Have you ever heard Concorde's sonic boom?

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I was watching a random YouTube video and the sonic boom was mentioned and the guy was saying that it couldn't possibly have been Concorde as they didn't go supersonic over land. Which is true, but they did speed up as soon as they were far enough from land for it to be a distant (and therefore quieter) boom. I used to hear it in my childhood when I was on holiday in Kerry. The video was specifically about a place in the west of Newfoundland so I think it's quite likely that they might have heard the boom there.

Anyway, it got me thinking that I'd never thought about how rare it might be to have heard a sonic boom. Where have other people heard it?

The one from Paris to New York used to fly over Jersey every day and we heard the boom then as it was accelerating out over the Atlantic. I was lucky enough to fly trans-Atlantic on it a couple of times, and feel very privileged to have experienced it. Beautiful aircraft.

@DorisParchment and @FruityLittleDrink who knows! He was mostly based in Essex, he never really spoke about it at the time, he joined Marconi’s at 16 as a school leaver and never left.
It’s only now that he’s retired he talks about it with my DH. He said they were never allowed to see the whole project they were working on, only ‘their’ individual component. Too risky for the info to get out.

@HewasH2O love your username - very clever 🤣

Me too!! It was about 6:30pm from memory back in the late 90's. I lived on the flight path and it excited me every day!!

Maybe it was 7:30. But that sort of time! After work.

I never heard the boom (to my knowledge) but we were behind it in the queue to take off at Heathrow once. It was absolutely incredible to see the afterburners or whatever they were all lit up as it took off.

I used to live under the flight path in SW London and my Scottish housemate was so excited to see it when we first moved there. We'd all go up to the roof to watch it come in.

Yes, growing up in Devon we heard it frequently

South wales 8pm nighty, I used to love it.. boom boom

I never heard the sonic boom until 5 minutes ago on YouTube but another in SW London who was on the flight path growing up. It was part of my evening routine and I would sit on the window sill in my bedroom waiting for it to go over.

I remember sitting in a country pub garden on a glorious summers early evening after it had been grounded and saw it in the distance, I thought I was seeing things. I shouted "There's Concorde!" and the whole garden went silent and everyone looked up and silently watched as it flew overhead. It must have been a test flight before they bought it back into service but it was really emotional seeing it again.

Then I was working in SW London on the day of it's final flight, and saw the 3 planes in the distance coming into land at Heathrow. Sadly I wasn't close enough to see them well but I did cry a little, it felt like the end of an era and a chapter of my childhood had come to an end.

In 1998, I was on a ship, doing a seafloor survey in the Channel. I think it was about 11 am, every day, as it went supersonic.

You could hear and feel it, even on the lowest deck.

@Snozzlemaid you would also get Stickerrocks.

😉

The old air raid siren that was the call for the fire brigade to come to the oil refinery was tested at 8pm every night. The thunder clap that was Concorde used to be before that most nights.

Yes, south west here and it was known as the nine o'clock boom!

Yes. We lived in West Cornwall and knew exactly what time it was when we heard the boom. It shook the house!

Yes, I lived on the Ayrshire coast and there was quite a bit of excitement when it took off from Prestwick.