{"id":4019,"date":"2019-01-28T23:16:19","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T04:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/?p=4019"},"modified":"2019-01-28T23:16:26","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T04:16:26","slug":"classic-photo-of-an-f-18-breaking-the-sound-barrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/classic-photo-of-an-f-18-breaking-the-sound-barrier\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic Photo of an F-18 Breaking the Sound Barrier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On July 7, 1999, Navy Ensign John Gay snapped this photo of\nan F-18 breaking the sound barrier.  The\nphoto ranks among the classic aviation photos of all time.  This is a bit of his story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aircraft carrier Constellation was sailing the Pacific\nOcean between Hawaii and Japan.  Ensign\nJohn Gay was assigned to the carrier.  He\nand his eight-man team were responsible for naval intelligence photos taken\nfrom the F-14 (also assigned to the carrier).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The F-18 Hornet was traveling about 75 feet above the water\nat roughly 750 mph.  When the ensign\nheard the sonic boom, he snapped the photo. \nFor more of his story see:  http:\/\/www.wilk4.com\/misc\/soundbreak.htm<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
F-18 Vapor Cone<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is the cone around the jet?\u00a0 The cone is called a vapor cone.\u00a0 It is sometimes referred to as a shock egg or a shock cone.\u00a0 It is simply water condensation.\u00a0 It is formed by the effects of the aircraft.\u00a0 Part of the aircraft is travelling supersonic and part is traveling subsonic.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The speed of sound varies depending on an aircraft\u2019s altitude.\u00a0 Near sea level, Mach 1 (the speed of sound) occurs at over 700mph.\u00a0 However, due to the shape of the aircraft, parts of it may have supersonic airflow around the plane and other part can be subsonic.\u00a0 This is called the transonic region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The air density, air pressure and air temperature around the\ntransonic aircraft can drop below the dew point.  As we know from wet grass in the early\nmornings of summer, below the dew point we get water condensation.  The condensed water is what causes the vapor\ncone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ensign went on to some short-lived notoriety.\u00a0 The picture remains a classic. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On July 7, 1999, Navy Ensign John Gay snapped this photo of an F-18 breaking the sound barrier.  The photo ranks among the classic aviation photos of all time.  This is a bit of his story. The aircraft carrier Constellation was sailing the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Japan.  Ensign John Gay was assigned to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":338,"featured_media":4017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[39],"tags":[953,951,954,952],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nClassic Photo of an F-18 Breaking the Sound Barrier - Doctor Aviation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On July 7, 1999, Navy Ensign John Gay snapped this photo of an F-18 breaking the sound barrier. 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