Sonic Boom

[paulllambert]

I've just heard an almighty bang, followed by aircraft engine noise from directly overhead (in Cambridgeshire). The house shook and I'm still shaking. Anyone else witnessed this type of thing before?

[Barmaid]

No, but I just witnessed it. The patio door banged shut, the windows rattled and my ears are ringing.

[Barmaid]

It'll be that pesky lot from Marham I imagine.

[paulllambert]

Yep, boys with toys, eh?

[Frank97]

I quite miss the booms from Concord. :-(

[cupid04]

Do you live near an Army firing range?

[Frank97]

I seem to have forgotten an E Concorde

[paulllambert]

Cupid, no....but often get low flying aircraft overhead from various RAF stations in the area. Never heard anything like this before, though.

[nelliebee]

Jumped out of my skin here in Pottyborough!! Just as I was drinking a coffee, all mopped up now.

[sunny-dave]

That must have been a helluva bang - even got a bit of it over here in North Warwicks.

Someone will be on jankers for that - I suspect there will be a lot of forms to fill in :+)

[Frank97]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22926813

[Frank97]

Oh no, wasn't that one!

[sidkid]

Was Concorde allowed to make sonic booms over land? I thought it was only allowed to go that fast over the sea?

[237SJ]

I remember that happening from our local RAF base in North Devon when I was at my Gran`s house and the boom cracked one of her kitchen windows.

[Frank97]

I think it was only over the sea, I used to hear them as it slowed after crossing the Atlantic.

[mushroom25]

//Was Concorde allowed to make sonic booms over land? //

no it wasn't. but there were a series of tests conducted in the late 1960s in the south-east to gauge the effects of sonic booms, in preparation for concorde's eventual entry into service.

[237SJ]

Concorde made sonic booms over the South West when it came in from the Atlantic. We knew it was coming because we would hear the boom before the engine sound and then again when it had gone over. After many years they decided to deaccelerate sooner so that the booms would be further out to sea but we still heard them. I did mention this to the "powers that be" but they didn`t believe me. Not that it matters now anyway.

[paulllambert]

Excuse my ignorance, but does the aircraft also make this "bang" when it drops from above to below the speed of sound? I'm guessing it does. I hated physics at school.

[paulllambert]

237SJ, you've just answered my question, thanks

[Canary42]

Not at all uncommon in the Sixties when I lived in Norfolk - thanks to several RAF and USAF bases around that area.

[237SJ]

Incidentally, the booms would be louder in the winter because the evening flight came over in darkness and darkness carries the sound better. My Dad had a farmer friend who had a pheasant that lived on his farm and every night the bird started squarking and making a fuss. He always did this just before Concorde came over - even before we heard it. He must have been able to pick up the sound of the booms further out to sea than we could.