Supersonic aircraft Supersonic aircraft A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft able to fly faster than the speed of sound (Mach number 1). Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century and have been used almost entirely for research and military purposes. Only two, Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144, ever entered service for civil use as airliners. Fighter jets are the most common example of supersonic aircraft. The aerodynamics of supersonic flight is called compressible flow because of the compression (physics) associated with the shock waves or "sonic boom" created by any object travelling faster than sound. Aircraft flying
Speed of sound fluid dynamics, the speed of sound in a fluid medium (gas or liquid) is used as a relative measure for the speed of an object moving through the medium. The ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound in the fluid is called the object's Mach number. Objects moving at speeds greater than "" are said to be traveling at supersonic speeds. Sir Isaac Newton computed the speed of sound in air as , which is too low by about 15%. Newton's analysis was good save for neglecting the (then unknown) effect of rapidly-fluctuating temperature in