😁 I think all of us would like to have experienced that shockwave.

 

 

I have.  At Takhli Air Force Base in Thailand.

When Thud pilots returned from their 100th mission over North Vietnam they were last to land and performed a little air show before coming down.  Once one made a supersonic pass over the runway at about 50 feet.  Broke several windows in a couple of the flightline buildings.

When a Thud pilot returned from his 100th emergency vehicles led him in a parade down the flightline to his revetment with sirens blaring and horns tooting.

When he climbed out of the cockpit he was douse with champaign and after a couple of toasts his buddies caried him to a crew pickup and drove him to the base swimming pool where they threw him in.

Later that evening he would make an appearance at both the NCO and airmen's clubs and by a round for everyone.

It was not the last time an F-105 would go supersonic near the ground.

On 31 May 1968, a dedication ceremony took place at the United States Air Force Academy to honor graduates who had served in Vietnam. An F-105, which had been assembled using parts from ten different F-105s that had seen service in Vietnam, was placed on permanent static display.^[91] The ceremony included the entire cadet wing, the superintendent and commandant of cadets of the USAFA, a representative of Republic Aircraft, members of the press, among others. To conclude the ceremony, a flight of four F-105s from McConnell AFB were to fly over in formation at 1,000 feet above the ground and then fly over singly at 250 feet. The formation portion happened as planned. But the flight leader, Lt Col James "Black Matt" Matthews, came back for the single-file pass and exceeded the speed of sound at less than 100 feet. The ensuing sonic boom broke hundreds of windows and fifteen people sustained cuts.

Of the 833 F-105s built almost half, 395, were lost to ground fire or MIGs over North Vietnam.

It still is my favorite fighter.

Noel

"the ensuing sonic boom broke hundreds of windows and fifteen people sustained cuts."  

18 hours ago, birdguy said:

I have.  At Takhli Air Force Base in Thailand.

When Thud pilots returned from their 100th mission over North Vietnam they were last to land and performed a little air show before coming down.  Once one made a supersonic pass over the runway at about 50 feet.  Broke several windows in a couple of the flightline buildings.

When a Thud pilot returned from his 100th emergency vehicles led him in a parade down the flightline to his revetment with sirens blaring and horns tooting.

When he climbed out of the cockpit he was douse with champaign and after a couple of toasts his buddies caried him to a crew pickup and drove him to the base swimming pool where they threw him in.

Later that evening he would make an appearance at both the NCO and airmen's clubs and by a round for everyone.

It was not the last time an F-105 would go supersonic near the ground.

On 31 May 1968, a dedication ceremony took place at the United States Air Force Academy to honor graduates who had served in Vietnam. An F-105, which had been assembled using parts from ten different F-105s that had seen service in Vietnam, was placed on permanent static display.^[91] The ceremony included the entire cadet wing, the superintendent and commandant of cadets of the USAFA, a representative of Republic Aircraft, members of the press, among others. To conclude the ceremony, a flight of four F-105s from McConnell AFB were to fly over in formation at 1,000 feet above the ground and then fly over singly at 250 feet. The formation portion happened as planned. But the flight leader, Lt Col James "Black Matt" Matthews, came back for the single-file pass and exceeded the speed of sound at less than 100 feet. The ensuing sonic boom broke hundreds of windows and fifteen people sustained cuts.

Of the 833 F-105s built almost half, 395, were lost to ground fire or MIGs over North Vietnam.

It still is my favorite fighter.

Noel

I remember when the Virginia Air National Guard, then stationed at Byrd Airport, now called Richmond International Airport, switched from the old F-84F to the F-105D.  There were a few incidents of pilots going supersonic over residential areas.  Not much in damage, but mostly noise complaints.  I wonder if some of those complaints were not founded in supersonic speed, but the sound produced by the afterburner in the F-105.

3 hours ago, stans said:

I wonder if some of those complaints were not founded in supersonic speed, but the sound produced by the afterburner in the F-105.

I remember lying in my bed in my hooch at Takhli at 4 or 5 in the morning when the Thuds were taking off for the morning missions.  They would light up the afterburners and you could hear them boom-boom-boom- one after another.

Noel

 

On 6/15/2022 at 5:06 PM, birdguy said:

When Thud pilots returned from their 100th mission over North Vietnam they were last to land and performed a little air show before coming down.  Once one made a supersonic pass over the runway at about 50 feet.  Broke several windows in a couple of the flightline buildings.

 

Are you sure it was supersonic Noel? A fast subsonic or trans sonic shockwave can cause such damage too. Usually a sonic boom is a double boom. If at 50 feet and supersonic, one twitch and you are in the ground. F-105 was famous for its low level speed of course so I'm not doubting you.

 

2 hours ago, birdguy said:

I remember lying in my bed in my hooch at Takhli at 4 or 5 in the morning when the Thuds were taking off for the morning missions.  They would light up the afterburners and you could hear them boom-boom-boom- one after another.

 

Double or single booms?

 

 

Edited June 16, 20223 yr by martin-w

It's hard to tell if that F-18 was supersonic or not.  It was sure as heck going at 300+ miles per hour.  It was probably just the jet engines' exhaust that caused the almost explosive effect in the video.

The loudest jet I ever heard was an F-111 taking off from an airbase in England where I was stationed.  F-16s and F-15's weren't as loud as that thing.

Dave

7 hours ago, martin-w said:

Double or single booms?

I'm sure it was super sonic.  So was everybody else who was there.  I'm saying 50 feet, it could have been a bit more.

Double booms.  Boom Boom then Boom Boom. Two would take off at a time and each fired his AB one right after the other.  Then two more would take off.

Noel

 

Edited June 16, 20223 yr by birdguy

15 hours ago, dave2013 said:

It's hard to tell if that F-18 was supersonic or not.  It was sure as heck going at 300+ miles per hour. 

 

No, the video I posted was nowhere near supersonic, not even transonic. The engine sound was heard before it arrived. It was just a fast, very low flypast for the movie. They CGI'd the Darkstar image onto the F18 image. Frequently when I used to visit RIAT at Fairford there would be a very fast relatively low flypast, I'm guessing 500 knots or so, and unless you were looking you wouldn't know it was coming until almost upon you, and as I say, that was subsonic. Supersonic is literally zero sound until the shockwave hits you. I confused people by saying shockwave I'm guessing. 

In the Myth Busters show, out in the desert, the Blue Angels did fly supersonic over a wooden structure the team built. Much different scenario to the video I posted here.

 

16 hours ago, dave2013 said:

The loudest jet I ever heard was an F-111 taking off from an airbase in England where I was stationed.

 

The loudest I heard was at an air show in Devon, UK. Many years ago it was, when they were allowed to fly over the crowd. It was an English Electric Lightning. It was utterly deafening. It pulled up into  a vertical climb and headed skywards in a flash. It was so powerful it could exceed Mach 1 in a climb. 😲

12 hours ago, birdguy said:

Double booms.  Boom Boom then Boom Boom. Two would take off at a time and each fired his AB one right after the other.

 

Yep, sonic booms indeed. You don't always get double booms of course, but if you do it confirms it. Not sure of the physics of why some booms are double and some single, might be distance form aircraft, altitude etc. A double is one shockwave from the nose and one from the rear.

No sound before in the video. 

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 20223 yr by martin-w

4 hours ago, martin-w said:

Yep, sonic booms indeed.

No Martin, these were afterburner booms.  The Thuds would line up two at a time, one slightly behind the other.  Then they would light the burner for take off.  The lead aircraft first and the second aircraft immediately after.  Then two more would turn onto the runway and repeat the operation.

I only hear one sonic boom when that Thud made it's low pass and then the engine roar.  Maybe the second boom got lost in the engine roar.  We were very close to the runway.

The crew chiefs would sit on the grass between the taxiway and the runway waiting for their ships to come in.  They came back in flights of four.  Sometimes a three flight would return or a two flight.  That meant some pilot or pilots got shot down and wouldn't return.  The crewchief of an aircraft that didn't return took it pretty hard.  It was, after all, his airplane.  And he knew the pilot pretty well.  In one case a crew chief took it so hard they had to send him back to the United States.

Sometimes a damaged Thud would land in Vientiane Laos.  An armament and maintenance crew would have to go fly over in civilian clothes on an Air America aircraft because Laos was a neutral country.  They would de-arm the aircraft and the maintenance crew would get it ready to fly back to Takhli.  Laos was off limits to us for R&Rs.

Which brings up another story.

A buddy and I got two weeks R&R and we went to Singapore for a couple of days.  We took a local bus back to Bangkok.  The bus stopped at a small village on the very narrow part of the Thai isthmus.  We decided to get off checked into the local hotel and then found a bar where we ordered a couple of beers.  Singha was my favorite brand.

A couple of guys in uniform came to our table and introduced themselves as border guards on the border between Thailand and Burma.  They had different shades of uniform color and one was a Thai guard and the other Burmese.  The Burmese guard invited us to visit Burma the next day.  So we got on the bus and the guard we knew waved us on through.

We spent a nice day on the beach there and went back to our hotel in Thailand that evening.  The border guard we knew was a passenger on that bus so we had no trouble on the border.  We met the guards again that evening in that little bar.

When we got back to Takhli we told everyone we had spent a nice day on a beach in Burma.  Then we were told Americans were not allowed to visit Burma.  Nothing happened to us, but we had been warned not to do that again.  Seems like living on the edge, intentionally or non-intentionally would dog me all my life.

One of these days I'll tell you about a rogue airman two striper in our unit whom I became good friends with.

Noel 

2 hours ago, birdguy said:

No Martin, these were afterburner booms

 

I've never heard of afterburners creating booms. They just light and burn. That's a new one for me. I could understand a roar. 

 

 

Edited June 17, 20223 yr by martin-w

Martin, for a year I listened to those Thuds take off on their missions every morning and afternoon unless we were in a bombing halt.  I call it a boom of the afterburner being lit off followed by the roar of the engine.  I can close my eyes and take myself back there and hear them.  

How many F-105s have you seen take off?

Noel

 

5 hours ago, birdguy said:

How many F-105s have you seen take off?

 

Noel... I'm not arguing with you. I just said it was a new phenomonon to me. 🙄