Highest altitude for WW2 single engine prop fighter?

[Admiral Beez]

What's the highest altitude reached by a single engine prop-powered fighter armed for combat?

Per Wikipedia, Fokke-Wulf Ta 152 - 49,500 ft. Did the Japanese ever get close?

 

[PAT303]

What's the highest altitude reached by a single engine prop-powered fighter armed for combat?

Per Wikipedia, Fokke-Wulf Ta 152 - 49,500 ft. Did the Japanese ever get close?

The Focke-Wulf TA-152 this site gives 48,500ft for the H version,

 

[Admiral Beez]

TA 152 aside, what altitudes can we get WW2 fighters, armed for combat (rather than stripped for reconnaissance)? The Japanese seem to top out around 38,000 feet with the Mitsubishi J2M.

 

[PAT303]

Spits got to 45,000ft.

 

[mjfur]

In August 1942, a modified Supermarine Spitfire V shot one down over Egypt at an altitude of some 14,500 m (49,000 ft); when two more were lost, Ju 86Ps were withdrawn from service in 1943.

Junkers Ju 86 - Wikipedia

 

[davparlr]

From 30k to 35k the P-47M/N were ferocious fighters. The engine of the P-47M/N was flat rated at 28000 hp up to 33k. At that altitude, the TA engine only generated 1300 hp, 1500 hp less than the P-47, the Spitfire XIV engine was rated at 1750 at 25k, much lower at 33k.

Above 35k, the TA was not reachable by contemporaries.

 

[keithwwalker]

The B+V BV155 was supposed to fly at 50-55,000 feet in anticipation of the B-29's.
Blohm & Voss BV 155 V2

 

[P-39 Expert]

From 30k to 35k the P-47M/N were ferocious fighters. The engine of the P-47M/N was flat rated at 28000 hp up to 33k. At that altitude, the TA engine only generated 1300 hp, 1500 hp less than the P-47, the Spitfire XIV engine was rated at 1750 at 25k, much lower at 33k.

Above 35k, the TA was not reachable by contemporaries.

28000hp, wow.

 

[davparlr]

28000hp, wow.

oops one to many 0s

 

[Koopernic]

In August 1942, a modified Supermarine Spitfire V shot one down over Egypt at an altitude of some 14,500 m (49,000 ft); when two more were lost, Ju 86Ps were withdrawn from service in 1943.

Junkers Ju 86 - Wikipedia

This never happened. It is verified as a false claim. The Spitfire V under no circumstances could get to anywhere near that altitude. A Ju 86P did ditch due to engine failure around that time but the crew, who were rescued, did not report any contact with the enemy. A Stripped down Spitfire IX apparently could get to altitudes that could threaten a Ju 86P but on that one occasion the Ju 86P was able to skid sideways to escape the Mk IX.
The spitfire pilot and ju 86 pilot became friends after the war,

 

[pbehn]

This never happened. It is verified as a false claim. The Spitfire V under no circumstances could get to anywhere near that altitude. A Ju 86P did ditch due to engine failure around that time but the crew, who were rescued, did not report any contact with the enemy. A Stripped down Spitfire IX apparently could get to altitudes that could threaten a Ju 86P but on that one occasion the Ju 86P was able to skid sideways to escape the Mk IX.
The spitfire pilot and ju 86 pilot became friends after the war,

Are details being mixed up? this from wiki …. Towards the end of August 1942, the Luftwaffe began launching high-level bombing raids against England. A unit called the Höhenkampfkommando der Versuchsstelle für Höhenflüge, equipped with a small number of Junkers Ju 86R bombers, was able to bomb England from above 40,000 ft without impediment from RAF fighters, or from anti-aircraft guns. On one such attack on 28 August a single bomb dropped on Bristol killed 48 people and injured another 46.[71][72] To counter the threat, the "High Altitude Flight" was formed at RAF Northolt; this unit used a pair of Spitfire Mk Vcs which were converted into IXs by Rolls-Royce at the Hucknall plant. These were stripped of everything not required for the role of high-level interception, lightening them by 450 lb each. On 12 September 1942 Flying Officer Emanuel Galitzine, flying BS273[nb 4], successfully intercepted a Ju 86R piloted by Fw Horst Göetz and commanded by Leutnant Erich Sommer[nb 5] above Southampton at 41,000 ft. The ensuing battle went up to 43,000 ft and was the highest air battle of the war. However, problems were caused by the freezing air at that altitude and the combat was not decisive: the port cannon suffered a jam and, whenever the pilot fired a burst, the aircraft would slew and fall out of the sky.[74] The bomber escaped safely with just one hit to its port wing, but having found it to be vulnerable to the RAF at high altitudes, the Luftwaffe launched no further high-altitude attacks against England.[75][76]

 

[Admiral Beez]

Above 35k, the TA was not reachable by contemporaries.

It must have been amazing to be a TA pilot, at least for that moment when you're the highest fighter pilot in the world, viewing the curvature of the earth. But then you have to come back down..... me, I'd be at 48,500 feet and flying to some neutral place.

 

[herman1rg]

High Flight

:
"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
– Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jr RCAF

On 11 December 1941, in his tenth week of active service, Magee was killed while flying Spitfire VZ-H (Serial No.AD291 he was aged 19.

Magee's posthumous fame rests mainly on his sonnet High Flight, which he started on 18 August 1941, just a few months before his death, whilst he was based at No. 53 OTU. In his seventh flight in a Spitfire Mk I, he had flown up to 33,000 feet. As he climbed upward, he was struck by words he had read in another poem — "To touch the face of God." He completed his verse soon after landing.

 

[xylstra]

The B+V BV155 was supposed to fly at 50-55,000 feet in anticipation of the B-29's.
Blohm & Voss BV 155 V2

You know your stuff Keith, I was getting bored waiting for someone to get around to mentioning it. However this pales in comparison with the DFS228, an ultra high-altitude rocket-powered reconnaissance glider with an absolute ceiling a tad over 82,000ft.

 

[PAT303]

From 30k to 35k the P-47M/N were ferocious fighters.

As much as I love the P47 I don't think it could match a MkXIV or TA152 over 30k, the only test I could find between them was a head to head between a Spit IX and P47C, they were evenly match until the Jug lost altitude and was unable to regain height, in a straight line and dive the P47 is king but it's weight is against it in a maneuvering fight.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

You know your stuff Keith, I was getting bored waiting for someone to get around to mentioning it. However this pales in comparison with the DFS228, an ultra high-altitude rocket-powered reconnaissance glider with an absolute ceiling a tad over 82,000ft.

Estimated at 82,000 ft. No one actually knows. The aircraft never achieved powered. Only two unpowered prototypes were built before wars end.

 

[pbehn]

Estimated at 82,000 ft. No one actually knows. The aircraft never achieved powered. Only two unpowered prototypes were built before wars end.

Just strap someone to a V2 and break all records? I see no merit in a discussion of "stuff " wot didnt happen but could have.

 

[michael rauls]

In August 1942, a modified Supermarine Spitfire V shot one down over Egypt at an altitude of some 14,500 m (49,000 ft); when two more were lost, Ju 86Ps were withdrawn from service in 1943.

Junkers Ju 86 - Wikipedia

I read that also a while back. I kinda puzled over why they would withdraw a type from service because a grand total of 2 were lost.

 

[GrauGeist]

The IJA's KI-87 would have been a contender, it's ceiling being over 42,000 feet, however it wasn't able to enter production before the end of the war.

Same goes for the IJA's KI-94-II, which was still under development by war's end, but would have been estimated to intercept B-29s up to 48,000 feet.

On the other hand, the Japanese did have the N1K1-J, which was effective at 39,000 feet with the KI-100 being a close contender with a ceiling of 36,000 feet,

 

[pbehn]

I read that also a while back. I kinda puzled over why they would withdraw a type from service because a grand total of 2 were lost.

Once the enemy has shown they can intercept they become suicide missions and Germany didn't have many to start with.