Breaking the Sound Barrier with an Aircraft

Military aircraft routinely accelerate to speeds greater than the local sound speed. Historically, this was referred to as "breaking the sound barrier". The passage from subsonic to supersonic speeds is accompanied by some unusual phenomena which lie in the realm of "nonlinear" mechanical events - events involving some degree of chaos. A fascinating accompaniment to transonic flight is a suddenly appearing vapor cloud surrounding the aircraft. The F-14 Tomcat is one aircraft for which there are numerous photographs and videos like the one below of the vapor phenomenon.

军用飞机通常会加速至超过当地声速的速度。历史上，这种现象被称为“突破音障”。从亚音速到超音速的过渡伴随着一些异常现象，这些现象属于“非线性”机械事件——涉及一定程度的混沌。超音速飞行的一个有趣伴随现象是突然出现围绕飞机的雾状云团。F-14“雄猫”战斗机就是其中一种有大量照片和视频记录这种雾现象的飞机，如下图所示。

Photo credit:Photographer's Mate Airman Justin S. Osborne, Navy NewsStand --Eye on the Fleet Photo Gallery ( http://www.news.navy.mil/view_photos.asp , 030422-N-0382O-588).

照片版权：摄影师 Justin S. Osborne，海军新闻亭——《舰队之眼》照片集 (http://www.news.navy.mil/view_photos.asp , 030422-N-0382O-588)。

This video of an F-14 in transonic flight is posted at many sites on the Internet, but its origin is uncertain. Reference to it and numerous other images of the vapor phenomenon was found on the web site of Jeff Wilkinson.

这段关于F-14在跨音速飞行的视频被发布在许多因特网上，但其来源尚不确定。有关该视频以及众多其他关于蒸汽现象的图片，在Jeff Wilkinson的网站上有所提及。

F-14 Tomcat Fighter Aircraft in Transonic Flight