Home Boom XB-1 test flight – ‘new concorde’ prototype jet smashes through sound barrier

Boom XB-1 test flight – ‘new concorde’ prototype jet smashes through sound barrier

Boom’s XB-1 jet has just broken the sound barrier, opening the way for the first supersonic passenger aircraft since Concorde.

The iconic cone-nosed Concorde was retired in 2003 after an accident and since then supersonic passenger travel has been a pipedream, but as the XB–1 accelerated to Mach 1.1 and supersonic speeds this afternoon, the dreams of flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco taking just ten minutes were back on the table.

The test over California’s Mojave Desert paves the way now for Boom’s newly-proven capabilities to be used commercially within the next decade. The company already has plans for a new jet that will be called Overture that will use the same supersonic technology.

You can watch the test flight in the YouTube video above but if you want to skip through to when XV-1 breaks the sound barrier it is around 11 and a half minutes after take-off at an altitude of 34,000 feet.

The supersonic flight was flown by chief XB-1 Test Pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg who also flew the last 44 minute long 11th test flight earlier this month that prepared the aircraft for today’s achievement.

Boom Overture

The test flight program has moved at a fast pace since the first flight which only took place on 22nd March last year.

It seems we might, once again, just be a few years away from transatlantic supersonic flight taking just a few hours to complete.

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Paul McNally
Gaming Editor

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title published by IDG Media. Having spent time as Head of Communications at a professional sports club and working for high-profile charities such as the National Literacy Trust, he returned as Managing Editor in charge of large US-based technology websites in 2020. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine,…

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