Air Speed Record
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An air speed record is the highest
airspeed In aviation, airspeed is the speed of an aircraft relative to the air it is flying through (which itself is usually moving relative to the ground due to wind). In contrast, the ground speed is the speed of an aircraft with respect to the sur ...
attained by an
aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
of a particular class. The rules for all official aviation records are defined by
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The World Air Sports Federation (; FAI) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintains worl ...
(FAI), which also ratifies any claims. Speed records are divided into a number of classes with sub-divisions. There are three classes of aircraft: landplanes,
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
s, and
amphibians Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...
, and within these classes there are records for aircraft in a number of weight categories. There are still further subdivisions for piston-engined,
turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...
,
turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...
, and rocket-engined aircraft. Within each of these groups, records are defined for speed over a straight course and for closed circuits of various sizes carrying various payloads.


Timeline

Gray text indicates unofficial records, including unconfirmed or unpublicized war secrets.


Official records versus unofficial

The
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a retired long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation. Its nicknames include " Blackbird" and ...
holds the official Air Speed Record for a crewed
airbreathing jet engine An airbreathing jet engine (or ducted jet engine) is a jet engine in which the exhaust gas which supplies jet propulsion is atmospheric air, which is taken in, compressed, heated, and expanded back to atmospheric pressure through a propelling noz ...
aircraft with a speed of . The record was set on 28 July 1976 by Eldon W. Joersz and George T. Morgan Jr. near Beale Air Force Base,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, USA. It was able to take off and land unassisted on conventional runways. SR-71 pilot Brian Shul claimed in ''The Untouchables'' that he flew in excess of
Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...
3.5 on 15 April 1986, over
Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
, in order to avoid a
missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...
. Although the official record for fastest piston-engined aeroplane in level flight was held by a Grumman F8F Bearcat, the ''Rare Bear'', with a speed of , the unofficial record for fastest piston-engined aeroplane in level flight is held by a British Hawker Sea Fury at . Both were demilitarised and modified fighters, while the fastest stock (original, factory-built) piston-engined aeroplane was unofficially the Supermarine Spiteful F Mk 16, which "achieved a speed of 494m.p.h. at 28,500ft during official tests at Boscombe Down" in level flight. The unofficial record for fastest piston-engined aeroplane (not in level flight) is held by a
Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...
Mk.XIX flown by Flight Lieutenant Edward "Ted" Powles, which was calculated to have achieved a speed of in a dive on 5 February 1952. The last new speed record ratified before the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
was set on 26 April 1939 with a Me 209 V1, at . The chaos and secrecy of World War II meant that new speed breakthroughs were neither publicized nor ratified. In October 1941, an unofficial speed record of was secretly set by a Messerschmitt Me 163A "V4" rocket aircraft. Continued research during the war extended the secret, unofficial speed record to by July 1944, achieved by a Messerschmitt Me 163B "V18". The first new official record in the post-war period was achieved by a
Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneere ...
F Mk.4 in November 1945, at . The first aircraft to exceed the unofficial October 1941 record of the Me 163A V4 was the Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak, which achieved in August 1947. The July 1944 unofficial record of the Me 163B V18 was officially surpassed in November 1947, when
Chuck Yeager Brigadier general (United States), Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager ( , February 13, 1923December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in his ...
flew the
Bell X-1 The Bell X-1 (Bell Model 44) is a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics– U.S. Army Air Forces– U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by B ...
to . The official speed record for a
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
moved by piston engine is , which attained on 24 October 1934, by Francesco Agello in the Macchi-Castoldi M.C.72 seaplane ("idrocorsa") and it remains the current record. It was equipped with the Fiat AS.6 engine (version 1934) developing a power of at 3,300 rpm, with coaxial counter-rotating propellers. The original record holding Macchi-Castoldi M.C.72 MM.181 seaplane is at the Air Force Museum at Vigna di Valle in Italy.


Other air speed records

Flying between any two airports allow a large number of
combinations In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are t ...
, so setting a speed record ("speed over a recognised course") is fairly easy with an ordinary aircraft, although there are many administrative requirements for recognition.Records Downloads
NAA.


See also

* Flight altitude record *
Fastest propeller-driven aircraft A number of aircraft have been claimed to be the fastest Propeller aircraft, propeller-driven aircraft. This article presents the current record holders for several sub-classes of propeller-driven aircraft that hold recognized, documented speed re ...
* List of vehicle speed records * Lockheed X-7 - Mach 4.31 (2,881 mph) in the 1950s *
Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as ...
*
World record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...


References

* Allward, Maurice. ''Modern Combat Aircraft 4: F-86 Sabre''. London: Ian Allan, 1978. . * Andrews, C.F. and E.B. Morgan. ''Supermarine Aircraft since 1914''. London:Putnam, 1987. . * Belyakov, R.A. and J. Marmain. ''MiG: Fifty Years of Secret Aircraft Design''. Shrewsbury, UK:Airlife, 1994. . * Bowers, Peter M. ''Curtiss Aircraft 1907–1947''. London:Putnam, 1979. . * Cooper, H.J
"The World's Speed Record"
''
Flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
'', 25 May 1951, pp. 617–619.
"Eighteen Years of World's Records"
''Flight'', 7 February 1924, pp. 73–75. * Francillon, René J. ''McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920''. London:Putnam, 1979. . * James, Derek N. ''Gloster Aircraft since 1917''. London:Putnam, 1971. . * Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. Annapolis Maryland, US: Naval Institute Press, 1992. . * Munson, Kenneth and John William Ransom Taylor ''Jane's Pocket Book of Record-breaking Aircraft''. New York New York, US: Macmillan, 1978. . * Taylor, H. A. ''Fairey Aircraft since 1915''. London:Putnam, 1974. . * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66''. London:Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1965. * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77''. London:Jane's Yearbooks, 1976. . * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1988–89''. Coulsdon, UK:Jane's Defence Data, 1988. . * Organ, Richard ''Avro Arrow: The Story of the Avro Arrow From Its Evolution To Its Extinction''. Erin, ON, Canada: Boston Mills Press, 1980. .


External links


Web site
of the
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The World Air Sports Federation (; FAI) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintains worl ...
(FAI)
Speed records time line

Speed Record Club
- The Speed Record Club seeks to promote an informed and educated enthusiast identity, reporting accurately and impartially to the best of its ability on record-breaking engineering, events, attempts and history.
Ground Speed Records
- Breakdown of speed records by aircraft type {{Portal bar, Aviation Aviation records Air racing Airspeed
Flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...