[chiph]

Former USAFE member here. You weren't hearing a sonic boom, just the normal engine noise. If I recall correctly, we would do supersonic training off the coast of Spain. Flying supersonic over populated areas would do things like break windows in people's houses and that's not good.

The engine noise you heard was loud because military aircraft are normally exempt from sound level limits (when non-supersonic). And the engines for the F-16, Tornado, etc. were designed in the 1970s. Even for modern military engines, performance comes first. So they are still going to be loud.

The chart in this PDF shows that for the F-16, the allowed exposure time could be as short as 21 seconds with the older "muff + plugs" hearing protection. They're just LOUD (and I have the tinnitus to prove it)

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/av...

[LargoLasskhyfv]

Lol, dude, you would have loved flying in Germany in the 80ies. Nosuch nonsense having to care about broken windows.

Officially, maybe. In practice it was very, very different, and loud.

[chiph]

I was there in the mid-80's. We had a 100m tall microwave tower on base. The Luftwaffe pilots from Flugplatz Pferdsfeld would fly loops around it in their F-4 Phantoms during joint exercises. The US pilots had been told they would receive Article-15's if they tried that stunt.

An interesting story about property damage however, was during the REFORGER exercises. What I heard was that every convoy would have a Captain or Major in a Jeep at the end of it, and he would have a checkbook to pay for any damages to homes, vehicles, gardens, etc. caused by the tanks.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

Strange. I lived and was born there. Though I can tell you my experience was very different from yours. Maybe it differed by region? Mine was mainly Bonn (Bad Godesberg) and surroundings, and later Burscheid, which seemed to be some sort of path where they did their low flying(though slower there, not near sonic). Nonetheless I feel there were times where almost no day went by without several sonic booms. Especially in Bonn from say 1980 to 1986. And those were F-15, F-16, F-18, rarely F-14, besides the stuff the German Airforce flew. Maybe Belgium, Netherlands? Oh, some Mirages and Gripen also! (But even more rare than the F-14) I could tell them apart because someone gifted me a set of cards for aircraft recognition ;->