BOOM lives up to its name

[GregLocock]

Concorde had a top speed of M2.04, temperature limited, and routinely cruised at M2.0

 

[jaceb]

is it means basic rule to avoid project crash to not develop engine and airframe simultaniously is gone in this case? anyway we are talking about dozens of billions of USD for relatively small size compan - yes that sounds realistic...

 

[WKTaylor]

Back to the 1960s... Boeing 2707... Problem #1: Boeing had NO experience with supersonic flight.

Exclusive Look At The Boeing SST Mockup

The Boeing SST which was the US competition to the Concorde. It was the 1960s and America was on a race to the moon,

www.airlineratings.com

BTW... not shown/discussed in detail...**

The 2707 design was aerodynamically too stable to take off... the CG was off the design point [forward] with full fuel and structure for the wing [heavier than expected]. The stabilators were ineffective at raising the nose. Designers had to [reluctantly] add canards to raise/hold the nose to a stable takeoff attitude.

OH Yeah... aerodynamicists and materials guys finally concluded that several hours at 3.0-mach 'heating' the titanium fuselage would grow in length at least ~10-inches... =meaning= the structure and EVERY system... and even the PAX accommodations would have to accommodate the scorching heat growth. OH yeah... on landing the Ti fuselage would only slowly cool down... so it would be 'untouchable' [above 140F] for several hours. What a nightmare. I personally suspect that Lockheed** [SR-71] had a backroom talk with Boeing on this 'slight problem'. It eventually coldly dawned on everyone that complexity was beyond tech limits... and still is.

Keystone Kops.

**My 'Uncle Bob' had a lot of insider info on the 2707: he was the senior hydraulics designer on the 2707 and the 747 thru the late 1970s.... at Boeing SEA... after a full career at Lockheed SoCal on all their Acft from Pre-WWII thru ~1965. The P-38 hydraulic control boost system was his first 'break-thru design challenge'. I never knew him very well.