The fastest plane in the world

SONofODIN · Post time 14-7-2007 07:47 AM

THE FASTEST AIR BREATHING, MANNED JET PLANES IN THE WORLD

[size=+3]New York to London SR-71 Speed Run
On September 1, 1974 Major James V. Sullivan, 37 (pilot) and Noel F. Widdifield, 33 (reconnaissance systems officer) (photo inset), flashed across the starting line (radar gates in New York) at approximately 80,000 feet and speed in excess of 2,000 miles per hour. Exactly 1 hour 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds later, they had set a new world speed record from New York to London England. The average speed was 1,807 statute mph over the 3,461 statute mile course, slowing to refuel one time from a specially modified KC-135 refueling tanker. The aircraft was placed on static display at Farnborough Air Show for 1 week. It marked the first time the secret plane had been on public display outside of the United States. Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson (photo inset), the aircrafts designer, was on hand for the event. He remarked, "It (the SR-71) has exceeded all my expectations."
Another historic speed record was set on the return trip to the United States. Capt Harold B. Adams, 31 (pilot), and Major William Machorek, 32 (reconnaissance systems operator), set a speed record from London to Los Angeles. They returned the Blackbird 5,447 statute miles in 3 hours 47 minutes and 39 seconds for an average speed of 1,435 miles per hour. The difference in the two speed records was due to refueling requirements and having to slow over major US cities. Even so a large number of people in Los Angeles reported broken windows due to the sonic boom.

[ Last edited by SONofODIN at 14-7-2007 01:59 PM ]

SONofODIN · Post time 14-7-2007 07:49 AM

[size=+1]London to Los Angeles
On Sept. 13, 1974, Capt. Harold B. (Buck) Adams, Pilot, with Maj. Williams C. Machorek, Reconnaissance
Systems Operator, flew the SR-71 Blackbird across seven time zones from London to Los Angeles in a race
with the sun. The 3 hour, 47 minute and 39 second flight established a record over the 5,447 statute mile route but an added aerial refueling over the longer distance produced a slower ground speed of 1,435 mph. The aircraft arrived (by California time) almost four hours before its London-time departure. For their record-setting flights, the pilots received the De La Vaulx medal given by Federal Aeronautique Internationale. The medal is awarded to individuals for establishing absolute world records for highest performance without regard to size of aircraft or power plant.

SONofODIN · Post time 14-7-2007 07:51 AM

NASA's X-43A "Hyper-X" vehicle

The X-43A flew un-manned to a speed of Mach 7 or nearly 5,000 Miles Per Hour on March 27, 2004. The Scramjet engine was lit for 10 seconds.

Update from the NASA Web Site:

Nov 16, 7:52 PM A tiny unmanned NASA "scramjet" soared above the Pacific Ocean Tuesday at nearly 10 times the speed of sound, or almost 7,000 mph, in a successful demonstration of a radical new engine technology. The 12-foot-long X-43A supersonic combustion ramjet reached about Mach 9.7, said Leslie Williams, a spokeswoman at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. The exotic aircraft was designed to fly under its own power for about 10 seconds after separating from a booster rocket at 110,000 feet, then glide to a splash landing. The X-43A, mounted on a Pegasus rocket used to boost it to flight speed, was carried under the wing of a B-52 aircraft and released at an altitude of 40,000 feet over a test range off the Southern California coast. The rocket motor then fired for a 90-second ascent.

The Full X-43A Story is here at this URL: [url]http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/x43-main.html[/url]

So, now what is the fastest airplane in the world?

The following information should be helpful:

The X-43A flight easily set a world speed record for an air-breathing or jet engine aircraft. The previous known record was held by a ramjet powered missile, which achieved slightly over Mach 5. High-speed air-breathing engines, like a ramjet, mix compressed air from the atmosphere with fuel to provide combustion. The same is true of the scramjet or supersonic combustion ramjet that powers the X-43A. The highest speed attained by a rocket-powered airplane, NASA's X-15 aircraft, was Mach 6.7. The fastest air-breathing manned vehicle, the SR-71, achieved slightly more than Mach 3. The X-43A more than doubled the top speed of the jet-powered SR-71.

Editors Note: The X-43A was un-manned, carried aloft by a B-52 and rocket assisted to an altitude of 110,000 feet before the scramjet engine on the X-43A ignited and boosted the speed of the craft to Mach 9.7. The X-43A is now in the Guinness Book of World records as the fastest air-breathing aircraft in the world. The SR-71 is still the fastest air-breathing, manned aircraft in the world.

SONofODIN · Post time 14-7-2007 02:11 PM

The MiG-25 Foxbat was designed as a high-speed pure interceptor to combat the developing XB-70 Valkyrie American bomber capable of Mach 3. Though the Valkyrie never materialized for US war planners, the MiG-25 was kept in production and became one of the fastest aircraft in the world.

The MiG-25 (NATO codename of "Foxbat") held various altitude and speed records when it was first unveiled. The aircraft was capable of near Mach 3 speeds at Mach 2.8 and could hit altitudes well above 120,000 feet. The system was powered by two Tumansky turbojet engines that produced a combined thrust of nearly 50,000lbs. The system was crewed by two and featured a powerful onboard target tracking and weapons delivery system.

On Aug. 31, 1977 a MiG-25E piloted by Alexander Fed- otov set a "zoom" absolute altitude record by pushing the plane to maximum speed, then climbing, trading speed for altitude. After the engines flamed-out the plane continued in a sort of ballistic trajectory to an alti- tude of 123,523.58 feet. The aircraft then dropped to a lower altitude where the engines were restarted.

matmin77 · Post time 15-7-2007 01:32 AM

I think the fastest winged, powered aircraft on record , was the rocket powered X-15....it reached a speed of Mach 6.85 in 1967

X-15

The North American X-15 rocket plane was part of the USAF/NASA/USN X-series of experimental aircraft, including also the Bell X-1. The X-15 set numerous speed and altitude records in the early 1960s, reaching the edge of space and bringing back valuable data that was used in the design of later aircraft and spacecraft. It could be considered the first manned suborbital spacecraft ever constructed by the United States.[citation needed]

During the X-15 program, 13 flights (by eight pilots) met the USAF's criteria for a spaceflight by passing an altitude of 50 miles (80 km) and the pilots were accordingly awarded astronaut status by the USAF. Two X-15s pilots also qualified to receive NASA astronaut wings.[1]

Some respected aerospace researchers have placed the threshold of space at lower altitudes than the USAF and NASA, so many X-15 pilots could also be considered as astronauts. The "aeropause" region, where space-equivalent conditions are first encountered, starts at an altitude of 19 miles (30 km) above the Earth. Many X-15 pilots traveled through, and far above, the aeropause.

Out of all the X-15 missions, two flights (by the same pilot) also qualified for the international FAI definition of a spaceflight by passing the 62.1 mile (100 km) mark.

The altitudes attained by the X-15 remained unsurpassed by any piloted aircraft except the Space Shuttle until the 3rd spaceflight of SpaceShipOne in 2004. The speeds and altitudes have, also, frequently been exceeded by unpiloted air-launched rockets, such as the Pegasus rocket which has carried several satellites all the way into orbit. The widely reported record achieved by the diminutive X-43A scramjet testbed on 16 November 2004 of nearly Mach 10 (6,600 mph or 10,620 km/h or 2.95 km/s) at 95,000 ft (29 km) is only a record for an air-breathing jet engine.

X-15 ten fastest flights

Flight             Date                         Top Speed       Altitude             Pilot
Flight 45       9 November 1961       6,587 km/h       30,968 m       Neil Armstrong
Flight 59       27 June 1962                   6,605 km/h          37,704 m          Joe Walker
Flight 64       26 July 1962                   6,420 km/h    30,145 m       Neil Armstrong
Flight 86       25 June 1963                   6,294 km/h    34,077 m          Joe Walker
Flight 89       18 July 1963                   6,317 km/h    31,943 m    Robert Rushworth
Flight 97       5 December 1963       6,466 km/h          30,785 m          Robert Rushworth
Flight 105       29 April 1964                   6,286 km/h    30,968 m    Robert Rushworth
Flight 137       22 June 1965                   6,338 km/h             47,518 m    John B. McKay
Flight 175       18 November 1966       6,840 km/h          30,145 m       Pete Knight
Flight 188       3 October 1967                   7,274 km/h             58,552 m    Pete Knight

[ Last edited by  matmin77 at 15-7-2007 01:36 AM ]

alien7749 · Post time 16-7-2007 07:57 AM

we do not know what the then Soviet Union got in his hand. Maybe a faster aircraft.

alphawolf · Post time 16-7-2007 08:23 AM

Whilst a Foxbat was clocked at Mach 3.2 over the Middle East, the engines were basically wrecked when it got back to base. Mach 2.8 is more of the norm.