page_title: Supersonic aircraft
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Supersonic aircraft / History
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: The first aircraft to fly supersonically in level flight was the American Bell X-1 experimental plane which was powered by a 6000-lb thrust rocket powered by liquid oxygen and ethyl alcohol. The majority of supersonic aircraft have been military or experimental aircraft. 
  In the 1960s and '70s, many design studies for supersonic airliners were done and eventually two types entered service, the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 (1968) and Anglo-French Concorde (1969). However political, environmental and economic obstacles and one fatal Concorde crash prevented them from being used to their full commercial potential.
caption: Bell X-1
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