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The World’s Smallest SST
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The World’s Smallest SST

In 1961, engineers at NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia used this one-inch scale model of a typical supersonic airplane design for sonic boom studies in Langley's four-foot supersonic tunnel. The design of the model was based loosely on the XB-70 bomber. In the age of computer-aided design, wind tunnels don't have the same prominence in aeronautics research that they used to. But sometimes they're still the only way to solve a problem.

Image: NASA


 

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Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine has been delighting aerospace enthusiasts with the best writing about their favorite subject since April 1986. As an adjunct of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Air & Space matches the grand scope of the Museum, encompassing every era of aviation and space exploration. With stories that range from the Wright Brothers to the design of NASA's next lunar lander, Air & Space emphasizes the human stories as well as the technology of aviation and spaceflight.

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