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.
The F-100 Super Sabre flew more individual sorties in Vietnam than any other fighter, but it was never credited with an air-to-air victory. The first officially listed American aerial victory during the Vietnam War was […]
You don’t see so many C-130H and J models take part in a massive Elephant Walk very often. On Dec. 6, a flight of 24 C-130 H and J models from the 317th AG and […]
On Sept. 13, two B-2A Spirit stealth bombers out of Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, flew a round-robin mission across the Atlantic. What someone saw as a rehearsal of an eventual air strike on Syria, […]
This website makes use of cookies, both proprietary or by third part, in order to improve your browsing experience. For more information check our cookies policy.
By closing this message, proceed surfing or using this website, you accept to use cookies. Don’t show this again
