Flow and heat transfer inside a generic inlet are investigated experimentally. The cross section of the inlet is rectangular. The inlet is installed on a §at plat at a signi¦cant distance from the leading edge. The experiments are performed in TsAGI wind tunnel UT-1M working in the Ludwieg tube mode at Mach number M ∞ = 5 and Reynolds numbers (based on the plate length L = 320 mm) Re ∞L = 23 · 10 6 and 13 · 10 6 . Steady §ow duration is 40 ms. Optical panoramic methods are used for investigation of §ow outside and inside the inlet as well. For this purpose, the cowl and one of two compressing wedges are made of a transparent material. Heat §ux distribution is measured by thin luminescent Temperature Sensitive Paint (TSP). Surface §ow and shear stress visualization is performed by viscous oil containing luminophor particles. The investigation shows that at high contraction ratio of the inlet, an increase of plate or cowl bluntness to some critical value leads to sudden change of the §ow structure.