Will we ever fly supersonically over land?

Re:Will we ever fly supersonically over land? by hollerith on Saturday July 03, 2021 @07:00PM (#27725696)

They might be smaller, but the boom is quite startling; I certainly wouldn't want to endure them regularly. I know because booms from fighters were common during my trip to West Germany in 1970. (I'm relying on what locals told my parents as to the source of the booms: I never saw a plane.) I've never heard a sonic boom in my 60 years of living in the US.

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Re:Will we ever fly supersonically over land? by Mountain_Skies on Saturday July 03, 2021 @08:50PM (#27726408)

Rural Alabama had them semi-frequently in the late 70s and early 80s. Not sure where the fighters came from, perhaps Maxwell AFB had a training wing at that time. As far as I know, it never broke anything but it sure would rattle your dental work.

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Re:Will we ever fly supersonically over land? by paul_f on Saturday July 03, 2021 @09:21PM (#27726569)

You are correct. I clearly remember hearing sonic booms in Montgomery, AL in the early 70s.

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Re:Will we ever fly supersonically over land? by dreamcompiler on Saturday July 03, 2021 @11:48PM (#27727090)

I used to hear them all the time in Texas when I was a kid in the 70s. We were fairly close to an air force base and we'd be out in the yard on a bright sunny day when we'd hear a thunderclap, as if lightning had struck less than a mile away. We'd look up, see a contrail, and say "Oh." It never caused any damage; it was just surprising.

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Re:Will we ever fly supersonically over land? by LinuxBender on Saturday July 03, 2021 @11:31PM (#27727027)

I heard them all the time near Vandenburg AFB in the 70's and early 80's. I don't remember when exactly I stopped hearing them.

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