Family IVeeJclyj November Si, 1963
The new YORK mets are after their
third straight pennant . . . Hayley
Mills, who won an Academy Award last
year, is getting married ... American
astronauts have landed oh the moon.
.It's late summer, 1970, and the Andersons
Bill and Barbara are among the first ordinary
citizens booked to fly around the world in a
supersonic airliner! They'll do it in less than
24 hours despite stops in eight of the world's
great cities. Moreover, they'll do it the hard way,
flying east to west, following the sun and even
gaining on it all the way.
On the day of departure, the Andersons leave
early for New York's International Airport so
the children can get a good look at the plane.
Sally, who was only in the sixth grade when
Seven short venrs from
t
taking this remarkable
supersonic airliner that's
. ' .
never loses sight of the sun!
By KEVIN V. BROWN
President Kennedy announced that America
would build the plane, will enter college this fall.
Jerry, who is now 12, was then in kindergarten.
Entering the terminal building, the Ander
sons hurry to the tall vertical windows and
there's the plane!
It looks longer, yet smaller, than the big jets
the 707s and the DC-8s they have flown in
before. Its ' fuselage resembles a long, thin,
slightly humpbacked cigar, tapered at both ends.
Its tail section includes one of the three engines,
mounted on top of the fuselage at the base of
the vertical stabilizer and rudder. The other two
engines are slung beneath the fuselage at the
roots of the severely swept-back wings.
But the outboard section of each wing is the
feature that everyone has been talking about.
Right now they are sticking straight out like a
bird sunning itself.
4
family Wfclcly, Notwmtwr 14, I9M
"Are those the switchblades, Dad?" Jerry
asks, his nose against the glass.
"Well, they're often called that," Bill answers,
trying not to show he has read up on the amaz
ing supersonic plane. "Actually, they're known as
variable-sweep wings."
"Are they the things that go back and forth?"
Mrs. Anderson asks timidly.
"Yes, and we'll see them work in the air."
- After the Andersons have checked their tick
ets and passports, the loudspeaker announces:
"Supersonic Flight One, around the world, now
boarding. Intermediate stops in San Francisco,
Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bombay, Rome,
Paris, and London, with complimentary meals in
Honolulu, Hong Kong, and Paris. Departure,
7 p.m., New York time. Estimated arrival back
in New York, 7 p.m. tomorrow night."
The Andersons follow the other passengers
Around the
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so fast it
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125 of them down a long tunnel on a moving
sidewalk. Inside the plane, two smiling stew
ardesses greet them.
"I'm Bernadine Hart," said one, "and this is
Mary Allen." The girls seat the Andersons just
forward of the "switchblade" wings.
Jerry rushes to beat Sally to the window seat
and he succeeds because she stops to admire
the decor, done primarily in bright orange.
"It contrasts beautifully with the deep-blue
sky when we get to 70,000 feet," Miss Allen ex
plains to her.
Gosh, Sally thinks, 70,000 feet!
Bill and Barbara, seated behind the children,
glance around at the interior. The long, thin
cabin seems narrower than that of the subsonic
jets and it is, because for supersonic flight it
must present a slimmer silhouette than the old
600-m.p.h. jets.
A thought hits Bill again. "Imagine it! We'll
be going more than 2,000 miles an hour."
With a whine, the engines start up (they are
more than twice as powerful as those on the old
jets) , and Miss Hart and Miss Allen walk up
the aisle checking seat belts as the plane taxies.
It is 7 p.m., and the sun is just above the New
York sky line..
The take-off run starts slowly but builds up
. quickly; the plane leaves the ground halfway
down the runway. It's those flippers, Bill thinks,
as he and the other passengers exchange nerv
ous smiles of relief. It was no different than a
take-off in a subsonic jet.
Just then, a frightening thought crosses Mrs.
Anderson's mind. "Will all the airports we're
going to land at be big enough for this plane?"
"Oh, yes," Bill says, patting her hand. "The
plane was designed to operate from the same air-
World in
awt
ports as the old jets so none of them would have
to be enlarged. You see, when those flippers I
mean those variable-sweep wings stick straight
out, they allow the plane to operate the same as
an ordinary jet with normal wings. They'll come
halfway back when the plane crosses the sound
barrier, and all the way back when it gets up
to 2,000 miles an hour."
The airliner crosses the coast of New Jersey,
climbing steeply but still accelerating. Over the
cabin loud-speaker, they hear, "This is the cap
tain. We'll climb to 40,000 feet before going
supersonic. That will be shortly after we cross
into Pennsylvania. So you can watch the wings
retract if you like."
Jerry keeps his nose against the glass and his
eyes on the flippers. In a few minutes, the plane
levels out and the wings start back, locking in
place about halfway. Jerry can feel a steady
surge of enormous power but nothing else.
Soon the captain speaks again, "We're now
doing 1,000 miles an hour. Please keep your seat
belts fastened because we're going up again."
Jerry looks back at his father and wails, "Dad,
I didn't feel anything!"
"If you mean the sonic boom, Son, we don't
feel that inside the airplane. But we're making
one, and the people on the ground can hear it.
We came up this high before going supersonic
so it wouldn't be so loud down there."
Bill had reread the data on sonic booms the
one big unwanted by-product of supersonic flight.
Any time a plane travels faster than the speed
of sound (roughly 680 m.p.h.), it creates a shock
wave about the same way the bow of a boat cre
ates a wave in the water and sends it to both
shores. The pressure in the sonic wave, however, is
severe enough to crack plaster and break windows.
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Fortunately, this pressure dissipates the far
ther it is from the source. As a result, all super
sonic flying is done above 35,000 feet, an alti
tude high enough to dissipate the shock wave
sufficiently to save windows.
The boom, however, can still be heard. It's a
noise that people on the ground will have to get
used to, just as they did the noise of steam loco
motives and horseless carriages.
When the plane reaches its assigned altitude
of 70,000 feet, the wings come all the way back,
forming one long tapered wing with the root
section. But as the plane accelerates to its top
speed, Jerry again is disappointed. Here they are
flying along at 2,000 m.p.h. and he can't feel
a thing! There just isn't any sensation of speed
at that altitude because there is nothing around
to relate to.
There is another sensation, however. Up ahead
IlLUSTDATION IY JO KOTUIA
the sun is rising in the west! How can this be?
Here's the answer :
It takes any point on earth 24 hours to re
volve away from the sun and return again, at
a speed of slightly more than 1,000 m.p.h. at
the equator. So if a plane could stay aloft 24
hours, it conceivably could point its nose at the
sun and, by maintaining a 1,000-m.p.h. speed,
keep the sun at the same point above the horizon
constantly.
But since the supersonic airliner's top speed
is 2,000 m.p.h., it actually gains on the sun. Even
with fuel stops it can beat the sun around the
world. Hence, the strange phenomenon of fly
ing west and watching the sun "rise."
When the flight left New York it was 4 p.m.
in San Francisco. About an hour and a half later,
with the Rocky Mountains below, the captain an
nounces, "We'll start our descent. Now. you can
4 ' Wfc.fV $
watch the wings work in reverse."
As the engine power is reduced, the plane
slows slightly and the wings start out, stopping
about halfway. Then the plane noses downward.
It levels out again and decelerates some more.
The wings come all the way out, and the
Andersons know they are once again below the
speed of sound. The plane noses downward again
and, up ahead, they can see San Francisco's
Golden Gate, more golden, than ever in the late
afternoon sun.
The wheels touch down at 5:48 p.m., Califor
nia time. Bill glances at his watch, and thinks:
it's like landing before you take off. He knows,
however, that the flight has lasted 1 hour and
48 minutes and that it is now 8 :48 p.m. in New
York and will continue to get later no matter
how much time they gain on the sun.
After a 30-minute stopover for fuel, the plane
is airborne again, its flippers spreading as it
climbs out over the wide, blue Pacific. When the
plane levels out at 70,000 feet, the captain comes
back to chat with the passengers, and Bill asks
him: "Doesn't the plane heat up at these speeds?"
"Indeed it does,", the captain says. "Friction
on the nose and leading edges of the wings and
tail surfaces creates temperatures of 600 de
grees." Then smiling at Mrs. Anderson, he adds,
"That's about as hot as your oven when you're
broiling. It's about 400 degrees on the fuselage
skin and also" waving his hand toward Jerry
"on the outside of the window you have your
' nose pressed against."
Jerry jumps back, startled.
The captain laughs. "Don't worry, Son. It's well
insulated on the inside. Air is drawn from the
outside it's pretty cool at 70,000 feet and is
circulated between sandwiched layers of the skin.
"That window, for instance, has three layers
of aluminosilicate glass, the same kind used on
the old X-15 and our Mercury and Apollo satel
lites. The air flows between the layers, cooling
them. Pure insulation is used in some strategic
areas to supplement the air flow up in the nose,
for instance.
"Insulating the interior was never a problem
but the exterior temperatures were. The old
jets were made of aluminum. It's still a fine
metal, strong and lightweight, but it loses
strength at high temperatures. This plane (and
all other such supersonic planes) is made of steel
and titanium. They're heavier than aluminum
but stronger at higher temperatures. We're really
flying in the first stainless-steel plane."
As the plane lets down for Honolulu, the An
dersons prepare for one of the features of their
flight around the world, a Hawaiian luau.
(Continued on page 7)
family Wttkly. Novmbtr 24, 1M J