Flight airspeed record: Information and Much More from Answers.com

An air speed record is the highest speed attained by an aircraft of a particular class.

The rules for all official aviation records are defined by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), and they also ratify any claims. Speed records are divided into multiple classes with sub-divisions. There are three classes of aircraft: landplanes, seaplanes and amphibians; then within these classes, there are records for aircraft in several mass bands. There are still further sub-divisions for piston-engined, turbojet, turboprop 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. There are still further records for the speed between specified cities such as London to New York.

Timeline

Year	Pilot	Airspeed	Aircraft	Location
mph	km/h
1903	Wilbur Wright	9.80	15.77	Wright Flyer	Kitty Hawk, USA
1905	Wilbur Wright	37.85	60.91	Wright Flyer III
1908	Henry Farman	40.26	64.79	Voisin biplane
1909	Louis Blériot	47.82	76.96	Blériot XII
1910	Alfred Leblanc	68.20	109.8	Blériot XI
1911	Edouard Nieuport	82.73	133.1	Nieuport Nie-2 N
1912	Jules Vedrines	108.2	174.1	Monocoque Deperdussin
1913	Maurice Prevost	126.7	203.8	Monocoque Deperdussin
1914	Norman Spratt	134.5	216.5	RAF SE.4
1918	Roland Rohlfs	163.1	262.4	Curtiss Wasp
1919	Joseph Sadi-Lecointe	191.1	307.5	Nieuport-Delage 29v
1920	Joseph Sadi-Lecointe	194.5	313.0	Nieuport-Delage 29v
1921	Joseph Sadi-Lecointe	205.2	330.3	Nieuport-Delage
1922	Billy Mitchell	224.3	360.9	Curtiss R-6
1923	Alford J. Williams	267.2	430.0	Curtiss R-2C-1
1924	Florentin Bonnet	278.5	448.2	Bernard Ferbois V2
1927	Mario de Bernardi	297.8	479.3	Macchi M.52
1928	Mario de Bernardi	318.6	512.7	Macchi M.52bis
1929	Giuseppe Motta	362.0	582.6	Macchi M.67
1931	George H. Stainforth	407.5	655.8	Supermarine S.6B seaplane	Lee-on-the-Solent, UK
1933	Francesco Agello	424	682	Macchi M.C.72
1934	Francesco Agello	440.6	709.0	Macchi M.C.72
1944	Heinz Herlitzius [1]	596.51	960	Messerschmitt Me 262 S2
1945	H. J. Wilson	606.4	975.9	Gloster Meteor F Mk4	Herne Bay, UK
1946	E. M. Donaldson	615.78	990.79	Gloster Meteor F Mk4	Littlehampton, UK
1947	Col. Andrew Boyd	623.74	1,003.60	Lockheed P-80R Shooting Star	Muroc, California, USA
1947	Chuck Yeager	670.0	1078	Bell X-1
1948	Maj. Richard L. Johnson, USAF	670.84	1079.6	North American F-86A-3 Sabre	Cleveland, USA[2]
1953	Neville Duke	727.6	1,171	Hawker Hunter F Mk3	Littlehampton, UK
From this point records are set at altitude and not sea level.
1955	Horace A. Hanes	822.1	1,323	F-100C Super Sabre	Palmdale, USA
1956	Peter Twiss	1,132	1,822	Fairey Delta 2	Chichester, UK
1959	Col. Georgii Mosolov	1,484	2,388	Ye-66 (proto MiG-21)
1965	Robert L. Stephens and Daniel Andre	2,070	3,332	Lockheed YF-12A	Edwards AFB, USA
1976	Eldon W. Joersz	2,188	3,521	SR-71 Blackbird	Beale AFB, USA

Official records versus unofficial

The SR-71 "Blackbird" holds the official Air Speed Record for a manned airbreathing jet aircraft with a speed of 3,529.56 km/h (2,188 mph). It was capable of taking off and landing unassisted on conventional runways. The record was set on 28 July 1976 by Eldon W. Joersz near Beale Air Force Base, California, USA.^[3]

However for some people the term 'air speed record' implies simply the fastest aircraft. Other aircraft have flown faster without breaking the official air speed record. This is because they do not comply with FAI rules. For example, experimental high-speed aircraft are often unable to take off under their own power, and require a carrier aircraft.

For a period of time, during and immediately following World War II, the unpublicised absolute speed record of 1004.5 km/h (623.8 mph) set by the Messerschmitt Me 163A third prototype rocket aircraft, on October 2, 1941 was actually the fastest velocity any aircraft had been measured as traveling to that time. That figure, set during wartime, was achieved by the Me 163 A V3 in an essentially air-launched mode, as it was towed behind a Bf 110 from the ground to altitude, to set the record. Many record attempts were stated as being "set" after World War II by such aircraft as the Gloster Meteor, claiming to have exceeded the 755 km/h (469 mph) velocity record of the Messerschmitt Me 209 V1 piston engined aircraft, but none of these so-called "records" actually exceeded the Me 163 A V3's figure, until the Douglas Skystreak did so on August 20, 1947.

The Space Shuttle is the fastest aircraft, but it is unable to take off solely under its own power, requiring two solid rocket boosters during its ascent to orbit. During its ascent through the atmosphere the Shuttle's airspeed is under Mach 2. However, during re-entry it flies into the atmosphere at 28164 kilometres per hour (17,500 miles per hour) because of its residual orbital velocity, making it easily the fastest manned aircraft (in this case a glider).

The Boeing X-43A has been claimed to be the fastest air-breathing aircraft by NASA, having travelled at 11,200 km/h (7,000 mph), or Mach 9.68, on November 16 2004. However, it is an unmanned test vehicle, and relies on a carrier aircraft to reach altitude, and a discardable booster rocket to reach the operating speed of its scramjet engine. It is incapable of landing. Australian scramjet test vehicles have also reached Mach 10, but since they were purely research vehicles no record claim has ever been made for them. If this sort of projectile counts as an aircraft then early experiments with gun-accelerated projectiles might also be considered.

The rocket-powered X-15 was the fastest powered, manned aircraft, reaching a top speed of 7,274 km/h (4,510 mph) on October 3, 1967. However, it was a rocket-powered test aircraft incapable of taking off from the ground and was launched at altitude from a carrier aircraft and operated at the margins of the atmosphere.

Year	Pilot	Airspeed	Aircraft	Comments
mph	km/h
1955	Hank Baird	623	1003	Republic XF-84H	propellor driven plane record
1967	'Pete' Knight	4510	7258	North American X-15	rocket plane; incapable of breathing air
1981-2010	several	Mach 2 on launch 28,000 km/h (17,500 mph) on descent	NASA's Space Shuttle	rocket boosted, rocket powered glider with disposable tank
1986	John Egginton	249.1	401.0	Westland Lynx	helicopter world speed record
2004	unmanned	7000	11270	NASA's X-43A	hypersonic scramjet, but unable to take off, unable to land, requires air launch and is unmanned

Reference

External links

• web site of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)
• Speed records time line

Extremes of motion
Speed records Air speed record (Transcontinental) | Land speed record (Railed | Road car | Motorcycle | British) | Water speed record (Underwater) Sound barrier | Speed of light Distance records Flight distance record | Flight altitude record | Ocean depth record | Flight endurance record Boundary of space see also: Spaceflight records | FAI records