San Francisco Business Daily

Speed of commercial passenger aircraft in history?

Besides the Concord, has there ever been a commercial passenger aircraft that has matched, or exceeded the speed of sound in the U.S., or anywhere else?

Public Comments

1. Not that I know of, but I'd rather be riding the rails anyway. I'm not to keene on the thought of me flying.
2. Yes - the Tupolev 144. It's Russian and looks very similar to concorde.
3. Yes, it is a little known fact that aDC-8 broke the sound barrier in a shallow dive over Edwards Air Force base in the 1960's. The link below is pretty interesting. Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. - The Douglas Aircraft Company has broken yet another record with its DC-8 aircraft. Earlier today, during a routine certification test flight, Douglas Chief Pilot Bill Magruder flew the aircraft faster than the speed of sound, making the DC-8 the first Commercial Jet Transport to break the sound barrier. After climbing to an altitude of 52,090 feet, the DC-8-43 series aircraft attained a maximum speed of Mach 1.012 or 660 mph while in a controlled dive through 41,088 feet. The purpose of the flight was to collect data on a new leading-edge design for the wing.