The differential model of turbulence, supplemented with the transport equation for turbulent heat flux, is used to perform a numerical investigation of the boundary layer on a heat-insulated wall with suction in a compressible gas flow. It is shown that the laminarization of the initially turbulent boundary layer occurs under conditions of suction of gas, as is evidenced both by the behavior of integral and local characteristics of the flow and heat transfer and by the degeneracy of turbulence when the suction becomes asymptotic. In so doing, the temperature recovery factor is independent of Prandtl number and becomes equal to unity, i.e., the temperature of the heat-insulated wall becomes equal to the stagnation temperature of the outer flow. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.