Photo of Jet Breaking the Sound Barrier

[Toddly]

Here is a photo of a jet just breaking the sound barrier. I thought that it was an incredible photo and would like to share it.
Sound Barrier Photo

Awesome. Will try as wallpaper.

[jman01pa]

The article above it is interesting too...

[Warthog]

Cool...
At first I thought it was a fake but then read through the article and saw it had been featured in magazines, etc.

Warthog

[Toddly]

I really don't know if it is real or not myself but it sure looks great. As they say...timing is everything.

[Knothead]

WOW!!

Hard to believe the guy got that shot!

[OuTpaTienT]

It's real guys. It's quite a famous photo, been around for some time. I'm surprised more of you haven't seen it before.

I know it's real because there's also some film footage of a fighter jet with that effect happening. The footage was shot from an aircraft carrier and the jet timed his flight so he'd break the sound barrier within sight of the carrier. When he buzzed by he couldn't have been more 200 feet up. Didn't really notice much seeing it in realtime. But in slow-mo you could see that vapor ring build-up then poof! But it wasn't nearly as cool looking as that one still shot at the above link.

[desmocat]

Yep, timing IS everything
I was at a NHRA race a long time ago, and the final round of the top fuel dragsters didn't happen until after dark.
I had a cheapie 35mm disposible camera and took the picture of the final pair taking off.
What was cool was when I got the film developed, the auto flash on my camera lit up the back of the heads in front of me, and I guess at the same instant, one of the pro photgraphers took the picture from right beside the track, and his flash illuminated both cars perfectly.
The picture was cool because the heads were lit up in the foreground, there was a big dark area, and you could see the flash coming from the pro's camera as it lit up the cars.

Thats one thing that makes me laugh, at sporting events, you see all the flashes going off in the stands, and all its doing is lighting up all the people around you..

[F/A-18 MechDood]

That picture circulated through the Navy before it was on the streets. It is atually a big deal, because that is the first pic ever taken of a F/A-18C with 3 external fuel tanks breaking the sound barrier. Those 3 drop tanks cause incredible drag on the aircraft. Also the fact that they hold 2300 lbs. of fuel each when fueled. See the little cloud above the canopy? That is the Canopy breaking the sound barrier seperate from the rest of the aircraft.

[Epidemic]

It is amazing he got that shot cued by sound.

That vapor disk must have lasted an eternity.

figure 2/10th of a second reaction time to the sound plus half a second travel time to the ship. You are talking almost a second delay if he used sound as his cue.