Silence, Please: Lockheed Aims to Build a Quieter Supersonic Airplane

airspacemag ^

[doorgunner69]

I dimly recall there was worry about clearing the F-104 "T" tail, hence the scary downward thing. Also something about "spurs" that pulled the pilot's legs back just before ejection.

Poor guys, flying a plane and having that sort of ejection in the back of your mind.

[Chode]

worry about clearing the F-104 “T” tail,

that’d do it

thank God for Martin Baker

[doorgunner69]

Think the early 104 was called a Widow Maker due to the pilots not making it out or other flight issues.

Looked for some X-3 stuff, and sure as hell, it had a downward ejection setup. Even had an electric seat lift to put the pilot in the cockpit from underneath!

Well, it WAS an "X plane" after all. A lot of wacky things got tried out.

[Paal Gulli]

"Sonic booms are created when an aircraft exceeds the speed of sound,..."

This is wrong. Sonic booms are created when the a/c exceeds the lower critical mach number, which often is more than 100 mph below the speed of sound.

[trebb]

I thought Bose was known for developing things with a higher “boom” factor...;-}

[Red Badger]

They are into the Science of Sound. They can make it big and they can make it small.................