Warbird Information Exchange

On an annual ATC camp at a V bomber base in East Anglia - mid-1960's. I was lucky enough to be close to the runway when the Vulcans did a practice squadron scramble. Not only loud but the earth seemed to shake too.

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Little Johnny : "When I grow up I want to be a pilot!"

Johnny's Mother : "Don't be silly Dear - you can't do both!"

The most painful sound if you're in an airplane has to be total silence. Usually not a harbinger of good news, unless you're in a sailplane.

For my money, the Tornado takes the cake. My eight-year old self would probably have said the B-1. I was at a Muskegon Air Fair with my Dad and a B-1 made several passes. We were around show center and on the final pass, the B-1 lit the burners right in front of us. I nearly jumped out of my skin ... and immediately wanted to leave. Thankfully, my Dad was having none of that.

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Matt

Yup, T-37 on the ground, the "dog whistle" and a B-1 in full AB are what immediately come to mind. BTW, the physiology folks told us that the interior of the C-130 was the loudest place to be in the AF, probably like the cockpit of a Clayton-stack B-25. Incidentally, these days the worst noise in my world is the "huffer" start units used by the airlines when our APU is inop, holy cow those things are loud and operate at a pitch that is sickening.

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

Ya......the Harrier in a hover is a loud one.

Probably not the worst, by any means, but the little Hispano Saetta jet was a real screecher, a lot like the T-37 but even more annoying. I used to see Saettas at air shows back in the 1980s and early 1990s, but it's been a long time since I've encountered one. Someone else mentioned the Fouga Magister. The noise from them is pretty hard to take as well.

Being only a couple hundred feet from a B-1B doing an afterburner takeoff is something else. I felt like I was being beaten up by a heavyweight boxer!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Been round Vulcans and Harriers a great deal and I can vouch for the A-6 and U-2 being louder; and the Magister being more vomit-inducing!

Loudest/feel it in your bones for me personally was being rather close to an older KC-135 with water injection on takeoff- most impressive crackling sound.

Coolest (and quite loud) was a SR-71 full burner pass. The afterburner cones were spectacular.

Honorable mention of having a aviation sourced engine- the last piston powered Miss Budweiser hydroplane, mid 1980's. She did a close pass to the shoreline and you could feel your insides shake. Very impressive.

I understand that the ground tests of the X-15 rocket engine were most distinct, and perhaps the loudest screech ever by an aircraft.

Cool certainly but I don't think as loud as a Concorde full burner pass!

Funny however because I've seen quite a few SR-71 passes and don't really remember the sound: maybe I was just too overawed!

Back in the 1970's, I knew an Air Traffic Controller whom had worked at NAS Grosse Ile Michigan. He indicated a Douglas XA2D Skyshark landed at field and he said that - as with the XF-84H Thunderscreech (or was it called the Thunderprop?) - made so much noise that ground personnel had to hide from the noise. I think this is documented as one reason that the Skyshark was not produced...

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Be happy to serve your fellowman

Silence

Honestly, one of the most if not the most 'loudest' airplane I heard was the MATS Connie C-121 engines full for take off. Maybe it was the weather conditions that enhances the sound, but I was standing under Fuddy Duddy and out of view and all of a sudden the entire valley shuddered as the MATS Connie started the take off roll. My chest was thumping and my eardrums vibrating something fierce-VERY LOUD. The F-14 and other jets had nothing on the C-121 that day!

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

There is a reason the B-1Bs have been called for more shows of force over Afghanistan than any other platform - sound. There is nothing to compare with the sound of 4 GE F101's in close formation burning copious amounts of fuel and turning it into pure freedom. The only thing that I can imagine that would be louder is the 6-pack on the XB-70.

BTW, I know everyone is talking about "shaking the ground" on departure - B-52s doing an alert launch do the same thing. B-1Bs do that even moreso. We had a B-1B at KDEN in 2003 that was doing their cross-country qualification from Dyess and we were 2 miles away from the runway they were using and the building shook violently enough that we were honestly afraid several loose windows might break.

B1.

Was on the ramp at an airshow 15 years or so ago, and a B-1 made a "practice" pass in full burner before the gates opened.

Dear Lord...

Reno Air Races:

Mustang running full race power and prop governor fails. Engine goes to about 5000 RPM and blows.

R2800 Yak, Czechmate, looses prop governor at full race power. Engine pegs out tach at 4000+ RPM.

You have to hear it and feel it to believe it.

F-35B is loud. Maybe a little louder that the AV-8B, but I didn't think it was that much louder (I was onboard WASP for the DT).

There are probably higher db registering aircraft, but for me, the loudest is a F-18 on final to the boat. Sitting in night plane guard station on the destroyer, the Hornets were always the loudest thing overhead (make you want to claw your face off loud).