The P-38 Lightning suffered from a particularly dangerous interaction of the airflow between the wings and tail surfaces in the dive that made it difficult to 'pull out,' a problem that was later solved with the addition of a 'dive flap' that upset the airflow under these circumstances.

This problem was solved in later models with changes to the wing. In the case of the Supermarine Spitfire, the wings suffered from low torsional stiffness, and when ailerons were moved the wing tended to flex such that they counteracted the control input, leading to a condition known as control reversal. The Mitsubishi Zero was infamous for this problem, and several attempts to fix it only made the problem worse. These included the rapidly increasing forces on the various control surfaces, which led to the aircraft becoming difficult to control to the point where many suffered from powered flight into terrain when the pilot was unable to overcome the force on the control stick. This led to numerous crashes for a variety of reasons. Propeller aircraft were, nevertheless, able to approach the speed of sound in a dive. This problem was one of the issues that led to early research into jet engines, notably by Frank Whittle in England and Hans von Ohain in Germany, who were led to their research specifically in order to avoid these problems in high-speed flight. The power needed to improve performance is so great that the weight of the required engine grows faster than the power output of the propeller. It is due to these effects that propellers are known to suffer from dramatically decreased performance as they approach the speed of sound. This was undesirable, as the transonic air movement creates disruptive shock waves and turbulence. This was particularly noticeable on the Stearman, and noticeable on the T-6 Texan when it entered a sharp-breaking turn. The tip of the propeller on many early aircraft could reach supersonic speeds, producing a noticeable buzz that differentiated such aircraft. Many forms of ammunition also achieve supersonic speeds. Similarly, a flag in strong wind may create a crackling sound produced when its edge goes supersonic. The tip of the whip breaks the sound barrier and causes a sharp crack-literally a sonic boom. Whatever the reason, it appears the boom had more bark than bite, and no reports of damage or injuries have been tallied.Some common objects such as the bullwhip, or sparewhip, are able to move faster than sound. The biggest question is perhaps why the jet was there in the first place, though as with everything related to military operations, it’s unlikely a defense department would be eager to provide such information. I’m not necessarily saying that this is exactly what happened in this case, but it’s certainly not out of the question.

A massive boom rocked my entire town and it was later explained that a pilot of a fighter jet simply didn’t realize how fast he was traveling while showing off for the crowds and accidentally caused the sonic boom. I myself was witness to such an “accidental” boom years back when an air show was taking place roughly 30 miles away. Now, this may sound ludicrous, since a fighter pilot has a wealth of instruments at his or her disposal and knows exactly how fast they’re going at any given time, but it does indeed happen. Either the jet was indeed trying to get somewhere very, very rapidly, and the decision was made that causing a sonic boom over Paris was not a big deal under the circumstances, or - and this is probably much more likely - the pilot of the jet didn’t realize just how close he or she was getting to the sound barrier and caused the boom on accident. The fact that defense officials haven’t explained why the jet was moving at such speeds suggests one of two things.

Jet breaking sound barrier