BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER

wo main classes of vehicle are capable of breaking the sound barrier, with this feat usually achieved by aircraft and a small number of land vehicles that have in principle been capable of travelling faster than sound – but so far only one has officially done this. It was aircraft pilots that first discovered the existence of the sound barrier during World War II, when their planes began to experience the effects of air being compressed as they approached the speed of sound, giving rise to often severe adverse effects. This included airflow over the wings that made pulling out manoeuvres difficult and shock waves on wings