Have you heard a Sonic Boom?

Have you heard a Sonic Boom?


  • Total voters
    56
  • Poll closed .
Thunder! That's a sonic boom. Lightning super heats the atmosphere to a hotter temperature then the sun for a small fraction of a second. The air 'explodes'. That's the 'boom'.

Ron
 
Yes. On the way to Edwards, the Space Shuttle flies over Southern California. I've heard the twin sonic booms several times. In the early eighties at the Miramar Air Show (Top Gun Base), I saw and heard an F-14 do a low level flyby at supersonic speeds. It broke windows at UCSD.
 
I heard a double real close once when I was a kid. It was in 1983 and we were at the Outer Banks in N.C. in Rodanthe. They were having Naval games out in the Atlantic not too far off. We could see the flash of light and hear the slight boom when they would fire their guns at night...that was so cool...they had the Battleship USS New Jersey out there firing. I was always a model freak as a kid. A couple of F-14 Tomcats flew about 50-75 ft. above the water while we were swimming one morning. We could see the pilots when they flew by. After they passed they angled out to sea and let it rip...all of a sudden there was a double big boom and they shot skyward. That was so cool! Made our hair stand on end. They were maybe a mile away when the sound hit. We were there for a week and they were out there almost the entire time...every so often we'd hear a boom in the distance.
 
Been a while for the boom...

Did a stint in the AF as a jet engine mech. Spent most of my time working at the test cell. Not much is like the tingle you get standing within a foot or two of a jet engine running at power. :thmbsp:
 
The last one I heard was about a week ago. I was trying to sneek a new set of speakers into the house. The wife got home earlier than expected and BOOM!!! The sound was amazing! :naughty:

cubdog

thats the noggin'barrier that has been crossed!!...LOL
 
Over most populated areas, aren't aircraft prohibited from breaking the sound barrier? Although, I've heard a few sonic booms in the form of gunshots.

You are correct that is why when using a silencer one uses sub-sonic ammo. If not the secondary crack after 1100 FPS (around there) is sharp and will make your presence known pronto.
 
I've heard 2 in my life and they do tend to scare the wits out of you if you're not expecting them.

While we're on the subject... ever wonder whether if it's the cigar or disc shape (and lack of wings) that keeps UFOs from creating sonic booms as they rapidly dart back and forth across the sky...? :scratch2:
 
Many times growing up in the 60's and spent much time around the F-4 Phantom and the crack of it's twin burners fully lit reaching towards the heavens...I miss those days!
 
I worked for the Army Corps of Engineers out of college doing acoustics research, mostly for noise abatement around bases. One of our studies was testing C-4 blasts to sonic booms out in the desert near Fallon, Nv. We were setting off 5lb blocks of C-4 and we tried to match levels with the booms. Somebody had calculated about how high the planes would have to be to match ~125dB. They were wrong. Our first flyover was about 5000', they hit the gas right over us, and we measured somewhere in the high 130's. It shook stuff off the shelves in our measurement truck. We eventually got it all straightened out and spent a week listening to various booms.

Ray
 
The last time I heard "The Sound Of Freedom"was the summer of 1985. My son was 5 years old. We were visiting my best friend in Alamogordo N.M. Said friend was an F15 pilot at Holloman A.F.B.. By arrangement my son and I were way out in White Sands Monument. It was my pals turn to lead a night flight of 4 Eagles. I know the rest of pilots were happy to give a little boy a thrill. Exactly on the agreed time the 4 aircraft flew low over us and one after the other went to afterburner and flew straight up into the darkest blue New Mexico night. Absolutely one of our all time moments. Go Air Force:thmbsp::thmbsp::thmbsp:
 
I worked for the Army Corps of Engineers out of college doing acoustics research, mostly for noise abatement around bases. One of our studies was testing C-4 blasts to sonic booms out in the desert near Fallon, Nv. We were setting off 5lb blocks of C-4 and we tried to match levels with the booms. Somebody had calculated about how high the planes would have to be to match ~125dB. They were wrong. Our first flyover was about 5000', they hit the gas right over us, and we measured somewhere in the high 130's. It shook stuff off the shelves in our measurement truck. We eventually got it all straightened out and spent a week listening to various booms.

Ray

Me setting a small C-4 charge at the Eniwetok Atoll, 1978.
 
Last edited:
Used to hear them all the time, my parents live right across the river from Scott AFB. Some idiot hit the sound barrier way too low one time when I was a kid - I was sitting on the edge of my bed and the blast actually knocked me into the floor. Broke a window in my dad's wood shop, too. He had a rather angry conversation with whoever answered the phone at the AFB that afternoon, but they never admitted responsibility...
 
I was stationed at Grissom AFB(formerly Bunker Hill AFB) in Peru, Indiana between Jan 1968 - Feb 1969. This was SAC (Strategic Air Command) extremely high security base In the middle of rural "cornfield" Indiana.

The B-58 was a single mission Delta wing bomber. Before the B-70 and the F-111 bombers, the B-58 was a 4 engine Mach 2 (1400 mph) High altitude monster. Each engine produced 20,000 hp! It set speed and altitude records that still stand today. Only bested by the famous "BlackBird" SR-71 spy plane.

The B-58 was capable of sustained 900mph afterburner speeds for 1/2hr at a time before going back subsonic. It was capable of mach 1 at 600ft above the ground!!!
It's service ceiling was 80,000ft and operational ceiling was 65,000ft.

Unfortunately it could get you there FAST, though you would never return!

It's sole mission was to deliver one 15 megaton air burst thermonuclear (H bomb) device.

Because of high maintainance costs and its limited mission it quickly outlived its mission.The russians had nothing that could keep up with it, nor missles able to reach it at the speeds it flew.

I worked on the flightline in Mission planning... nuf said... when those suckers fired up those 4 GE monsters nothing stood still. Everything rattled like a giant subwoofer!!! It stayed that way until they passed the 5000ft marker and went Airborne. The flames from those beauties could be seen for about 3 miles in the night sky.
The Coup deGrace was when SAC pulled a launch alert (which happened frequently, like in the movies) and then you had 50 bombers lined up on the runway in the mixed Triad configuration - 32 of those bombers had live Nukes in their bellies taxiing and taking off at 10 second intervals... All those engines!!!! Still gives me goose bumps.We did have one fatal accident, when a total flameout occured on take off and the aircraft crashed on its belly, with live weaponry. All 3 crew members were killed. Bases was cloed for over a week until everyone was debriefed.

In terms of sonic booms,they were never allowed to go supersonic over or near the base. Only after the Reached 40,000ft over Lake Michigan. Then remainded so over the the TOP of the world on their way to Russia. They were deactivated in 1972 and replaced with the F-111 Bomber.

Well nowI know who to blame.I lived in one of those corn fields You guys and the Harrier Jump Jet's testings use to scare the hell out of us dirt farmers.
I bet there were thousands of ufo reports becouse of the jump jet.
 
Growing up in Miami in the sixties I used to hear them fairly often. I read that north central Florida got one less than a week ago from that, ahem, "experimental" craft that landed after a two year orbit. "Say hello to my little friend".
 
Back
Top Bottom