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Post by soonerbillz on Dec 14, 2023 3:11:30 GMT
70 years ago today, Chuck Yeager piloted Bell X-1A to Mach 2.44, a new record for piloted aircraft at the time. After reaching Mach 2.44, the X-1A tumbled out of control, twice reaching 8 Gs. Yeager recovered from inverted spin and landed the aircraft.
Will we ever have heros and music like this again?
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Post by tambra68 on Dec 14, 2023 15:21:09 GMT
In answer to your rhetorical question - nope! Spend a day in a Walmart, mall, or delivering pizza! The generations following “us” , (at least in Ohio) is in a sad state of affairs. Can’t make change for a dollar, without a calculator, can’t hold an intelligible conversation, interests are video games, or having their nose in a cell phone 24/7, and enrolled in colleges that will graduate you for coloring in a safe space.
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Post by joe on Dec 15, 2023 4:12:50 GMT
Brings back fond memories of the good old sonic booms. When I was a kid they were just a normal part of the day. I thought they were way cool. My mother, who had to clean up whatever fell off the walls or tables, didn't think they were that cool though.
Some fighter pilot (assumed) around here got a little careless one day a year or two ago and we had a pretty good one!
Any revolutionary stuff aircraft-wise is probably happening over 80K feet and we're not going to know about it. |
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Post by Buck on Dec 15, 2023 15:43:32 GMT
The last boom around MD was last year when a private jet lost pressure and was flying on autopilot near the Capitol in DC. Fighters from Andrews were allowed to go supersonic pursuing it. The pilot and passengers were unconscious and the jet crashed in West Virginia.
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Post by mary on Dec 15, 2023 17:15:39 GMT
We used to get a double sonic boom when the space shuttles were returning to Cape Canaveral from the space station. Now we get a sonic boom when the crew capsules are returning from the space station, if their flight path flies over us.
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Post by delclayman on Dec 15, 2023 20:34:59 GMT
In answer to your rhetorical question - nope! Spend a day in a Walmart, mall, or delivering pizza! The generations following “us” , (at least in Ohio) is in a sad state of affairs. Can’t make change for a dollar, without a calculator, can’t hold an intelligible conversation, interests are video games, or having their nose in a cell phone 24/7, and enrolled in colleges that will graduate you for coloring in a safe space. I am in Ohio too, and see the exact same thing. Very disheartening |
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Post by tambra68 on Dec 15, 2023 21:06:13 GMT
I had forgotten about the sonic booms! I was pretty young, but glad to have that reminder, lol!
And, I was born and raised in West Virginia. “They” say it’s not a party until a WV girl walks in! 😊
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Post by joe on Dec 16, 2023 2:35:35 GMT
I'm slightly surprised I don't get more sonic booms. I'm in one of the flight paths of an Air Force jet training base about 20 miles away. Was outside today and heard about 6 small jets fly across about 15 seconds apart. They were sub-sonic but really loud (they were low but above today's socked in clouds) and really moving. I think the base takes super-sonic speeds and booms VERY seriously to avoid complaints. I have heard a number where it sounds like a "pre-boom" (a really loud rumble that I normally don't hear that's just about ready to get good) before they cool it down
Fortunately they don't use that path very often.
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pacnw
Junior Member
Posts: 74 
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Post by pacnw on Dec 16, 2023 9:53:28 GMT
I think the last big sonic-boom I heard was in the early-90's. It was so loud it shook the windows and people up the street were all coming out of their houses, probably expecting to see a plume of smoke somewhere from an explosion. Found out later it was an SR-71 flying overhead.
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Post by storminator on Dec 16, 2023 15:31:01 GMT
I think the last big sonic-boom I heard was in the early-90's. It was so loud it shook the windows and people up the street were all coming out of their houses, probably expecting to see a plume of smoke somewhere from an explosion. Found out later it was an SR-71 flying overhead. When the SR-71 retired from service it went about officially setting all the air speed records it held in classified reports. Sonic booms all over the country. |
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Post by markus on Dec 17, 2023 1:41:02 GMT
Something about those German names...Yeager...von Braun. Yeager did shoot down an Me262 (flying at greatly reduced speed, not in April of '45). The accusations regarding Ed Dwight can't be substantiated.
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Post by Espo on Dec 17, 2023 2:01:15 GMT
I think the last big sonic-boom I heard was in the early-90's. It was so loud it shook the windows and people up the street were all coming out of their houses, probably expecting to see a plume of smoke somewhere from an explosion. Found out later it was an SR-71 flying overhead. When the SR-71 retired from service it went about officially setting all the air speed records it held in classified reports. Sonic booms all over the country. I saw a documentary on the SR-71. The coolest part is when the pilot said that at full speed the only sound in the cockpit was the mile marker clicking every two seconds. |
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Post by joe on Dec 17, 2023 3:53:38 GMT
The SR-71 was an amazing aircraft. This is the kind of engineering that can be done in an environment like the Skunk Works where bureaucracy and traditional rules go out the window and a qualified team is LEFT ALONE to do what they want the way they want to do it. No idea deemed too crazy. If I remember right: Wiring from the nose to the cockpit getting too hot and melting? Don't give up, just use titanium! The cost is somebody else's problem.
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Post by soonerbillz on Dec 17, 2023 6:03:48 GMT
The most crazy thing about the SR71 was it's fuselage design
Because it's fuselage would dramatically expand from the heat caused by the extreme speeds and the resulted friction the design expected, and the huge engines consumed enormous amounts of fuel... the fuselage was really just a giant fuel tank. The design was to allow for the expansion at the expense of fuel to leak out on pre flight fill and stop as the Mach speeds heated the fuselage and sealed..
Fucking crazy 🤪
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Post by joe on Dec 18, 2023 3:39:25 GMT
Imagine yourself being the pilot in control of this sucker!
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