Huge update on 'son of Concorde' jet that will fly from London to New York in 3.5 hours

Published 19:12 24 Jan 2025 GMT

It's about to hit a big milestone

Son of a Concorde! No, that’s not an aviation geek-esque slam, but remove the ‘a’ and it’s the nickname of the jet that could soon be flying you from London to New York in three-and-a-half hours.

And if you were in the aviation world, you’d be referring to it as the XB-1 plane. Anyway, there’s been a huge update on said aircraft as travelling on it gets closer and closer to becoming a reality.

Having completed a number of successful test flights so far, the ‘son of Concorde’ could be about to hit supersonic speeds.

Earlier this month, the Boom Technology jet nearly reached the marker as it flew for 44 minutes at an altitude of 29,481ft.

In this previous test flight, it reached a top speed of Mach 0.95, which is classed as transonic.

To be able to be supersonic, it has to reach Mach 1 which is about 767mph. And that’s the aim for an upcoming test flight on 28 January for the Colorado-based company.

Bosses have announced that the highly-anticipated aircraft is going to hit these supersonic speeds during a livestream we can all watch at 2:45pm UK time.

Of course though, as with anything like this, that date and time are very much dependent on the weather.

All being well, viewers will be able to watch as the XB-1 reaches Mach 1 thanks to it being followed by a chase plane.

Having headed the previous test flights, chief test pilot Tristan ‘Geppetto’ Brandenburg will be inside the son of Concorde’s cockpit when it hopefully breaks the sound barrier on Tuesday afternoon.

It’s currently authorised to fly in two airspaces for these tests: Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor and the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor in California.

Following the successful Flight 11 on 10 January, the team explained the primary objective was ‘expanding dynamic pressure to 383 KEAS (knots equivalent airspeed)—a higher number than will be experienced during XB-1’s first supersonic flight’.

They added: “During flight testing, we carefully expand one parameter at a time—either Mach number or dynamic pressure—in order to ensure safe and precise performance. The relationship between these two numbers changes with altitude—the faster and lower you are, the higher the dynamic pressure, and vice versa.”

You can watch the planned livestream for the son of Concorde’s first supersonic flight here.