Midweek Sortie 27: Afterburners — The Fire Behind Supersonic Power
When raw thrust was not enough, afterburners turned jet exhaust into controlled fire, giving fighters the violent speed needed to intercept, escape, and dominate.
Afterburners are only used on fighter planes and the supersonic airliner, Concorde. The Concorde turns the afterburners off once it gets into cruise. Otherwise, it would run out of fuel before reaching Europe. Afterburners offer a mechanically simple way to augment thrust and are used on both turbojets and turbofans.
—NASA
