My dad told me that when he studied construction engineering in the late 70s at TU Munich one of their assignments was to calculate if the Isar nuclear reactors are built strong enough to hold off a Mach 2.2 impact of a Phantom II. If I recall correctly the correct answer was that they were quite a bit stronger than necessary for that.
However, I always wondered if a large civilian plane like a 747 with a speed close to Mach 1 creates more or less impact. The 747 is ~12 times heavier, but it's also less than half the speed and spreads the impact across a much larger area.
However, I always wondered if a large civilian plane like a 747 with a speed close to Mach 1 creates more or less impact. The 747 is ~12 times heavier, but it's also less than half the speed and spreads the impact across a much larger area.