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Saturday, August 3, 2024

Supersonic DC-8

DC-8  Test Flight with F-104 Chase Plane

It was only supersonic for a short period during a dive from 50,000 feet. Almost ended in disaster. Avgeekery has the story.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Afaik a 747 went into a steep dive snd reached Mach 1.2 before the pilots managed to pull out. Landed somehow safely. Plane had to be scrapped as the wings were bent upward due to overload.

Matthew said...

Amazing not only that the 1.01 Mach airspeed did not exceed VNO but that the same aircraft was then sold as new and operated for years as a commercial airliner. Any turbulence at that limit is big trouble as noted above. Hydraulics exceed capacity and control surfaces no longer function because of the shockwave. They must have had perfect weather.