so.. i thought that u were against photoshopping and disbeliveing.........
so..
BELEIVE IT!!!

it really is real if u go to an air showand watch them take off u will c it it takes a very very good photographer to take pics like dat though and they look like the blue angels to me

I'm a photographer and don't know how to time this one. In action phtography you have to take the photo slightly before the peak moment to allow for the delay of the cameras shutter. It's either a lucky shot or a photshop.

I don't know if breaking the sound barrier shock wave is visable. I was in the Navy for 4 years on a carrier, so i've been around quite a few F-14 breaking the sound barrier and never saw that now any pictures.

I thought it was the shockwave building up on the leading edge of the wing, then when surpassing the speed of sound that pressure wave collapses. That gives the sonic boom, but when that pressure collapses, the pressure drops, which would cause vapor to come out of the air.

At least thats what I though happened....

I can get the same smaller effect by pressurizing a vessel to 90 psi or so then releasing it suddenly, and the vapor appears due in part to Boyles Law.

I'm not 100% on the plane though.

You are correct, Monkey. The effect happens exactly the way that you described. What you see in the pictures is the sound wave breaking and vapor.
You seem from this explanation and others that I have read of yours to be above average on the intelligence scale!

Well, I do okay. haha....Some things I understand better than others. Physics is one of my interests. Didn't study it very far, but a few theories interest me. My main thing in life isn't to just accept what happens as "something that happens" I want to know why it happens. I'm the type of person that sees something and tries to figure out how it got that way.

Plus I own a machine shop/fab shop, so I'm constantly making stuff anyway. Its a lifestyle.

Its a Condensation cloud that forms, vanishes, and then reappears. A simple explanation could be that the pilot varied the throttle, perhaps unintentionally, resulting in a short slowdown of the aircraft. Go to: http://www.galleryoffluidmechanics.com/conden/mpegf14.htm for a really involved explination.

Could be a video that they only posted the frame with the sonic boom

as taking video/photo class for one semester in 8th grade, what you do is have the camera keep taking pictures, and then one of them should be the good one

I think Dugunz is correct that it is a still frame from video, however, like i said i've never seen that when i was onboard a carrier unless that happens at that altitude. I think someone was watching too much Star Trek when the ship goes into warp drive!

nah, it's real. I've seen it several times since i joined the air force. It's actually really cool to see in person.

I couldn't let it rest since I spent 3 years on an aircraft carrier and never saw one. I'll be posting a video of it on ugoto soon!

dude it really happens, although it is usually not so visible. a similar sort of vapor cloud will come off of a bullet being shot out of a high powered rifle. (no not just the gas releasing from the barrel.)

alex.... i dont know if you have seen them, but there are clips on other sites with f14s doing that past an aircraft carrier. Do a google search on fly bys, best of luck they are pretty cool videos

OH good lord the smell !!!!