Photograph from the Daily Herald Archive, entitled "Muffling" the Scream of the Jets. The image shows a member of the maintenance crew at Vickers-Armstrong's South Marston Works inspecting a 'muffler' being tested in the production of fighter jets. Dated October 2nd 1954.

Photograph from the Daily Herald Archive, indexed as Noise.

Muffling the Scream of the Jets

The Acute problem of muffling the scream from jet engine aircraft undergoing grounds tests in fields and factories which are near to built up areas, is one of increasing gravity. Today at Vickers-Armstrong's South Marston Works where the SWIFT fighter is in production for the RAF, a £10,000 "muffler" was demonstrated for the first time. The noise of the jet engine is reduced in terms of intensity by more than 99 per cent, which means that a deafening blast which renders conversation impossible at 1, 000 feet, the "muffler" will cut down noise so that conversation is possible immediately outside the walls of the equipment. The picture shows a member of the maintenance crew inspecting the muffler showing the flared entry and 4-ton mild steel reactor (like a spider's web) inside.