In March/April 1962, B-58 Hustler nuclear bombers from the Strategic Air Command cris crossed the skies over Maryville at Mach 2, which produced sonic bombs as they did mock nuclear strikes on New York, Los Angeles, Omaha, Lincoln, St. Louis, and Rapid City.
This was probably the most publicized sonic boom burst in Missouri. SAC even issued maps and warnings about the plans. The booms broke plaster and knocked over China antiques, prompting calls to the St. Joseph City Hall to ask them to stop it, and the most dramatic incident was at the St. Louis Zoo, where two gerenuk antelopes died after hitting their heads against a wall after panicking in the sound (and some elephants at the zoo broke free of their chains).
There were no reports of damage in Maryville and the Forum on April 25, 1962 in the “This and That” column said:
The sonic booms that have been blasting over Maryville every few days are startling and disquieting to say the least. But actually, I would rather have the bombs and the planes than the bombs and the Russians.
The Convair B-58 Hustler, which could fly at Mach 2, was infamous for its sonic booms and quickly became obsolete as missiles replaced planes as the primary nuclear delivery method. In 1962, its flight from Los Angeles to New York lasted 2 hours 56.8 seconds at a speed of 1,214.17 miles per hour. It won the last Bendix Trophy for the feat.
Bendix, incidentally, in 1949 was tapped by Harry Truman for the Kansas City Plant (KCP), which was crucial for manufacturing the non-nuclear components (like detonators, electronics, and casings) that make up 85% of a nuclear weapon, operating under the Department of Energy (DOE) at its Bannister Federal Complex at Troost and Bannister Road. In 2014, the plant moved further south near the old Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base for the Kansas City National Security Campus.
The sonic booms in Maryville pale in comparison to the 1,253 generated over 6 months, starting in February 1964, in Oklahoma City, when the FAA authorized a test to gauge the community’s reaction. Spoiler alert: They did not react well, and sonic booms dramatically dropped off after that.
Commercial supersonic flights over land were effectively banned in the U.S. in 1973 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
In June 2025, Donald Trump repealed the ban by executive order. The goal was to enable “boomless” or significantly quieter supersonic flight, a technology not available in the 1970s, making overland supersonic travel feasible and supporting new aircraft development. Boom Supersonic plans its first Overture jet rollout in 2026 for test flights in 2027, aiming for commercial passenger service by 2029 with “boomless cruise” technology for overland routes, while NASA’s X-59 demonstrator also aims for quiet supersonic flights, with 2026 seeing key engine tests and continued development towards proving overland supersonic flight.
AI Jokes about incident
- Those B-58s didn’t so much break the sound barrier as rearrange everyone’s afternoon nap schedule from LA to New York.
- The Hustlers flew so fast the traffic report switched to a weather update for sonic booms.
- They hit 1,214.17 mph — because apparently round numbers are for slower things.
- People asked if it was thunder; scientists replied, “No, that was punctuality.”
- The pilots called it a speed record; the rest of the country called it an involuntary wake-up tour.
- When the jets screamed over St. Louis, even the pigeons RSVP’d “not attending.”
- Those sonic booms were so consistent they could’ve been a new radio station: 101.1 FM — Air Raid.
- The antelope at the zoo didn’t stand a chance — they thought the sky was auditioning for a demolition derby.
- The B-58s made coast-to-coast travel faster — and made every dog within a three-state radius reconsider loyalty.
- After that flight, towns started offering “sonic-boom insurance” — covers broken windows and ruined tea times.