European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1959, Darmstadt, Hesse F a n \ i if t was in Jas a f 3w to7 v i 7. J i f o -a., r the Man made Thunder. � a \ Well have to learn to live i window and nerve shattering sonic booms Are an inescapable byproduct of Jet age speeds " " a a by ver Haugland a staff a Riter a supersonic b58 Hustler takes off. When it pierces the sound Barrier the resultant Boom May shatter windows a score of Miles away. For three consecutive Days in Earl april the san Francisco Bay area was shaken by a series of sonic woman was bounced out of her bed. A Mother said her child was knocked from his High chair. Over a 35-mile-Long area there were complaints of broken windows enraged Telephone Calls outcries of alarm. Rumours of a plane crash or an Earth quake swept parts of. Northern new eng land last month. Reports of a startling last came from a path More than 300 Miles happened in said Francisco and new England May soon occur in Many other areas. The defense department Wor ried Over Public reaction to the blasts has inaugurated a Campaign to warn citizens they May frequently be subjected to Man made Thunder ten times louder than the real thing the ear shattering nerve jarring blasts May come at any time Day or will be no forewarning. Nothing May be visible overhead the cause May be200 mil?fsr.away.-, because they la usually come As a Surprise the Shoults will be doubly unpleasant. They will shatter windows now and then but says the. Air Force they ordinarily won t inflict structural damage. V they Are one of the penalties of modern. Civilization. They Are a product of the nation s Effort to defend itself. The blasts will be sonic booms of a new More potent Type than those already familial in some Jet planes had to go into a dive to attain the supersonic Speed required to to hmm by qty 30f 1959 produce the Boom. The Speed of sound varies from 764 Mph at sea level to 640 Mali at 30,000 feet. Now there Are genuinely supersonic air planes Craft capable of flying faster than sound in straight and level flight and More and More of them Are flying. The first supersonic bomber the b58, attains speeds of 1,300 Mph or twice the velocity of sound. Still to come some years in the future is the six Jet North Amer ican b70, a Mach 3" three times sonic Speed 2,000-Mph bomber. The bigger and faster the plane the More potent the Boom. What s More the Boom becomes a sustained Roar not a momentary loud maj Gen Arno h. Luehman air Force director of information services a few years ago it was thought that the Boom created by an aircraft flying at level above 30,000 feet would not reach the is now accepted that any aircraft which flies super sonically in level flight even at very High altitudes will create Boom which will be heard on the ground. The Width of the path along which the noise will be heard varies from a few Miles to about 200 Miles depending on the size and Speed of the plane its Alti tude the temperature wind humidity and other factors.". Sonic booms Are the result of shockwave Strong pressure Waves which at Tach to a airplane1 somewhat in the form of a shallow dish at the exact Speed of sound. As the plane s supersonic Speed increases the Waves sweep Back at Sharp the stars and stripes angles until they form a Cone shape in sort of funnel. As the downward Edge of this Cone advances along the ground the pressure is heard there As a Boom. Tie Vair Force last dec. 17 on Avia Tiona big anniversary Date Wright Broth ers Day started a program to gain pub Lic understanding and acceptance of the sonic Boom problem. The project includes Public education through Tours of major cities by Century series aircraft and b58s.a week before the b58 goes operational next year there will be joint civil defens and air Force programs introducing the new bomber. This May include Complete blackouts of selected cities during super sonic bombing air Force Wright air development Center at Dayton Ohio has completed study of sonic Boom effects. From super sonic aircraft at 25,000 feet researchers have measured pressures of five pounds a Square foot on the ground from plane sat 10,000 feet no More than 10 pounds a Square Force faster than sound operations Are rarely carried out below 30,000 feet. This Means the air Force says that sonic Boom pressures greater than five pounds a Square foot will Seldom be experienced. Nevertheless this is ten times greater than the loudest Thunderclap Ever re corded which generated a pressure of about half a Pound a Square foot for a racti6no a j3e, As Nanjad Catlon of the Force that super sonic flight can exert the strongest Boom continued on Page w Page 11 i a a. To
