page_title: Supersonic aircraft
section_title: Supersonic strategic bombers
hierarchical_section_title: Supersonic aircraft / Supersonic strategic bombers
caption_attribution_description: English: Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler (59-2458). This aircraft set transcontinental speed record on 03/05/62 by flying nonstop from Los Angeles to New York and back again. First leg at average speed of 1214.71 mph; return leg at average speed of 1081.77 mph. Return leg was first transcontinental flight that moved across the country faster than the rotational speed of the earth. ("Chasing the Sun.") Crew awarded Bendix and Mackay Trophies. Now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
context_page_description: A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft able to fly faster than the speed of sound. Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century and have been used almost entirely for research and military purposes. Only two, Tupolev Tu-144 and the Concorde, ever entered service for civil use as airliners. Fighter jets are the most common example of supersonic aircraft.
  The aerodynamics of supersonic flight is called compressible flow because of the compression associated with the shock waves or "sonic boom" created by any object travelling faster than sound.
  Aircraft flying at speeds above Mach 5 are often referred to as hypersonic aircraft.
context_section_description: A strategic bomber must carry a large bomb load over long distances. Consequently, it is a large aircraft typically with an empty weight exceeding 25,000 kg. Some have also been designed for related roles such as strategic reconnaissance and anti-shipping strike.
  Typically the aircraft will cruise subsonically for most of its flight to conserve fuel, before accelerating to supersonic speed for its bombing run.
  Few supersonic strategic bombers have entered service. The earliest type, the Convair B-58 Hustler, first flew in 1956 and the most recent, the Rockwell B-1B Lancer, in 1983. Although this and a few other types are still in service today, none remains in production.
  Other types to have flown include:
  Dassault Mirage IV (1959)
  Tupolev Tu-22 (1959)
  Myasishchev M-50 (1959)
  BAC TSR-2 (1964)
  North American XB-70 Valkyrie (1964)
  Tupolev Tu-22M (1969)
  General Dynamics FB-111A (1969)
  Sukhoi T-4 (1972)
  Tupolev Tu-160 (1981)
  Rockwell B-1B Lancer (1986)
  Out of these, only the Tu-22, Tu-22M, FB-111A, B-1B, and Tu-160 entered production.
  A next-generation stealthy supersonic strategic bomber is being planned in United States under the 2037 Bomber project.
caption: Convair B-58A Hustler
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