Your responses are informative. The book mentioned above is not in the class of an official flight test; it does however have a good deal of information and a wide variety of warplanes dating back to the opening days of WW One, terminating with WW Two aircraft although it details some usage postwar particularly into the Korean Conflict.
Fastest Piston Engined Aircraft of WW2?
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drgondog
Major
Republic claimed that the XP-47J (one of) attained a recorded top speed of 507mph. (According to Republic, and referenced by Warren Bodie). The P&W R-2800-57w/GE CH-3 turbo deivered 2800hp at 36000 feet.
Note that it was not flown and tested by cold hearted AAF flight test engineers. Note also that at NAA when the XP-51G attained 495mph that it was a speed run by NAA top test pilot Bob Chilton. Neither of the two aircraft types were carrying a full combat load - reducing induced drag contribution by 3-5mph - nor carrying installed combat pylons which would further reduce top speed with significant added parasite drag. In production and in combat configuration and load out, it (P-47J) would be estimated 30+ mph slower at top speed.
The top production Republic a/c was the P-47M, of which few were built and only saw combat in ETO with 56th FG. The P-47M was faster at WEP/32,000 ft = 475mph (marginally) than P-47N at 467 mph. I haven't read the flight tests that specify the Gross Take Off weights for either. - but suspect Fighter config with reduced fuel and ammo load. Note that GW for P-47M is 2500 pounds less than P-47N in the attached AAF Flight test summary between P-47D, M and N.
The long standing Rare Bear closed circuit top speed of average of 5 flights - was broken by Voodoo which averaged 531mph One of Voodoo's runs attained 550+ mph, and ony the last run with a slightly sick engine dropped the average from the 540's. Voodoo (Steve Hinton, Jr.) was a highly modified P-51D
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
There are many publications where the authors have not fully researched their information, especially older ones. When technical publications or sources of their information are not indicated, I become skeptical.
Let's split a little,
Fastest airplane:
*altitude. Let's have some alt-range. 0-5000ft/ 5000-10000ft/etc. A plane build for low alt's sucked at high alts (mostly)
*Time frame: for europeans, WWII OFFICIALY ended on 8th mai, Americans on Sept2.
*Forget protos, forget those. Let's take only airframes that encountered ennemy planes in the air.
The fastest piston engined plane was still the me 262...yes,it had 2 Riedel's to put the jumo's in motion, without it, no working jumo's, so jumo's were actually piston engined..
Fastest airplane:
*altitude. Let's have some alt-range. 0-5000ft/ 5000-10000ft/etc. A plane build for low alt's sucked at high alts (mostly)
*Time frame: for europeans, WWII OFFICIALY ended on 8th mai, Americans on Sept2.
*Forget protos, forget those. Let's take only airframes that encountered ennemy planes in the air.
The fastest piston engined plane was still the me 262...yes,it had 2 Riedel's to put the jumo's in motion, without it, no working jumo's, so jumo's were actually piston engined..
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My father would disagree with that, he didnt return to UK from Singapore until 1948.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
That rated more than a "funny ".
I remember having a disagreement with my dad as a kid. I had just built the 1;24 Airfix Spitfire MkI which has a motorised prop. As soon as he saw it he said "the propeller is going the wrong way". Obviously all the Spitfires he saw in the far east were Griffon powered.
Sorry to hear that, those weren't pleasant times.
corrected the "definition"
Many servicemen didnt return for years, with the Japanese surrender the whole region was in chaos. In Germany I met a guy who was ex Afrika Corps, he didnt return from Africa until 1948 too, there was more food in Africa than Germany at the time so ex-prisoners were kept where they were until things were sorted out.
In UK they are called VE and VJ day, VE day being the end of war in Europe and VJ day being the end of hostilities and the end of WW2.
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GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
Following that criteria, the absolute fastest aircraft of WWII, that operated at higher altitudes and saw combat, was the Me163.
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
MiTasol
2nd Lieutenant
Dreadnaught (actually Dreadnought) is a Sea FURY
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
OK - I got to the bottom of this:
An XP-47J a "lightweight" P-47 (if there really can be such a thing) achieved a top speed of 505 mph.
On 11 July 1944 and equipped with a General Electric CH-3 turbosupercharger, the XP-47J achieved 493 mph (793 km/h) at 33,350 feet (10,165 m). Although the engine was producing 2,800 hp (2,088 kW), Republic believed the aircraft had more potential. At its own expense, Republic installed a CH-5 turbosupercharger and a larger 13 ft (3.96 m) Curtiss propeller. The propeller was an experimental unit with 2 in (51 mm) added to its trailing edge to increase its width. With the changes, the engine producing 2,730 hp (2,036 kW), and 400 lb (1.78 kN) of jet thrust from the exhaust, Mike Ritchie flew the XP-47J over a calibrated course at 34,450 (10,500 m) feet on 4 August 1944* and achieved 505 mph (813 km/h). This is the highest speed recorded in level flight by any propeller-driven aircraft during World War II.
Republic XP-47J Superbolt Fighter
The Republic XP-47J was a high-performance fighter prototype based on the P-47 Thunderbolt. The aircraft recorded a top speed of 505 mph (813 km/h) in level flight.
oldmachinepress.com
Now with that said, this was a highly modified experimental aircraft and not representative of production P-47s and NOT a P-47N
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
If you really want to correct it then I would suggest:-
The war in Europe ended on 8 May 1945 and the war against Japan ended on 2 September 1945.
"Europeans" fought on in the Far East after 8th May 1945 until the Japanese surrender and beyond often alongside Americans. Europeans includes British, Dutch, French and even Italians*.
Some of the last aircraft missions of WW2 flown by Europeans took place on 15 August 1945 over Japan itself immediately before the cease fire, by pilots of TG38.5, part of the British Pacific Fleet operating as part of the US carrier task forces. That resulted in the last enemy aircraft of WW2 being shot down by British pilots.
French and Dutch ships and submarines were operating as part of the British East Indies Fleet based in Ceylon and the US 7th Fleet out of places like Fremantle and Morotai throughout 1945.
And, given that today is Remembrance Sunday, let us not forget all of those of whatever nation who fought and died in both world wars and all the wars since.
* Italy declared war on Japan on 14 July 1945 and had a ship, the Eritrea, operating with the British East Indies Fleet in a secondary role. I accept that including them might be stretching it a bit.
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Not counting prototypes or one of a kind, I'd say the do335 or the ta152 stand a chance of being the fastest aircarfts to see combat duty. Germans also routinely installed nitrogen tetroxide 'booster packs' in many planes (especially on Me-109K) and this allowed notable short term gains especially at altitude.
Comparisons with modern racers are a bit out of place as these are basically 'pimp my ride' jobs good for Guinness records or to have a bit of fun on a Sunday afternoon (nothing against it! Being a nerd engineer myself, I love big, loud smokey engines as anyone else )
Comparisons with modern racers are a bit out of place as these are basically 'pimp my ride' jobs good for Guinness records or to have a bit of fun on a Sunday afternoon (nothing against it! Being a nerd engineer myself, I love big, loud smokey engines as anyone else
)
drgondog
Major
Two questions? Have you ever seen an actual flight test of the Do 335 that exceeded 430mph? The tests I have seen discussed an array of issues that needed design mods to solve (can't remember which and too lazy to search). Second question, any documentation of being deployed to operational unit? I know Hans-Werner claimed being shot at when ferrying a Do 335 to Lechfield on April 23,1945.Not counting prototypes or one of a kind, I'd say the do335 or the ta152 stand a chance of being the fastest aircarfts to see combat duty. Germans also routinely installed nitrogen tetroxide 'booster packs' in many planes (especially on Me-109K) and this allowed notable short term gains especially at altitude.
Comparisons with modern racers are a bit out of place as these are basically 'pimp my ride' jobs good for Guinness records or to have a bit of fun on a Sunday afternoon (nothing against it! Being a nerd engineer myself, I love big, loud smokey engines as anyone else
GregP
Major
Dreadnought (spelling is correct here) is not a Seafire. It is a Sea Fury T.20, modified with an R-4360 engine replacing the Bristol Centaurus. The engine is not the only change to the airframe. Dreadnought is your current National Champion (2021) flown by Joel Swager.
Rare Bear may have started life as an F8F-2, but it is basically not a Bearcat anymore. The stock engine was an R-2800 and the existing engine is an R-3350. The systems are pure Dave Cornell. There is nothing "Bearcat" left in the aircraft systems. The fuselage, wing and tail airfoils have been altered so as to not be even close to stock. The propeller is different from stock. There are even more changes from stock.
There is no F4U Corsair competitive in the Gold Class Unlimited racers and hasn't been since the Super Corsair flown by the Planes of Fame team. In 1985, Steve Hinton won Gold with it. It crashed in Phoenix, Arizona in 1994 with Kevin Eldridge at the controls. He was seriously injured but recovered and is still flying today. . So is Steve Hinton. . Meanwhile, Steve Hinton Jr. won Reno a record seven times in both Strega and Voodoo. .
Rare Bear may have started life as an F8F-2, but it is basically not a Bearcat anymore. The stock engine was an R-2800 and the existing engine is an R-3350. The systems are pure Dave Cornell. There is nothing "Bearcat" left in the aircraft systems. The fuselage, wing and tail airfoils have been altered so as to not be even close to stock. The propeller is different from stock. There are even more changes from stock.
There is no F4U Corsair competitive in the Gold Class Unlimited racers and hasn't been since the Super Corsair flown by the Planes of Fame team. In 1985, Steve Hinton won Gold with it. It crashed in Phoenix, Arizona in 1994 with Kevin Eldridge at the controls. He was seriously injured but recovered and is still flying today.
. So is Steve Hinton. . Meanwhile, Steve Hinton Jr. won Reno a record seven times in both Strega and Voodoo. .
