THIS DAY IN AIRPOWER HISTORY: On Feb 3, 1964, FAA begins sonic boom studies in OKC with USAF's help

A series of sonic boom studies began as the FAA launched a six-month project to test public reaction to the phenomenon in Oklahoma City, using regularly scheduled overflights by Air Force B-58 and F-104 jets. The FAA’s activities were part of the first major experiment designed to measure civilian responses to the sonic booms that most aviation experts and government officials expected to become routine with the dawn of commercial supersonic flight. A total of 1,253 sonic booms were generated in the Oklahoma City area over a period of six months, from February to July 1964. Bad publicity surrounding the tests helped move public opinion against supersonic flight, and subsequent years saw concerned scientists, economists and environmentalists mount a campaign to end the FAA program to develop an American supersonic transport plane. Their concerns ultimately led to the program’s abandonment and, in 1973, the prohibition of civil supersonic flights over land.

View "Operation Bongo II" - Oklahoma City, OK - LoyalTV E110 video.