World Air Speed Record holders – survivors

As a slight aside…
I knew the Me 209 was not really related to the ‘109, despite the deliberate inference. Until I looked at this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_209 wiki page, I hadn’t realised just how different and how small it was.

Has anybody got a link to a more authoritative and/or detailed source?

I have been delving into my Putnam’s (wish I had a full set) to fill in some gaps.

Gunston/Gordon’s “MiG Aircraft” cofirms that the Mikoyan on display at Monino is not the record holder.

Francillon’s “McDonnell Douglas Aircraft” confirms the serials of the F-101A as 53-2426 and the F-4H-1F as 142260 – will have to google I’m sure there must be lists of Voodoo and Phantom survivors. Vol.2 confirms that the Douglas D-558-1 at Pensecola 37970 IS the record holder. In fact two of the type held consecutive records 37971 beat 37970’s record 5 days after but was later destroyed in a crash.

Andrews/Morgan “Supermarine Aircraft” shows that the S.6b S1595 at the Science Museum is a record holder but N248 at Solent Sky is not.

Still haven’t been able to post my full list of absolute speed record-breaking aircraft but below is an extract showing those (so far) that do survive and where.

Supermarine S.6b S1595 South Kensington
Messerschmitt Me 209 V1 D-INJR Warsaw(fuselage)
Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4 EE549 Tangmere
Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak 37970 Pensacola, FL
Hawker Hunter F.Mk.3 WB188 Tangmere
Supermarine Swift F.Mk.4 WK198 Sunderland(fuselage)
Douglas XF4D-1 Skyray 124587 China Lake, CA
Fairey Delta 2 WG774 Yeovilton(BAC221)
Lockheed SR-71A 17958 Robins, GA

Roger Smith.

My pleasure. Its all a bit of fun! 🙂

Anyway, I think that I have found another one……….

Lockheed P-80R

http://svsm.org/gallery/p80rusaf

Regards

Paul

Cheers – yes the XP-80 R was a “one-off” added to the list

Roger Smith.

Paulbarry – thanks for the input. I have looked at the two sites you highlight and the Douglas Skyray at China Lake (Goletta) IS the record holder.
However the F-106 at McChord is not – reading the text the aircraft preserved there, although it was prepared for the attack on the speed record, had problems and another machine was substituted.

Richard – can’t confirm that the Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak at Pensecola is the record breaker. According to Michael Blaugher there are five D-558s preserved in the US!

Anyway I have now typed up a list of World air speed record holders. All the info on it so far (except for that in bold type) has been drawn from “Jane’s Pocket Book 15 – Record-Breaking Aircraft” edited by John W.R.Taylor. There may be typing errors :confused:

Now all I’ve got to do is find out how to reproduce my Word document here so it can be seen 😡

Roger Smith.

My pleasure. Its all a bit of fun! 🙂

Anyway, I think that I have found another one……….

Lockheed P-80R

http://svsm.org/gallery/p80rusaf

Regards

Paul

Paulbarry – thanks for the input. I have looked at the two sites you highlight and the Douglas Skyray at China Lake (Goletta) IS the record holder.
However the F-106 at McChord is not – reading the text the aircraft preserved there, although it was prepared for the attack on the speed record, had problems and another machine was substituted.

Richard – can’t confirm that the Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak at Pensecola is the record breaker. According to Michael Blaugher there are five D-558s preserved in the US!

Anyway I have now typed up a list of World air speed record holders. All the info on it so far (except for that in bold type) has been drawn from “Jane’s Pocket Book 15 – Record-Breaking Aircraft” edited by John W.R.Taylor. There may be typing errors :confused:

Now all I’ve got to do is find out how to reproduce my Word document here so it can be seen 😡

Roger Smith.

Here is my attempt at a list of some of the more recent ones prior to the X-43 –

July 76 SR 71a 2189mph
May 65 YF12A 2070mph
July 63 E-166 1665mph
Nov 61 F4H-1F 1606mph
Dec 59 F106 1525mph
Oct 59 E-66 1483mph
May 58 F-104 1404mph
Dec 57 F101A 1207mph
Mar 56 FD2 1132mph
Aug 55 F100C 822mph
Oct 53 F100A 755mph
Oct 53 Skyray 752mph
Sep 53 Swift 735mph
Sep 53 Hunter 727mph
July 53 F86D 715mph

OK, now my attempt at going back a bit further………

Nov 52 F86D 698mph
Sept 48 F86A 670mph
Aug 47 Skystreak 650mph
Aug 47 Skystreak 640mph
Jun 47 P-80 623mph
Sep 47 Meteor 616mph
Nov 45 Meteor 606mph
(nothing WW2)
Apr 39 BF109 469mph
Mar 39 He 100 463mph
Oct 34 MC72 440mph
Apr 34 MC72 423mph
Sep 31 S6B 407mph

BTW, I am trying to only show FAI measured records in non-rocket powered aircraft 🙂

Here is my attempt at a list of some of the more recent ones prior to the X-43 –

July 76 SR 71a 2189mph
May 65 YF12A 2070mph
July 63 E-166 1665mph
Nov 61 F4H-1F 1606mph
Dec 59 F106 1525mph
Oct 59 E-66 1483mph
May 58 F-104 1404mph
Dec 57 F101A 1207mph
Mar 56 FD2 1132mph
Aug 55 F100C 822mph
Oct 53 F100A 755mph
Oct 53 Skyray 752mph
Sep 53 Swift 735mph
Sep 53 Hunter 727mph
July 53 F86D 715mph

Wow. I find it amazing how it’s been over 30 years (really 40 since the Blackbird set records before ’76) since we’ve had manned, take-off under own power, speed record. Just shows how amazing Kelly Johnson and his team were.

Sorry to answer my own question, but it seems G-LYNX is a survivor and is at the Helicopter Museum. 🙂

Allan

… but the difference being that on the Concorde the hinge of the droop portion is ahead of the cockpit. On the Fairey Deltas the hinge was behind the cockpit and the whole cockpit drooped.

Mark

Sorry, slight tweaking of thread, I thought that the FD-2 had a droop snoot, the one pictured at Cosford doesn’t appear to have one and although I’ve seen the one at Yeovilton a few times, I don’t recall that having one either, must have been a pig to land without it, why was it removed.

Pete,

Both the FD.2 at Cosford and the BAC221(formerly a FD.2) at Yeovilton,both have ‘droop snoots’ but are both displayed with them erected! Like Concorde, the nose is hinged and only lowered into the ‘drooped’ position for take-off and landing.

Me163 Komet?

The Me163 Komet could well have held a world speed record in the mid 40’s, but it wouldn’t have been officially recognised. First aircraft to 1000kmph?

Here is my attempt at a list of some of the more recent ones prior to the X-43 –

July 76 SR 71a 2189mph
May 65 YF12A 2070mph
July 63 E-166 1665mph
Nov 61 F4H-1F 1606mph
Dec 59 F106 1525mph
Oct 59 E-66 1483mph
May 58 F-104 1404mph
Dec 57 F101A 1207mph
Mar 56 FD2 1132mph
Aug 55 F100C 822mph
Oct 53 F100A 755mph
Oct 53 Skyray 752mph
Sep 53 Swift 735mph
Sep 53 Hunter 727mph
July 53 F86D 715mph

My apologies. I usually take Wiki with a pinch of salt but expected a tabulated list to be reasonably accurate. There are quite a few missing from the late 50s and early 60s.

The FAI are the people who say whether it’s an official record or not. Not the easiest website to navigate but http://records.fai.org/general_aviation/history.asp?id1=21&id2=28&id3=4 should give the record holders since it was changed from sea level to altitude.

Could anyone explain to me the differences between the various records and claimed records? For example, the XS-1 and D-558-1 apparently held ‘records’ for being fastest, but these were not FAI recognised records like the Fairey Delta 2, North American F-100, Hawker Hunter held. What ‘official’ recognition is there for the former category, and are we counting them?

There also seem to be a number of claimed but unofficial ‘records’ like the F-8, F-4 etc – are these purely manufacturer claims?

Incidentally the Macchi-Castoldi MC.72 still holds the official seaplane speed record, at around 440mph if memory serves.

Incidentally, the Science Museum’s S1595 is the Supermarine S6.B that won the Schneider Trophy (and holds the all time record for that race) and the first to break 400mph speed record, but S1596 also held the absolute speed record I believe, set on the day of the 1931 Schneider Trophy ‘race’.

http://www.neam.co.uk/swift.html

Mark

According to Wiki (because it’s quicker than looking for a book) only the F100 on that list ever held the Air Speed record. Wiki doesn’t state the serial of the YF-12A or SR-71 to find out quickly if they survive.

F106 Preserved at McChord Air Museum – speed of 1525 mph
http://www.mcchordairmuseum.org/REV%20B%20MAM%20RESTORATION%20FIX%20A%20SIX.htm

Another one –
Douglas Skyray preserved at Goleta Air and Space Museum – speed of 752 mph, taking the record away from the Swift.
http://www.air-and-space.com/20020624%20China%20Lake%20vintage%20aircraft.htm

I haven’t looked up the others yet!

The Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola is a world speed record holder (and survivor).

The Bell X-1B, at Wright-Pat now, also achieved world speed records (and survives).

Cheers,
Richard

Are we just talking world air speed records here? If not the Saunders Roe SR-A1 has to be the worlds’s first Jet flying boat fighter. OK it never went into service but it was still the first.

I have a feeling that, unlike Concorde, the droop on the FD.2 and BAC221 starts behind the cockpit so isn’t so visible. They certainly both still have droop noses.

The Bristol 188 was designed for research into high speed flight, Mach 3-ish?, but the engines were so thirsty it couldn’t carry enough fuel to be of any use.

Sorry, slight tweaking of thread, I thought that the FD-2 had a droop snoot, the one pictured at Cosford doesn’t appear to have one and although I’ve seen the one at Yeovilton a few times, I don’t recall that having one either, must have been a pig to land without it, why was it removed.
Incidentally, didn’t the Bristol 188, an expensive, giant, useless, high speed, stainless steel, Canberra derivative as I thought of it at the time, now at Cosford, achieve some sort of world speed record, or was that some sort of propaganda incited by the then contemporary Eagle Annual. What was the point of the thing, was it going to be Britains high profile, gleaming answer to the SR-71, passing like a a bright star over Soviet territory. Surely the money wasted on that would have been better spent on TSR-2 development, it may have made the difference financially, though I doubt it.