I'm searching for footage (public domain if possible) of an aircraft
breaking the sound barrier (with audio).  The more "in your face" the
better as this would be used for a discussion on the speed of sound
through various materials.

I would think the military would have public domain footage but I
haven't been able to find anything.

Any help would certainly be appreciated (and paid for)

Thanks,

Brad

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Request for Question Clarification by websearcher-ga on 31 Mar 2005 13:15 PST

Hello brad09032002:

Thanks for the very interesting question! 

I did some pretty intensive searching for you and was only able to
come up with the following two examples of *public domain* videos
showing a plane breaking the speed barrier.

F-18 breaking the sound barrier (video, 1.4MB) 
URL: http://home.pacbell.net/ok3/
Movie: http://home.pacbell.net/ok3/f-18flyby.mpg
Comment: Has sound, but not really "in your face".

Movie and still picture of F-14 piercing sound barrier
URL: http://www.soargbsc.com/soundbarrier.html
Movie: http://www.soargbsc.com/SoundBarrier.mpeg
Comment: A very nice movie - but without sound.

Please let me know if this meets your requirements. If so, I'll post
it as an official answer.

Search Strategy (on Google):
* "sonic boom" movie OR video OR clip -richardson
* "sonic boom" movie OR video OR clip -richardson -"F-14"
* "sonic boom" movie OR video OR clip 
* "mach 1" movie OR video OR clip -Ford

Thanks. 

websearcher

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 31 Mar 2005 13:51 PST

You will find a number of very cool "in-your-face" examples here:

ALLTHEWEB
http://www.alltheweb.com/search?cat=vid&cs=utf8&q=sound+barrier&rys=0

MULTIMEDIA
http://a.will.bei.t-online.de/multimedia.html

Please let me know if thise suffice as an answer.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 31 Mar 2005 13:53 PST

This may be a better sample of the footage. Check out the links on this page:

F18
http://b19k20.tripod.com/jet/f18.html

tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 31 Mar 2005 14:15 PST

Ok, one more. You may find some neat movies here also. I didn't view
them all but the thumbnails looked like they may have potential.

Dryden Aircraft Movie Collection
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Movie/index.html

Please let me know if you find anything here worthy of reward.

tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by brad09032002-ga on 31 Mar 2005 15:31 PST

Tutuzdad,

The nasa link may offer the best hope. I've posted a request there for
specifically what I'm looking for (none of the posted clips actually
said "breaking the speed of sound"). I've got to believe though with
all the heavy aircraft,there's got to be a clip of one of them doing
it... I will let you know if/when I get a response.  Thanks, Brad

Websearcher,

We are familiar with the "flybg.mpg".  We love it except for a couple
of technical issues. 1) it's a small MPEG., which when blown up to
standard NTSC size, looks less than great... 2) The "nat" sound
includes people oohing and aahing, then clapping right over the sonic
boom. It would be difficult (not impossible) to make it clean. 
HOWEVER, it is still in the running.  If we decide to use it, I will
give you the fee simply for posting it so quickly and allowing me to
send it over to our engineer to look at.  I'll keep you posted.

The "soundbarrier.mpeg" is absolutely wonderful but without audio it
simple does me no good.  I've tried everything to track this clip down
and see if I could get hold of the original DVD footage but no luck. 
What were they thinking!!! Its such a killer clip but DOA without the
audio.

Thanks for everyone's effort.  If you have anymore selections I'd like to see them.

Brad

Thanks for the

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Request for Question Clarification by websearcher-ga on 02 Apr 2005 10:54 PST

Hi brad09032002:

I think I might have hot the motherload. 

Have a look at the following page:

Fast Passes - Airplane Movies 
URL: http://fastpasses.com/exec.asp?Page=2656.21&display=8385/1111739812825128

In particular, try the videos:

* sonicbm3.avi
* coc32.avi
* boom.mpg
* P1250041.MOV

Let me know what you think!

websearcher

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Request for Question Clarification by websearcher-ga on 06 Apr 2005 04:26 PDT

Hi brad09032002:

Have you had a chance to look at the new clips I suggested in the previous message?

websearcher

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Clarification of Question by brad09032002-ga on 10 Apr 2005 15:23 PDT

Websearcher,

I believe we are going to try and use "sonicbm3.avi".

Therefore your response qualifies as an ANSWER.

Thank you so much!

Brad

Hi brad09032002:

I think I might have hit the motherload. 

Have a look at the following page:

Fast Passes - Airplane Movies 
URL: http://fastpasses.com/exec.asp?Page=2656.21&display=8385/1111739812825128

In particular, try the videos:

* sonicbm3.avi
* coc32.avi
* boom.mpg
* P1250041.MOV

I'm glad this helped! 

websearcher

These visually stunning vapor or condensation clouds are called
"Prandtl-Glauert Condensation Clouds" and are caused by the
Prandtl-Glauert singularity.
 
Dr. Mark S. Cramer (http://FluidMech.net/msc/), a professor at
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blackburg,
Virginia, USA, http://www.vt.edu/), has written a tutorial on the
phenomenon titled "Prandtl-Glauert Condensation Clouds".  So far, it's
the best explanation for the physical origins of these spectacular
clouds.  He also maintains a photo gallery, complete with
explanations, dedicated to the Prandtl-Glauert clouds.  Here are the
tutorial and gallery links:

Sonic Boom, Sound Barrier, and Condensation Clouds: Prandtl-Glauert
Condensation Clouds
URL: http://FluidMech.net/tutorials/sonic/prandtl-glauert-clouds.htm

Gallery of Fluid Mechanics: The Prandtl-Glauert Singularity and Condensation 
URL: http://GalleryOfFluidmechanics.com/conden/pg_sing.htm

The "Prandtl-Glauert Condensation Clouds" tutorial cites several
websites containing photos of Prandtl-Glauert clouds.  One cited WWW
site in particular, ChamorroBible.org, has a large collection of
United States military aircraft photographed with the Prandtl-Glauert
clouds, as well as one a spacecraft with the cloud. All the photos are
in the public domain.  The URL of the first of four
collection/galleries is
<http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20040817.htm>, with links to the
other three galleries listed on the page(s).  The photo gallery page
also lists several videos that are worth viewing.

Sometimes the cloud is more then stunning or spectacular, it's spooky.
 For example, see <http://GalleryOfFluidMechanics.com/conden/ef14b.htm>
and <http://GalleryOfFluidMechanics.com/conden/eerief14.htm> from Dr.
Cramer's "Gallery of Fluid Mechanics: The Prandtl-Glauert Singularity
and Condensation" page.  While these resized images are impressive,
look at the original U.S. Navy image at 
<http://www.news.navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/020926-N-2781V-170.jpg>.
 The photo is real.  Welcome to realm of the Prandtl-Glauert
Singularity.