Sonic Boom

[tiggerblue10]

Don't know about 4.20am this morning but on Thursday or Friday evening (can't remember), I heard what sounded like Concorde flying past. The booming noise went on for about 30 seconds before fading. I looked out and couldn't see anything as it was cloudy but my windows were vibrating.

Could it have been the same thing? It was definitely louder than the usual plane noises.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50618956

[KARL]

As a child I lived less than a kilometre from the end of the longest runway of an airport used by the USA military. I recall one time when, as I was told after the event which happened in the middle of the night, a fully laden B52 used almost all of the available 12,000ft run and just got airborne then climbed at such a low angle that it had to restrict itself to a very gentle turn to get onto its final heading. It took ages to clear 2000ft. The noise was deafening and the entire house seemed to shake, I was very alarmed and heard the thing for many, many minutes - I settled down as soon as I realised the noise was receding but it was still astonishingly noisy. Those aircraft have eight engines and in those days they were old fashioned and very noisy. Is it conceivable you heard an old jet aircraft, perhaps military, climbing at relatively low altitude ?

[derek-33]

Concorde never went sonic over the uk.

[woofgang]

I knew one person who did a really posh cruise...first class on a Queen to the US then home on Concorde. He slept the whole way!

[New Judge]

//Concorde it was a wonderful experience!!//

My supersonic experience was in one of the very "Frightening" Lightnings mentioned by bhg. There was nowhere to put my Champagne! But I can now content myself that the Lightning was the only aircraft to overtake Concorde when the passenger aircraft was being tested in 1985. BAC offered Concorde as a chase target to NATO fighters/interceptors and the Lightning was the only one of half a dozen aircraft types to overhaul it.

[bhg481]

If you think the Lightning was quick, think about TSR-2, which was being trialled at Boscombe Down. Roland Beamont, the test pilot, reported that he engaged reheat on one engine and left the Lightning escort standing.

[shoota]

Bet there aren't many folk who remember the TSR2 bhg.

[Eve]

I live about six miles from Manchester Airport and occasionally we get a very large plane coming over which makes far more noise than the usual planes. I always think it looks lower but apparently it's because of the size.

I'd love to have flown on Concorde. I went to the Runway visitor park (where you can go and watch planes) at Manchester Airport where they have one you can have a tour of. Really interesting! Surprised me how narrow it is inside. We had someone on the tour who had flown one (as a pilot, not a passenger), it was fascinating.

I got to spend some time on a RAF base as a cadet and got to see Tornados taking off and landing, an absolutely incredible sight, and sound.

[bhg481]

Shoota - anybody who saw it fly does.

[237SJ]

We used to hear the booms from Concorde over N Devon and it wasn't just one boom - there were usually a couple. They were louder in the winter when it was dark. We would hear the booms and the sound of the engines would follow several seconds later.

[hereIam]

Used to love watching Concorde fly over when I lived in Widnes every Grand National Day, you could hear it coming for miles and it was indeed a sight to behold.

[tiggerblue10]

I never flew Concorde but I did board one when I was a teen. I did a travel and tourism course at the time.

[New Judge]

//Roland Beamont, the test pilot, reported that he engaged reheat on one engine and left the Lightning escort standing.//

The TSR2 (well, at least the one and only one which flew) was certainly an impressive aircraft. It was far more sophisticated than the Lightning (which was basically a seat bolted on the top of two Rolls Royce engines). Its avionics, armaments and payload capabilities were far in advance of the Lightning (the design of which was at least ten years older) and most of all it had a far more useful range. At high speed the Lightning would be looking for an airstrip or a tanker after about twenty minutes. As far as performance is concerned the Lightning remains one of the quickest production aircraft ever built, even to this day. Here’s a passage from “The TSR2 with hindsight” by Wing Commander Jimmy Dell, who was one of Bee Beaumont’s team of test pilots and who succeeded him as Chief Test Pilot:

“After line-up for take-off the procedure was to hold the aircraft on the brakes, engage minimum reheat, check engine readings, release brakes on increasing reheat to maximum. Acceleration was impressive if not quite up to Lightning standard.”

It’s difficult to say whether the TSR2 would have bettered the raw performance of the Lightning (whose phenomenal rate of climb remains the envy of “Fighter Jockeys” even today). But it would have been a much better all round aircraft and it was tragic that it was cancelled. Instead the MoD bought Blackburn Buccaneers, McDonnel-Douglas Phantoms and eventually Panavia Tornados (only retired in April this year). All superb aircraft but probably not as good as the TSR2 might have been.

[DTCwordfan]

I was upgraded twice and fun it was, not withstanding the aborted take off on the first flight......