The behavior of the unsteady laminar boundary layer induced by the incident shock wave passing over a flat plate mounted in a shock tube has been experimentally studied for shock speeds ranging from 2.35 to 7.34 km/sec by measuring unsteady heat transfer rates to the plate using thin‐film heat‐flux gages. Theoretical heat‐transfer rates were predicted from analytical solutions in the literature which describe the unsteady flat plate boundary layer development for equilibrium real‐gas flows. Experimental results obtained for both air and nitrogen were found to be in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.