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Spit XIV 15min to 40,000ft, probably one of the best, Ta 152H-1 might well have been better.
Juha
I would have thought so!Presumably the little propellory thing on the nose of the Me 163 doesn't count?
I suspect that a Spit VII/VIII HF might be slightly better than the Mk XIV.
I take that the aircraft keeps it max rate of climb the whole way up? If so the F8F Bearcat is a good contender even though it didn't see any combat (but I think it still counts though?). A lot of good contenders up for this one especially the Ta-152H1 which is matched by the XP-72 in terms of rate of climb but the XP-72 is only a prototype so it doesn't count. This is certainly a tough one...
I thought the same but couldn't find any data in the short time I had so I picked the data for XIV just as you and you narrowly beat me in posting.
Juha