The paper summarizes the sonic‐bang studies that have been made in the United Kingdom since 1965, which embrace flight trials, field experiments, and laboratory studies. The main flight trial concerns the measurement of the sonic bang from the Concorde. It is shown that, when the Concorde is flying at 45 000 ft, the waveform at the ground has attained its farfieldN‐wave shape, although this is not quite so when it is flying at 37 000 ft. The measured characteristic overpressures for these two altitudes and a Mach number of 1.3 are 110 N/m2and 120 N/m2, respectively. The effects of sonic bangs on cathedrals are discussed and the vibrational responses likely to be induced by the sonic bang are compared with those already arising from other environmental causes. Finally, the results of a study of the effects of simulated sonic bangs on some greenhouses are discussed; these results seem to indicate that most damages can be ascribed to a triggering effect.