Non-motoring > Sonic boom. Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Fenlander Replies: 15
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 13:11 
 Sonic boom. - Fenlander
Not heard one for decades but a naughty military jet has just done the deed over here. I was working in the garage with doors shut and the metal up & over flexed in with a bang as if a car had come down the drive and hit it. I can still feel the pressure in my ears.

Americans... just can't keep it under wraps can they....

Unless it's fast response Typhoon from Coningsby off to an airliner/Bear.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 5 Jun 14 at 13:13
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 13:18 
 Sonic boom. - TheManWithNoName
I was talking to my neighbour this morning about various war time exploits he remembered as a young man living and working around North Essex, including the night a V2 rocket came down on a farm near by. He heard the sonic boom as it came down then a massive explosion as it detonated. He said it was one of the most frightening things he ever heard in his life because until the V2, no-one had heard a man-made sonic boom.
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 13:28 
 Sonic boom. - Fenlander
It reminds me I was working in a large glass area modern office on the east side of Peterborough 25yrs ago when a lorry carrying 800kgs of explosives exploded nearby, sadly killing a fireman attending to what he thought was a vehicle fire and sending 90 others to hospital.

I remember then the office windows visibly bowed in but we were just far enough away for them not to shatter. Loads of ceiling tiles fell down though. It was interesting how disorienting it was as the brain tried to take in what had happened and where... and if it was going to happen again perhaps nearer.

I can understand how the SAS flash bangs are so effective.
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 13:34 
 Sonic boom. - Armel Coussine
They are very rare round here although military aircraft are sometimes seen and heard.

The commonest supersonic objects are rifle bullets, but they are so small that the boom is more of a crack. Even the silenced .22 used for rats, squirrels etc makes a sort of whiplash crack.
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 13:45 
 Sonic boom. - Fenlander
Yes I loved that .22 crack. Loads of guns at home when I was a child/teen... inc a legally held but I guess not allowed these days automatic .22 rifle with a magazine. That went crack... crack... crack quickly a few times in a satisfying way.
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 13:50 
 Sonic boom. - Bromptonaut
Must be late eighties I last heard one, while out walking in the New Forest. Same again same time following day.

IIRC there was speculation that Concordes' boom could, in right (or wrong) conditions, travel considerably further than estimated when transonic acceleration/deceleration points were nominated.

Longer ago I remember Hunters doing them at Yeovilton air show c.1978 - I think it was an anniversary of a Hunter record. Presumably they had permission for those.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 5 Jun 14 at 13:51
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 15:35 
 Sonic boom. - henry k
>> Must be late eighties I last heard one, while out walking in the New Forest.
>> Same again same time following day.
>>
>> IIRC there was speculation that Concordes' boom could, in right (or wrong) conditions, travel considerably> further than estimated when transonic acceleration/deceleration points were nominated.
>>
Not speculation , Fact.
A guy I worked with reported hearing, on several days, the boom at Crowthorne.
The boom can "reflect" off clouds. We checked the timetables and it was Air France causing it.
It would have been the Air France aircraft you heard in the New Forest.
I was working at Alderney airport and we heard the boom every day.
AF used to go supersonic asap and to hell with folks below.
The guys there said it was the norm.
Just to confirm my comments

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11154707

www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?5535-Sonic-Booms
suggests it was legal but I am not so sure :-(

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New Thu 5 Jun 14 13:47 
 Sonic boom. - WillDeBeest
...until the V2, no-one had heard a man-made sonic boom.

Isn't a whip crack a man-made sonic boom?
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 13:48 
 Sonic boom. - Armel Coussine
Yes.
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 13:58 
 Sonic boom. - TheManWithNoName
>> Yes.
>>

No, its a sonic crack, not a window rattling boom!
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 14:03 
 Sonic boom. - VxFan
Last one I heard was 2 or 3 yrs ago at Bournemouth Air Festival. The pilot got a round of applause from the audience, but the opposite from some of the residents who suffered proprty damage.
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 16:11 
 Sonic boom. - Crankcase
This is what happened today:

www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/SONIC-BOOM-Houses-rocked-as-aircraft-breaks-the-sound-barier-over-Cambridgeshire-20140605132903.htm
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 16:16 
 Sonic boom. - Mike Hannon
We get sonic booms almost regularly here in depopulated rural France. Technically not allowed but the French Armee de l'Air don't give a toss. Never less than a fright. I guess the authorities think that if Rafales are allowed to do it often enough it might persuade someone into buying a couple.
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 16:21 
 Sonic boom. - Armel Coussine
I'm not bothered by thunder, explosions or sonic booms, having lived most of my life in London where chaps are always dumping skips, fly-tipping loads of rubble, shouting and dropping huge metallic objects on the pavement from great heights.

What puzzles me is claims of property damage. It's said to be possible for the shockwave of an aircraft going supersonic to break windows, but I think it's only strong in a fairly narrow conical zone directly ahead of the aircraft. Does anyone know of a convincingly authenticated example of property damage (not compensation payments which are often claimed fraudulently in our toerag nation)?
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 16:31 
 Sonic boom. - Fenlander
>>>What puzzles me is claims of property damage. It's said to be possible for the shockwave of an aircraft going supersonic to break windows,


Actually I don't doubt it. The amount our garage door pushed in had it been a large old sheet of glass I reckon it could have shattered. Modern double glazing much less likely to do so though.
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New Thu 5 Jun 14 16:38 
 Sonic boom. - Stuartli
See:

tinyurl.com/oaarxet

I live on the other side of the Ribble Estuary from BAC Warton which is only about six miles as the crow flies, so the Typhoons and other BAe aircraft are seen and heard regularly on a daily basis...:-) Fortunately sonic booms are extremely rare though.
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