Supersonic flight

Image: Wikimedia

Science and technology – 2

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History

Most people know that Concorde was a joint UK/France development that resulted in a commercial supersonic passenger plane. It was technically successful and carried passengers across the Atlantic from 1976 until 2003, but for several reasons it was never commercially successful. There was also a Soviet version, the Tupolev Tu-144 that crashed spectacularly at the Paris Airshow in 1973.

But today, both Concorde and the Tu-144 are history.

Present development

Not so many readers will be aware of a commercial project to design and build a new supersonic passenger plane, or that a smaller development and test version is already flying and has just made its first supersonic flight. This is the Boom XB-1, specifically designed to cause less noise and, amusingly considering the company’s name, less transonic boom audible from the ground.

So far the project is going well; the test-flight program is well underway with promising results so far. The full-size airliner (Overture) would be substantially smaller than Concorde and carry fewer passengers, but if successful in service a larger model might be considered.

See also:

• Boom XB-1 – Wikipedia
• Boom made Mach 1 look easy – Scott Manley
• Company website – Boom
• Concorde – Wikipedia
• Supersonic air travel? – Scott Manley
• Supersonic transport – Wikipedia
• Tupolev Tu-144 – Wikipedia

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