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Odds for Boom Supersonic flight grow longer after Rolls Royce leaves project

Tonight, an update on a story we first reported last November about a growing number of aviation companies racing to develop a new generation of supersonic passenger jets.

One of them, the American start-up company Boom and its founder Blake Scholl had already built a single-seat test plane when we visited the factory.

Turning that test plane into a passenger transport called "Overture," was, as we said in our story, a longshot.

"And we are working with Rolls Royce on a-- custom jet engine that will power Overture," Scholl told us. "It is a-- it is a lightly customized engine. And part of that is Rolls Royce's work where they're kind of turning some design knobs."

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This month, the odds for success grew longer when Rolls Royce withdrew from the partnership and left Boom actively searching for another engine-maker.

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