A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft. Fighters are small, fast, and maneuverable. Many fighter aircraft’s can travel with the speed of sound which creates sonic boom. The term sonic boom is commonly used to refer to the shocks caused by the supersonic flight of an aircraft.
When an aircraft breaks the sound barrier an incredible ‘vapor cone’ surrounds the aircraft. This effect is called Prandtl–Glauert singularity (sometimes referred to as a “vapor cone”), which is the point at which a sudden drop in air pressure occurs, and is generally accepted as the cause of the visible condensation cloud that often surrounds an aircraft traveling at transonic speeds.
Today we have gathered a collection of 16 fighter jets breaking the sound barrier and creating vapor cones around them. Enjoy these stunning photos of these flying machines.
* Photo sources and actual description of each photo is also given.
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1.
Off the coast of Pusan, South Korea: An F/A-18 Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron One Five One (VFA-151) breaks the sound barrier in the skies over the Pacific Ocean. VFA-151 is deployed aboard USS Constellation (CVN 64).
2.
Pat Maloney, an engineering planner, photographed an F-4 Phantom II at the mment it broke the sound barrier at the Annual Point Magu Naval Air Station Air Show.
3.
August 8, 2005—A U.S. Navy photographer with lightning-fast reflexes captured this image of a fighter plane blasting through a “sonic boom cloud” as the jet broke the sound barrier.
4.
F-15i breaking the sound barrier.
5.
U.S. Navy Capt. Norbert Smurf Szarleta breaks the sound barrier in an F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighter during an air power demonstration aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the Atlantic Ocean, April 17, 2008.
6.
United States Fighter Jet from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314), January 29, 2004, Pacific Ocean.
7.
F14-B Tomcat Fighter Jet, United States Navy, Mediterranean Sea, April 22, 2003.
8.
A F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet is pictured with a ring of water vapour around it as it comes within 200mph of breaking the sound barrier.
9.
This photo released by the US Navy shows an F-14D Tomcat making a near supersonic fly-by above the flight deck of USS Theodore Roosevelt in a July 28, 2006.
10.
Steve Roy captured this amazing shot in an air show with his Canon EOS 5D with 100-400L zoom.
11.
A US Marine Corps (USMC) F/A-18C, Strike Fighter Squadron 195 (VFA-195), Naval Air Station Atsugi, Japan, breaks the sound barrier during the Freedom through Friendship Air Show at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea.
12.
The shockwave from breaking the sound barrier follows an F/A-18 Superhornet during an airshow for the crew during the USS Ronald Reagan’s maiden deployment.
13.
Chuck Yeager, flying the Bell X-1, became the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound, he was flying at about 700 mph at an altitude of 43,000 feet — or Mach 1.06.
14.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing Five breaks the sound barrier during an air-power demonstration practice aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) Sept. 11, 2006, which is under way in the East China Sea.
15.
An F/A-18C Hornet attached to the “Raging Bulls” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 37 punches through a cloud of water vapor while breaking the sound barrier during an air power demonstration on board the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS.
16.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Diamondbacks” of Strike Fighter Squadron One Zero Two (VFA-102) completes a super-sonic flyby as part of an air power demonstration for visitors aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), which is off the coast of Southern Japan.
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