Essentials of Supersonic Commercial Aircraft Conceptual Design

1History of Supersonic Transport Aircraft Development

At the end of the 1950s military jet aircraft made routine flights at speeds faster than sound, and the first generation of long‐range high‐subsonic jet‐powered airliners had only just been introduced into service, when it was realized that supersonic airliners could become a reality. The commercial potential for supersonic flight came under serious study in the four nations that fostered their development: France, UK, USA and USSR. Companies in the USA coupled experience obtained from the development of military vehicles during the 1950s (B‐58 Hustler, B‐70 Valkyrie) with successful jetliner programs in order to develop a supersonic transport (SST) designed to travel at up to three times the speed of sound in the stratosphere. Its funding required direct government sponsorship, with a series of competitions, selecting Boeing as the airframe manufacturer and General Electric as the engine manufacturer. Due to a variety of economic, environmental, and political issues, the development of the Boeing 2707 prototype was discontinued in 1971, nine years behind schedule and 20% above design weights. In 1962 an Anglo‐French consortium consisting of the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Sud Aviation started the development of the Concorde. Almost concurrently the Soviets revealed that they were developing a supersonic transport in a manner conventional to their style, with the government assigning the project to Tupolev. Both ...