Mar 31, 2024The race to supersonic flight was one of the most enthralling stories of the 20th century. In this episode, we take a look at how it all started, how the American's betrayed the British and the current state of supersonic flight.
FARNBOROUGH—Boom Supersonic is accelerating development of the Symphony engine for its Mach 1.7 Overture airliner and has expanded its partnership with Standard Aero to include production of the powerplant at the maintenance provider's site in San Antonio.Announcing details of the 35,000-lb.-thrust engine development plan, Boom founder and CEO Blake Scholl says the intent is to begin full-scale core tests in 18 months. “Our plan is to get to hardware quickly, and let’s learn and iterate," Scholl says. "Eighteen months ago, the Symphony was a sketch on a napkin. Now the conceptual design is complete, and we’ve said, ‘Great, let’s go.’”Aware of the central importance of the engine design to the success of Boom’s supersonic airliner concept and broader industry confidence in the overall project, Scholl says the plan is to put the propulsion system through a rapid test and development cycle. “The core is the hardest part, so let's go build the first one as quickly as we can, and let's go put it on a test stand. We are 18 months out from that.”“As we go into next year, the full-scale core of the Symphony should be running on a test stand in prototype form. We'll iterate from there, and that should put us in a place where the rest of the program is more attainable,” Scholl says.Boom Supersonic has begun rig tests of the combustor section in collaboration with its design partner Florida Turbine Technologies (FTT), a business unit of Kratos. Tests are being conducted at FTT’s design and test facility in Jupiter, Florida, using an additively manufactured one-eighth section of the combustor module. Colibrium Additive, a supplier owned by GE Aerospace, has meanwhile produced the first 3D-printed parts for Symphony, including fuel nozzles and turbine center frames.The two-spool, medium-bypass turbofan engine will be equipped with a single-stage 72-in.-dia. fan and be optimized for prolonged supersonic operation with an air-cooled, single-stage high-pressure turbine and three-stage low-pressure turbine. The Symphony’s compressor will be made up of a six-stage high-pressure unit and a three-stage low-pressure section, while the engine’s mixed compression supersonic inlet, diffuser and exhaust design is devised to meet Chapter 14 noise levels.The agreement with StandardAero also marks a key move to industrialize production of the engine for both Overture and, according to Scholl, other potential unidentified high-speed platforms. “There's over 100,000 ft.2 in that facility there that will be dedicated to Symphony and to test cells. That's sufficient to get us to 330 engines a year, which is about where we need to be for full rate on Overture with two final assembly lines—plus we need spares,” Scholl says.Russ Ford, chairman and CEO of Standard Aero, says: “We began working with the Boom team several years ago, initially to introduce the ideas of maintainability and a sustainable supersonic aircraft engine. Over the last couple of years, we're now pleased to announce that we've expanded that partnership, and we have dedicated a portion of one of our facilities to not only the assembly and test of engines but also full-scale production to really try to be a part of this program.”
BREAKING: XB-1 has completed its second flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port in CA. XB-1 retracted and extended its landing gear for the first time and successfully demonstrated a new digital stability augmentation system. We continue to target year-end for supersonic flight. https://boomsupersonic.com/flyby/xb-1-completes-second-flight
XB-1 executed its 2nd flight today–flight objectives achieved:Landing gear retracted and extended in flightNew digital stability augmentation system activatedTufting applied to the right wing to verify aerodynamic characteristics
Shoutout to all of the plane spotters in Mojave for XB-1’s second flight–here’s an amazing shot of XB-1 taking off, accompanied by its chase plane.
Can you spot XB-1? Our supersonic demonstrator aircraft might look small, but it’s doing big things.Learn more about XB-1’s second flight: https://boomsupersonic.com/flyby/xb-1-completes-second-flight
The first ever look into Boom Supersonic, captured during last Friday's XB-1 flight 3 on S3. Get an up close look at XB-1, the moments before takeoff, and test pilot "Geppetto" re-opening the cockpit and sharing his unfiltered thoughts with Blake right after flight.
BREAKING: XB-1 successfully completed its sixth test flight and continues to gain altitude, approaching supersonic flight later this year.✅New max altitude: 20,000 ft✅Flutter excitation system (FES) test at Mach 0.65✅Demonstrated successful FES operation in flight
On October 25, 2024, XB-1 successfully completed its sixth test flight and continues to make progress in expanding the envelope for supersonic flight.Flight six primarily targeted flutter and handling qualities testing at a higher altitude than previous flights. The FES, or Flutter Excitement System, is crucial in testing new aircraft to ensure there are no undesirable interactions between the airflow around the vehicle and the structure of the aircraft. Flutter is a phenomenon where the energy from the airflow can interact with the airframe vibration modes and cause structural failure. Modern aircraft design uses tools and predictions to develop aircraft that should not be susceptible to flutter, which we verify with testing. In this flight, XB-1 made significant progress towards validating a fully functional FES system.Unfortunately, we did experience a degradation in GPS signal strength which impacted our ability to accomplish more in this flight. The team is currently troubleshooting this issue and as soon as the source of interference is identified and corrected, we will be on to Flight 7.
We recently had the opportunity to visit Boom Supersonic, where we spoke with their founder and CEO, Blake Scholl, and got an up-close look at their XB-1 supersonic jet.
Unless there's some technical glitch or weather problem, the first privately developed supersonic aircraft will go supersonic in about 4 hours.
Boom is supersonic. On Jan. 28, 2025 at 8:31am PST / 16:31 GMT, XB-1 broke the sound barrier.✅New top speed: Mach 1.122 (652 KTAS)✅New max altitude: 35,290 ft.✅Flight time: 34 minutes
Boom Supersonic XB-1 jet breaks sound barrier on historic test flight - 1/28/2025Boom Supersonic made history today (Jan. 28) when its XB-1 jet broke the sound barrier for the first time.Boom Supersonic's chief test pilot Tristan "Geppetto" Brandenburg took off in the company's XB-1 jet from the storied Mojave Air & Space Port in California this morning under mostly clear skies. Some 11.5 minutes into the flight — the 12th overall for the XB-1 — at an altitude of around 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), the test plane exceeded Mach 1, the speed of sound, marking the first time a civil aircraft has gone supersonic over the continental United States.
[Boom Supersonic's chief test pilot Tristan "Geppetto" Brandenburg took off in the company's XB-1 jet from the storied Mojave Air & Space Port in California this morning under mostly clear skies. Some 11.5 minutes into the flight — the 12th overall for the XB-1 — at an altitude of around 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), the test plane exceeded Mach 1, the speed of sound, marking the first time a civil aircraft has gone supersonic over the continental United States.
Quote from: cohberg on 01/28/2025 05:22 pm[Boom Supersonic's chief test pilot Tristan "Geppetto" Brandenburg took off in the company's XB-1 jet from the storied Mojave Air & Space Port in California this morning under mostly clear skies. Some 11.5 minutes into the flight — the 12th overall for the XB-1 — at an altitude of around 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), the test plane exceeded Mach 1, the speed of sound, marking the first time a civil aircraft has gone supersonic over the continental United States.That has me wondering: over what other countries have civilian aircraft exceeded Mach 1? Surely the Soviets' Tu-144 did so over the Soviet Union. Did Concorde ever fly supersonically over France or the UK?
That has me wondering: over what other countries have civilian aircraft exceeded Mach 1?
Decision to do our own engines was probably the single most important one in Boom history. Company most likely would have died waiting for the big guys to get stuff done. Also being in control of powertrain means we can make it do what we want. Including something pretty cool…7:00 AM · Feb 3, 2025
https://twitter.com/bscholl/status/1886429521571942640QuoteDecision to do our own engines was probably the single most important one in Boom history. Company most likely would have died waiting for the big guys to get stuff done. Also being in control of powertrain means we can make it do what we want. Including something pretty cool…7:00 AM · Feb 3, 2025
Feb 8, 2025This is the starting gun in the race to high speed passenger travel. Humanity is ready to go fast again.Read the field notes here: https://jasoncarman.com/Supersonic+Fl...0:00 An early Mojave morning02:17 A few months ago...04:12 The big day06:54 Supersonic11:01 What's next
Feb 9, 2025Boom made aviation history on the morning of January 28, 2025, with the first supersonic flight of our demonstrator aircraft, XB-1. After taking off from the Mojave Air & Space Port in California, XB-1 safely and successfully reached an altitude of 35,290 ft. before accelerating to Mach 1.122 (652 KTAS or 750 mph)—and breaking the sound barrier.With over 1,000 years of combined aerospace experience, the XB-1 team has devoted nearly two years to ground and flight testing. Each team member is driven by a deep passion for aviation and a singular mission: to make commercial supersonic flight a reality.During XB-1’s first supersonic flight, Chief Test Pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg broke the sound barrier not just once, but three times.Here’s a closer look at each of XB-1’s test flights, documenting its progression up to the sound barrier and beyond: https://boomsupersonic.com/flyby/xb-1-live-blog-flight-test-program
11:35 AM · Feb 10, 2025 @boomaero XB-1 demonstrator completes 13th and last landing - wrapping up test campaign for first privately developed civil supersonic aircraft - exceeded Mach 1 - 6 times in total - Stratolaunch Roc in background