The Air Racers...
Piston engines
77 F8F-2 Bearcat (N-777L) Rare Bear world speed record holder at the 2014 Reno Air Races
The more "traditional" class of propeller-driven aircraft comprises those powered by piston engines, which include nearly all aircraft from the Wright brothers up through World War II. Today piston engines are used almost exclusively on light, general aviation aircraft. The official speed record for a piston plane was held by a modified Grumman F8F Bearcat, the Rare Bear, with a speed of 528.315 mph (850.241 km/h) on 21 August 1989 at Las Vegas, New Mexico, United States of America.[10][11] This record was retired as a new weight class based system was introduced to allow more pilots to set new records across a wider range of aircraft. On September 2, 2017, Steve Hinton Jr, in the modified P-51 Mustang Voodoo set the new record of 531.53 mph (855.41 km/h) in the C-1e class (the same weight class Rare Bear would fall into). This record is also the fastest for any propeller driven piston aircraft.
The FAI record for the fastest piston-powered aircraft over a long-distance circuit is the 2000-km record of 447.5 mph (720.2 km/h) set on 22 May 1948 by Jacqueline Cochran in a P-51C. (She also holds the 100-km record of 469.55 mph, set in December 1947.) Higher speed records exist; some are unofficial and some were officially-timed one-way trips aided by tailwinds. Examples of the latter: a B-29 averaged 450 mph (724 km/h) from Burbank to Floyd Bennett Field (2460 mi in 5.455 hours) on 11 December 1945, and Joe DeBona averaged 561.57 mph (904 km/h) from Los Angeles LAX to New York Idlewild (2475 mi (3981.5 km) in 4.405 hours) in a P-51 on 30 March 1954. On September 12, 2003, the modified P-51 Dago Red, piloted by Skip Holm, averaged 507.105 mph (816.1 km/h) during the 6 lap (c.50 miles) Reno Air Races Friday Gold Race.
Other claimants[edit]
The 1903 Wright Flyer did 30 mph (48 km/h) during its first flight; the Bleriot XI reached 47 mph (76 km/h) in 1909. Fabric-covered biplanes of the World War I era and shortly after could do up to 200 mph (320 km/h). In 1925 U.S. Army Lt. Cyrus K. Bettis flying a Curtiss R3C won the Pulitzer Trophy Race with a speed of 248.9 mph (400.6 km/h).[12]
Speeds of all-metal monoplanes of the 1930s jumped into the 435 mph (700 km/h) range with the Macchi M.C.72 reaching a top speed of 440.6 mph (709.1 km/h), still the record for piston-powered seaplanes.[13] The Messerschmitt Me 209 V1 set a world speed record of almost 756 km/h (470 mph) on 26 April 1939,[14] and the Republic XP-47J (a variant of the P-47 Thunderbolt) is claimed to have reached 505 mph (813 km/h) in testing.[citation needed] The P-51H Mustang, 555 made, could go 487 mph (784 km/h). The prototype of the twin-engined de Havilland Hornet (RR915) (383 built) reached 485 mph (781 km/h) as did a prototype Hawker Fury (LA610) when fitted with a Napier Sabre VII, and a prototype of the successor to the Supermarine Spitfire, the Supermarine Spiteful F.16 (RB518), reached 494 mph (795 km/h). The fastest German propeller driven aircraft that flew in WWII (did not see combat) was the twin-DB 603-powered Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil/Arrow" which had a claimed top speed of 474 mph (763 km/h).[15]
The XP-47J reached 813 km/h (505 mph) in testing
Convair XFY-1 "Pogo"
Lockheed XFV-1 "Salmon"
During the 1950s two unorthodox United States Navy fighter prototypes married turboprop engines with a "tailsittingdesign", the Convair XFY "Pogo" and the Lockheed XFV. Maximum design speeds of 610 mph (980 km/h) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m) and 578 mph (930 km/h) respectively have been quoted. The Lockheed XFV was fitted with a less powerful engine than it was designed for and had makeshift non-retractable landing gear for horizontal takeoff and landing;[16] the Convair's landing gear supported it in a vertical position. It was usually flown with the cockpit open, since the ejection seat was thought unreliable.[17] These aircraft had "compromised in-flight speed" because of the conflicting demands of vertical and horizontal flight.[18]