Fastest Piston Engined Aircraft of WW2?

[WARSPITER]

It's good to see no one posting just out of spite

 

[GrauGeist]

Maybe not out of Spite, but perhaps Fury?

 

[wuzak]

Note that there was just one Spiteful XVI built and it didn't hit 494 until 1947.

Wiki says 2 Spiteful F.16 were built, but BAE systems say only 1.

17 production and 2 prototype Spiteful F.14s were built. The F.14 was a laggard with a top speed of only 483mph. The first production Spiteful F.14 flew in April 1945.

 

[BiffF15]

Maybe not out of Spite, but perhaps Fury?

View attachment 649234

Is that an early version with the 4 bladed prop?

 

[wuzak]

Is that an early version with the 4 bladed prop?

That's the prototype Fury.

 

[pbehn]

The second prototype was errrrr different. Hawker Fury & Sea Fury

 

[GrauGeist]

Is that an early version with the 4 bladed prop?

This was the first Fury prototype (NX798) built to F.2/43, with a Centaurus XII engine and the Rotol four-bladed prop.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Never knew the the Spiteful was so fast.

Imagine if the Seafang had made it to the Pacific, facing 340 mph Zeros? Those IJN will be sitting still when a 460 mph Seafang zooms past.

 

[nuuumannn]

Here's an imposter mimicking the first (semi) naval prototype SR661...

Sea Typhoon descendant

This modern representation is a Baghdad Fury. The first fully navalised prototype with folding wings was SR666.

 

[Mike Williams]

View attachment 649234

That's a nice looking airplane.

 

[GrauGeist]

That's a nice looking airplane.

Agreed!

 

[fastmongrel]

Sea Furies just look right, not pretty not angry just right. Everything seems to be in the right position and the right proportion. No horrible zit like lumps and bumps stuck on as an afterthought.

Obviously a good deck aircraft as well, iirc it was HMAS Sydney that didn't have a single landing or taking off accident while on station off Korea. Breaking records for numbers of take off and landing cycles without loss. Obviously a lot of that was a great crew but having two such docile aircraft like the Sea Fury and Firefly helped.

 

[pbehn]

The Fury wasnt actually available at the time so they painted a Bearcat with RAF colours

 

[nuuumannn]

Sea Furies just look right, not pretty not angry just right.

One of my faves.

Fury static

DSC_5514

Sea Fury i

 

[Howard Gibson]

The second prototype was errrrr different. Hawker Fury & Sea Fury
View attachment 649337

Is this not something like a Griffon 85 engine?

 

[Graeme]

Is this not something like a Griffon 85 engine?

Yes.

 

[pbehn]

Now, if they made it like this to start with maybe there would have been a Griffon Fury.

Mark III+IV

hawkertempest.se

 

[AMCKen]

LA610 was good for 485mph with the Sabre. One other Sabre Fury was built - VP207.

 

[BlackSheep]

Well, you should have used "300 mph tape" instead, just imagine the net gain if you had!

While you're making the high-performance mods, don't forget the stereo and amp dials that go up to 11….you know, because 11 is more than 10..

 

[GregP]

The Hornet prototype RR 915 first flew on 28 July 1944 with Geoffrey de Havilland Jr. at the controls. Powered by twin Merlin engines, it was the fastest piston-engined fighter in Royal Air Force service. The Hornet also has the distinction of being the fastest wooden aircraft ever built and the second fastest operational twin propeller-driven aircraft — being slightly slower than the unconventional German Dornier Do 335 of 1945.
The prototype achieved 485 mph (780 km/h) in level flight, which came down to 472 mph (760 km/h) in production aircraft.

The first 10 Do 335 A-0s were delivered for testing in May. By late 1944, the Do 335 A-1 was on the production line. This was similar to the A-0 but with the uprated DB 603 E-1 engines and two underwing hardpoints for additional bombs, drop tanks or guns. It was capable of a maximum speed of 763 km/h (474 mph) at 6,500 m (21,300 ft) with MW 50 boost, or 686 km/h (426 mph) without boost, and able to climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft) in under 15 minutes. Even with one engine out, it could reach about 563 km/h (350 mph).

Pretty hot for an aircraft that didn't fight anything.

If you are talking combat aircraft, you'd have to exclude the Do 335 since the only combat it saw was, on a test flight, to run away from a flight of Tempests without shooting anything or bombing anything. Flight tests don't count as combat unless there WAS combat.