lockheed. Scared me.

They are cool, but not the neatest memory of a jet I have.
One day long ago and far away, Chuck set up his mortar on a hilltop within rifle range of a firebase. He got a few rounds off. There were apparently two Phantoms in the area hunting something to do. Before the guns even got fire direction data, one Phantom dropped out of the sun, and the Pow-pow-pow-Rooooooaaaaarrrrrr of his Vulcan began. He was coming almost straight down for what seemed like a long time, lighting the hilltop up. When he broke off, his wingman did the same. They both made two runs, and I suspect they used ALL their ammo, or all they're allowed to use in case they meet bad guys going home.
It was a beautiful thing to behold. The hilltop was noticeably changed.
Chuck didn't bloop no more.

 

[USAF385]

We would routinely travel at mach speeds in the AC-130.... of course mach .4 or so. When I was cross training this summer to loadmaster C-5s we would get near mach .8. But that's not exciting.. no sonic booms... just loud engines.

I did get to break the sound barrier when I went for a ride along in an F-15 a few years back... I remember the pilot saying we hit mach 1.4, and that's the only reason I knew we did.

I was disappointed afterward though when I realized mach 1.4 at the altitude we were flying was something like 50 mph slower than 1,000 mph... I only fly in large, slow planes so that would have been pretty cool.

 

[NE450No2]

When I was growing up I lived north of Dallas, TX.

We heard Sonic Booms all the time.

A bout 5 years ago I was on a horseback elk hunt in Wyoming.

We were riding into the back country with a packstring of a dozen horses counting riders and pack animals.

All of a sudden an Air Force plane [a B1 bomber I think] flew over at tree top level, super sonic.

The horses went CRAZY and we had a bit of a Rodeo...

After we got everything settled down, and repacked, the lane again flew by, much lower, with the plot tiping the plane and we could definately see him looking at us....

I thought to myself... "I wonder if they could tell in the crash debris, that that plane was shot down by a 300 Win Mag???

They flew down the valley several times below the level of the peaqks on both sides. We were above them, and it was pretty cool to see.

 

[nickhallnavy]

I once heard the double (actually triple) sonic boom of the incoming space shuttle, and that was cool.

When we lived in Hampton Roads, it was a veritable military air show almost every day except for Sunday, when the realtors show houses.

yup, there are always F-18s flyin around here!

 

[Kanewpadle]

The first boom I heard was an SR-71. I used to work on them.