It depicts a U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School T-38C passing in front of the sun at supersonic speed, generating shockwaves.
The photograph was taken by NASA for research purposes using a modern version of schlieren imagery, a 150-year-old German photography technique, used to visualize supersonic flow phenomena with full-scale aircraft in flight.
According to NASA, the results of the research will help engineers to design a quiet supersonic transport aircraft.
David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written four books.
Pilot Ejected Successfully in First Ever Crash of USAF F-35A. A USAF F-35A Lightning II belonging to the 58th Fighter Squadron has crashed at Eglin AFB in Florida, according the U.S. Air Force. The pilot […]
NASA displayed an impressive array of hi-tech aircraft used in its Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions (ACCESS II) flight experiment during a media day for reporters from around the world. On May […]
More than 65 years after it was filmed, Jet Pilot movie features some of the most spectacular aerial photography in film history. Jet Pilot is a 1957 film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring […]
