US aerospace firm Boom Supersonic’s experimental XB-1 aircraft has achieved a speed in excess of Mach 1 for the first time.
The aircraft reached supersonic speeds of around M1.1 during a test flight on 28 January, flown by chief test pilot Tristan Brandenburg, and broadcast live by the company.
It took off from Mojave Air & Space Port at around 08:21 for the experimental flight in airspace to the east of the facility.
The XB-1 was accompanied by a Dassault Mirage F1, serving as primary chase aircraft, as well as a Northrop T-38 for photographic purposes.
It conducted the supersonic flight in the ‘Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor’, a section of airspace named after the first aircraft to exceed M1, in the same area, in 1947.
Boom’s XB-1 provisionally reached M1.1, at an altitude of 35,000ft, around 08:33. The company chose to press the aircraft to this speed to overcome any possible air-data transient effects while passing M1.
The aircraft subsequently decelerated and returned to Mojave, touching down on runway 30 at 08:55, after a flight time of about 34min.
Powered by three turbojet engines – derived from the military GE Aerospace J85 – the XB-1 was developed as a research platform by Boom which is aiming to create a supersonic passenger aircraft named Overture.
The aircraft carried out its maiden flight from Mojave in March last year and reached speeds of M0.6 six months later.
Over the course of 11 test flights Boom has expanded the flight envelope of the aircraft towards the transonic regime, up to M0.95, in preparation for achieving supersonic speeds.
Boom says the XB-1 is intended to establish a “foundation” for Overture, which is intended as a M1.7 civil airliner, fitted with four Symphony turbofan engines.
