35 Replies to “Shockwave”

  1. If you go to page 2 you’ll see a photoshop job of what looks like a Piper Cub breaking the sound barrier.
    Good fun.
    Or just another phallic dsiplay by male oppressive hegmonic totalitarian fascist racist homophobe militaristic pigs?
    Just think of all that money spent on mandatory government controlled daycare.

  2. I hope someone gets a picture of that crazy French guy who wants to sky-dive from near-space and break the sound barrier without a plane.
    It’s supposed to take place in Saskatchewan if I remember correctly.

  4. We all sign on like lemmings to the “cool” phenomenon. Refreshing, enlightening, I suppose in a kind of ‘out of this earth’ way.
    I’m more concerned with the “sound barrier” plaguing our rookie, unresponsive government at moment dumbing down the myriad crisis situations escalating across the social, economic spectrum portending a ‘democratic deficit’ to pale those in the most of the underdeveloped world.
    Public pressure must be applied to inadequate sentencing of child pornographers, adscam officials and Tory gov’t platform statement of recovering these lost funds to the public purse.
    As well shutting down the billion dollar plus pornographic industry — which is an utter disgrace to our Canadian nation.
    Neither blogosphere nor MSM are on topic or covering the real agenda. Let’s get moving and up the ante of public pressure applied to the crisis issues. How about?

  5. Been there, done that, over forty years ago in the RCAF CF-104 Starfighter. To be fair we did our supersonic flying at altitude, usually around 35,00 feet. We used to take the F86 Sabre supersonic, briefly at least, by rolling inverted at that altitude and pulling into a vertical dive at full power. If you aimed your gunsight at a target on the ground you could direct the sonic booms at that target, usually someone elses airport. There would be two booms, the first to hit the ground was the one created as you slowed back through the speed of sound, and the second was the one created as you accelerated through the so-called sound barrier. Because it could only travel at the speed of sound it trailed behind the aircaft. I flew the F86 in the mid fifties.

  6. Anon – if you don’t soon learn to keep your comments on topic, you’re going to find they’ll become short lived.

  7. What guy(sorry Kate)doesn’t love fast and noisy stuff?…..Awesome high speed photography,anyone notice last one on top row is actually a diorama?

  8. I feel the need, the need for speed.
    Thanks Woody for the colourful description of your days in the RCAF. I must admit that the Starfighter looked like it could go Mach just sitting on the ground. My only regret at the end of my career was not going super in all my time of hitching rides although most of the stuff I flew in I would not like to try that.

  9. Mr. Wood,
    Great story, I wish I could have the same opportunity.
    I do, however, have one comment about your interpretation of hearing two booms, as I’m not sure of your reasoning. When an aircraft flies supersonically, a number of shock waves are created along its body (e.g., nose, wing leading edges, etc.). As these shocks propagate through the atmosphere from altitude to the ground, they coalesce into a distinct signature in the form of an �N-wave� (named for its resemblance to the letter). The front of the N-wave is a large overpressure and the trailing edge is the corresponding correction. These sudden changes in pressure are what we hear as �booms�, and hence any aircraft travelling supersonically will have two booms, usually in quick succession. Thus, sonic boom is not something that is created by �breaking the sound barrier�, but rather is a result of the pressure disturbance created by flying at supersonic speeds (even in cruise). Saying that a boom was created as you slowed back through the speed of sound is incorrect, as once the aircraft is again subsonic, shock waves will no longer be present to create the boom signature at the ground. When you go subsonic again, the boom will simply disappear.
    I don�t mean to detract from the coolness of your story by overanalysing it, but I thought I�d point out the inconsistency, as maybe you can incorporate this info into future reminisces for the youngsters.
    Cheers,
    Eric

  10. The fan-shaped cloud in these pictures is not the sound barrier being broken, but is an effect that is always present, but only visible under certain humid conditions. The usual name is Prandtl-Glauert singularity. It apparently occurs near Mach 1, but is unrelated to the compressed sound wave generated by supersonic flight. see also:
    http://www.galleryoffluidmechanics.com/conden/pg_sing.htm

  11. The physics of shock waves is described using, Non Linear Partial Differential Equations.
    Navier Stokes equations desribed the fluid and gas dynamics.
    Pretty interesting stuff, if you are designing stuff for jet jockeys. I did my hour and a half lecture on this subject for my Advanced Theoretical Physics courses some years ago. Too lazy to pull my notes out from under the stairs right now.
    Most of the nonlinear stuff they need computers to solve as the the analytical derivations are few; but when you find them they are quite elegant. I remember my former prof, who once worked for DND, getting annoyed at us for having a little too much sport in class, assigning us a 40 page derivation.
    The bow shock wave for aircraft breaking the sound barrier does have a an analytical solution however.
    For a brief introduction check out this link
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_wave

  12. So there I was at 40,000 feet, three burning, one turning and nothing on the fuel guage except the manufacturer’s name…
    Boy, do the geeks know how to ruin a good story. Everyone knows that the clouds around the aircraft are the result of the plasma condensors dumping excess ions from the gravametric compensators prior to warp… errr mach. To be fair, Mr Wood did not say that the cloud was the sound barrier, just that he has broken it many times.
    Without getting into a discussion on physics and Prandtl-Glauert singularities, there is a direct relationship between the visible consensation and the air disturbance caused by travelling near mach. Where is a wind tunnel when you need one.

  13. “Been there, done that, over forty years ago in the RCAF CF-104 Starfighter. To be fair we did our supersonic flying at altitude, usually around 35,00 feet. We used to take the F86 Sabre supersonic, briefly at least, by rolling inverted at that altitude and pulling into a vertical dive at full power. If you aimed your gunsight at a target on the ground you could direct the sonic booms at that target, usually someone elses airport. There would be two booms, the first to hit the ground was the one created as you slowed back through the speed of sound, and the second was the one created as you accelerated through the so-called sound barrier. Because it could only travel at the speed of sound it trailed behind the aircaft. I flew the F86 in the mid fifties.”
    Great story. Called em “Widowmakers” and “Flying Coffins” didn’t they? Quite a radical aircraft, it seems that when they designed it all they had in mind was speed, one big engine with a poor sap hanging on.
    I could be wrong, but I believe a few airforces still use the damn things. I think Italy flies recon versions to this day.

  14. TC….Thanks for a healthy chuckle.
    BTW,that first line sounds like the start of a great novel!

  15. Whoa there, Junker. You have the wrong aircraft. The F-104 and the B-26 Marauder have been called widow-maker or flying coffin, but not the F-86. The B-26 actually had a good service record by the end of WWII.

  16. Sorry, my mistake. You meant the 104 after all. It was a very unforgiving aircraft. A pilot’s first mistake was often his last.

  17. Great story Bob, brings back happy memories of my Air Force days in the sixties and early seventies and my trips in the 104. The power of this aircraft was just incredible, pull up the wheels and straight up to 35,000 in almost total silence, just a hum in the earphones. Did you get your Mach 2 pin? I only flew in duals and missed mine by .1, something to do with a little vibration that could have serious consequences at Mach 1.9 I’m told. They were referred to by a number of names, widowmaker, missle with a man in it, and they had a glide angle of a brick!
    Dan Thomas

  18. The way I understand it, is the cloud is a result of the pressure difference accross the shock wave generated by the plane. Once the air reaches crosses the threshold of the wave, the pressure drops so dramatically, the air cannot hold the moisture and thereby creates the visible cloud.
    The reason that it is associated with the sound barrier is, up until the sound barrier there is a smooth transition in thpressure difference curve and once mach 1 is passed, the pressure difference becomes very abrupt.
    Trev

  19. Trevor:…a similar cloud of fog occurs when a jet engine is spooling up to take-off power. This fog is visible for a second or two.

  21. The phenomenon isn’t a function of the sound barrier but the moisture in the air. I’ve also heard it referred to as supercondensation but not by air force people. You see it every once in a while forming on the topside of the wings of aircraft in turns and has more to do with the quick change in air pressure around the aircraft. I did Mach 1.2 while on a media flight in a CF-18 several years back and we didn’t experience the cloud shockwave.

  22. Garry,
    I am not familiar with that phenomenon.
    I wonder if it is not due to the localized pressure drop from the suction of the intake.
    I read my previous post and I feel that I worded it poorly. The pressure drop causes a temperature gradient in the air and that is what causes the condensation. Colder air hold less water.

  23. Hey Bob Wood, I remember those days, guys did it all the time in the “lead sled, widow maker” CF104’s up at CFB Cold Lake.
    Almost as funny as when we had exchange pilots up here and someone dropped their gear at 350+knots and ripped the undercarrage off. Grounded the whole squadron for a day instead of embarrasing the exchange pilot. You know, PC stuff…

  24. “…plasma condensors dumping excess ions from the gravametric compensators prior to warp…”
    Hey Tex, can I have some of that stuff yer on???
    😉

  25. capndan: “Great story Bob, brings back happy memories of my Air Force days in the sixties and early seventies…”
    Mine too, but sadly that is all the (R)CAF is now, a memory. Been so neutered by the Liberals I feel sorry for the proud men and women who serve in it.
    Most don’t remember the blood, sweat, and tears it took to build Cold Lake, in the middle of a mosquitoes swamp, where your car and others had to be tied in a chain together and then towed in from Bonneville by a bulldozer because of the muddy roads…

  26. Fanscinating stuff from the pilots, thanks for sharing all.
    I used to live in Northern Saskatchewan, several hundred klicks south of the Cold Lake bombing range. On rare occaisons when I was up in the forest hunting, I could hear the sound of munitions going off. Pretty cool stuff. I saw some fairing ‘interesting’ low level flying there as well, mostly F-18’s, and a most memorable F-5 that wipped over the highway I was traveling on at about 300 feet.
    My father, before my time, remembers F-4’s flying out there as well. He tells me the racket those fellas created was unsurpassed.

  27. Hey Junker,
    The stories we could tell about low level flight out in the boondocks especially along the railroad tracks between Edmonton and Fort McMurray and over the “moose pasture” on Primrose Lake. Ah the exuberance of youth………..

  28. Ha, I remember in ’78 the Routine Order that came out telling pilots not to ‘buzz’ (practice bombing runs) the WestCan tanker trucks coming out of Esso to Lloyd or Ft Sask.
    Guess the drivers were nervous enough carring all that oil/gas behind them without having CF-5/CF-18s line them up in the gun sights and forget to leave the safety switch on…

  29. Hey Kate, if you like that you should Google “Squirt 2”, there’s some video of a 21′ aluminum jet boat powered by a 1200 hp jet engine and it was built in Canada!

  30. I remember,growing up in Kelowna,(early 70’s)the Blue Angels were practicing over the Okanagan Lake for an air show when one “accidentally” broke the sound barrier shattering numerous windows in the city…One downtown shop owner painted a huge cartoon on the plywood where there once was glass.It showed an imposing figure towering from behind a desk over a smaller drawn airman.The caption read..”You call yourselves the blue what?”(Well,it was funny then)

  31. tomax,
    “Somebody dropped their gear at 350 knots”. While in Germany flying the CF104 we had number of occurences when the gear dropped spontaneously at high speed. I had one of those while pushing up from 450 knots to 540 knots. Things were a blur for a few moments but I was able to discern that the landing gear was somewhere between up and locked and down and locked. The wheels are lowered by hydraulics and the hydraulic pressure was fluctuating alarmingly. As quickly as possible I reduced speed and selected gear down. Very fortunately I got three greens (three wheels down and locked.) After that it was a matter of climbing to save fuel, figuring whre I was, heading back to base and making a landing and getting stopped without power brakes steering etc. I earned my pension that day and one or two other days like it.

  32. Bob Wood,
    After picking what remained of a few who didn’t live to get their pensions out of the bush and swamps of Northern Alberta and West Germany you deserve every penny of it! If that landing was at Zweibrucken 67/69 or Lahr 69/70, I may have been in one of those red trucks unhooking you from the barrier and resetting the damn thing.
    Jeez, I hated those barrier changes at 5:00 AM and 40 below Zero in Cold Lake.
    Did you know Howie Rowe by any chance, he was my Private Pilot instructor and my CF104 Captain whenever he had a dual to test? Those were the days………..

  34. Bob…
    This was a CF-18 doing T&G’s, I think he was #3 in formation and somehow heard #2 when tower told that guy to drop gear for the final leg.
    Would be comical if it wasn’t so dang expensive…have to look up the accident report, I think he bailed over Cold Lake.
    Reminds me also of another “funny incident” where an ’18 was having serious problems and the pilot turned to bail over CL but for some reason the plane kept flying, albeit in an circle. So the fire trucks were racing up and down English Bay road and the ol’ Pierceland road trying to figure where it would crash.
    Almost like Keystone cops or Inst. Clouseau in the Pink Panther scene where they are all piled in two trucks crossing each other. “You take the high road and I’ll take the low.”

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