World’s 10 Fastest Aircraft – Sky’s No Limit For Them
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They are the emperors of the sky – watching over us with some of the deadliest arsenal tucked right under their bellies. Their awesome power never fails to make us wonder if they weren’t unreal. They can soar up there much faster than the roars of their engines. They are some of the ultimate man-made machines, and heck, they sure can fly !!!
Lets have a look at some of mankind’s most incredible innovations – The 10 fastest aircrafts that grace the sky!!
10. General Dynamics F-111 “Aardvark”
Developed in the 1960’s, this all American tactical strike aircraft was built with one thing in mind; incredible speed with an agility to match. It was designed for multiple roles, but mainly as a naval fighter-bomber for aircraft carriers. Now discontinued by the US Air Force, the latest Aardvark, the F-111C is still part of the Royal Australian Air Force fleet. The F-111 pioneered many technologies like variable sweep wings, after burning turbofan engines and automated terrain tracking radar for low-level, high-speed flight. The wing sweep has a range of 16 to 75 degrees to allow more maneuverability at slow flight speeds (Thanks to Dugg – see comments). The fighter is powered by two Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-100 turbofans which generate 17,900 lbf of dry thrust each! The afterburner increases this figure by a nifty 7000 lbf which brings us to the most interesting part, its speed. The Aardvark flies at a maximum speed of 2.5 Mach or 2.5 times the speed of sound. This amounts to a whopping velocity of 1,650 mph and makes it the tenth fastest aircraft of all time.
09. Mig 31 FoxHound
The Mikoyan MiG-31 FoxHound is a supersonic interceptor aircraft developed by Russia. It was designed to replace the MiG-25 FoxBat which though an outstanding performer, lacked the maneuverability at interception speeds. The Foxhound breathes through a large twin-engine, which provides an aspect ratio of 2.94 with a shoulder-mounted wing, side-mounted air intakes and twin vertical tail-fins. These specs render it one agile flying machine. The passive array radar for terrain ranging and the four R-33 air-to-air missiles under its belly make it a deadly fighting machine. The twin Soloviev D-30F6 afterburning turbofans produce a thrust of 34,172 lbf which propels the aircraft to a top flying speed of 1,860 mph! That’s 2.83 times the speed of sound.
08. F-15 Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed to acquire and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. This American designed true blue fighter plane packs quite a punch. The F-15 has a “look-down/shoot-down” radar that can detect low-flying moving targets from ground clutter and engage them. Most of the functions of the aircraft are computer controlled, thus requiring only a single pilot under a single clear frame canopy. Newer developments include increased capacity to carry payload and extra fuel, a new radar and a redesigned central computer; all directed towards aerial superiority and stamina.The F-15 is built on a solid semi-monocoque fuselage with shoulder-mounted wings. The Eagle uses a versatile APG-63/70 pulse-Doppler radar system which can range and contour moving objects below differentiating them from immobile objects. It can also track flying objects well beyond the visual range and at altitudes down to tree level. The heart of the jet are the twin two Pratt & amp; Whitney F100 axial-flow turbofan engines with afterburners mounted side-by-side in the fuselage. They produce a massive 29000 lbf of thrust enough to propel this machine to speed up to 1,660 mph and beyond! The jet flies at Mach 1.2 at low altitudes and a mind numbing Mach 1.5 plus at high altitudes.
07. XB-70 Valkyrie
The XB-70A was built by Los Angeles division of North American Aviation for the U.S Air Force. It was an experimental aircraft sketched out to test supersonic speeds devised with a delta-wing. The XB-70 primarily served the USAF as a strategic bomber which surfaced into the U.S fleet in the early 60’s. Though the aircraft suffered an early retirement from the service, it definitely grabbed the attention of the aviation world in its short span. The Valkyrie was able to achieve Mach 3 speed with a service ceiling of 70,000 ft. The Valkyrie was able to achieve these figures with 6 General Electric YJ93-GE-3 afterburning turbojet engines with a top speed of 2,056 mph (3.1 Mach). The XB-70 had changes in its structure compared to a conventional aircraft, the air-intake control system was specifically designed to adjust and reduce the force of supersonic at the air-intake duct. During a single stop while landing a XB-70 Valkyrie, it absorbs kinetic energy equivalent to that used to stop 800 vehicles speeding at 100 miles an hour.
06. Bell X-2 “Starbuster”
Bell X-2 was a research aircraft built by United States to investigate flight characteristics in the Mach 2-3 range. Stability and control were top concerns for aviation researchers as aircraft were crossing the supersonic speed zone by leaps and bounds rapidly. A major issue was the “thermal barrier” encountered when nearing Mach 3 which caused severe heating effects due to aerodynamic friction. Constructed of a copper-nickel alloy and stainless steel, and powered by a two-chamber XLR25 sea level thrust throttleable engine, the swept-wing Bell X-2 was contrived to probe this section. The maiden test flight was undertaken by Lt. Col. Frank K. “Pete” Everest in November 1955. He reported severe instability as the aircraft neared Mach 3. The boundaries were pushed when Captain Iven C. Kincheloe took the same X-2 to a peak altitude of 126,200 ft and became the first man to fly beyond Mach 3 when he clocked a peak air speed of 2094 mph. Tragedy struck when the captain tried to take a banking turn while he was still above Mach-3, and the jet tumbled out of control due to inertia coupling and eventually crashed. The X-2 delivered valuable information on aerodynamic friction and built-up heat, but after this tragedy, the services of the aircraft perpetually put on hold until the arrival of the North American X-15. The 15000 lbf thrust powered Starbuster clocked a peak speed of 2094 mph or 3.196 Mach.
05. MiG-25 “Foxbat”
Next in line is none other than MiG-25 “foxbat”. In the late 60’s Americans were on the verge of developing a bomber far more advanced than any before, the B-70 bomber. The B-70 had the capability to deliver nuclear weapons while traveling at Mach3 at an altitude above 70000 ft. The Soviets wasted no time and started designing a high altitude, super-fast interceptor; the first prototype of this combat aircraft was called Ye-155R-1. In 1969 it went into production MiG-25R, which was given the codename “Foxbat-B” by the NATO. The MiG-25 is carved only for high-altitude flights and consequently performs terrible on low altitude flights and “dog-fights”, as it is not swift and nimble in its maneuvers. The MiG-25 is a classic interceptor aircraft which has a service ceiling of 80,000 ft, tearing a maximum of 3.2 Mach (2170 mph). The MiG-25 gets this phenomenal performance from 2 Tumansky R-15B-300 afterburning turbojets producing a thrust of 100.1 kN with the afterburner. With 2170 mph, this Soviet masterpiece holds the 5th in the countdown.
04. SR-71 Blackbird
The SR-71 Blackbird is a strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed Skunk Works from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A. The Blackbird was a huge improvement over its predecessor the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. The SR-71 could cruise at 3.5 Mach, which is about 3 times faster than the speed of sound, at an altitude above 100,000 feet and has a range of about 4000 miles. The power plant of SR-71 Blackbird is the two Pratt & amp; Whitney J58-1 continuous-bleed afterburning turbojets, 32,500 lbf (145 kN) each, the fuel for the SR-71 is JP-7 giving the aircraft enough thrust to touch 2,500 mph. It had its ups and downs during the 4 decades of serving in the United States Air Force, after being introduced in 1966 and later retiring from service in the late 80’s. The SR-71 Blackbird was revoked into the USAF in the early 90’s due to its reconnaissance abilities and because no better replacement was available. The aircraft took a second and final retirement in 1998.
03. X-15
The X-15 was part of the X-series of rocket-powered experimental aircraft development. It was probably the most ambitious effort made to push the limits of flight and explore the prospects of space travel. During this experimental program the X-15 recorded a ground-breaking altitude of 354,330 ft attaining a maximum speed of 4,520 mph (6.72 Mach), the fastest set by any manned aircraft till date. It could be said that X-15 proved to be the test bed for a variety of experiments concerning the space. The X-15 used a Thiokol XLR99-RM-2 liquid-fuel rocket engine to deliver the thrust that it packed; it was fueled by liquid oxygen and ammonia. The aircraft also consumed hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed pump that pumped the fuel in to the engine. The aircraft essentially had no landing gear, just a pair of skies and a long run-way as the aircraft skidded to a stop after a 200 mph landing. Much of the data collected during the X15 program proved to be valuable in the space shuttle development.
02. X-43A
The X-43A scram-jet is an unmanned experimental hypersonic aircraft meant to assess capabilities of a hypersonic flight; it was recognized for the worlds fastest flight set by a jet-powered aircraft. The speed clocked by the X-43 scram-jet was beyond comparison to any aircraft ever. On Nov. 16, 2004 it touched 9.8 Mach (7,546 mph), which is more than 3 times faster than the SR-71 Blackbird. The craft was designed to encapsulate a new breed of engine called the supersonic-combustion-ramjet, or the “scramjet”. In this engine the external combustion takes place occurs within the air that is flowing in at supersonic speed. The form design of the X-43 was markedly affected by this; the fore-body of the craft was part of the intake airflow, and the aft section was to function like a nozzle. The X-43 engine was primarily fueled by Hydrogen and unlike other engines the scram-jet does not require oxygen to fuel the engine thus the need to carry oxygen on board, thus considerably reducing the size and weight of the aircraft.
01. Space Shuttle
Editors Note: The inclusion of this has been a source of considerable debate and disappointment. We apologize if this choice doesn’t satisfy your criteria to be on this list.
The Space Shuttle is part of the STS or the Space Transport System developed by NASA for human space-flight missions. Each space shuttle is a RLS or Reusable Launch System which is comprised of 3 assemblies, the reusable Orbiter Vehicle (OV), the External Tank (ET) and two reusable Solid Rocket Boosters or SRB. The three Rocketdyne Block IIA Space Shuttle Main Engine or SSME are mounted on the Orbiter‘s aft. The 3 assemblies of the shuttle use up different fuel, the External Tank, is fueled by LOX/LX2 and the Orbiter uses MMH/N2O4. The space shuttle reaches a maximum speed of 17,320 mph making it the cream of this countdown.What future holds for us is still safe under the blue prints and secure, encrypted files of some of the top-priority projects launched by some of the big-guns in the aviation business.
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25 Comments
Ah, I’m getting old. I remember the cold war quite clearly. And for a few years, the Soviets decided that they would have the fastest airplane in the world. They special built a jet to be fast. Fast-fast. And set a record. And a week or two later, we sent the SR-71 up and beat that record. And the Soviets would tweak their jet, or build another. And a week or two later we would send the SR-71 up and top their speed. I believe that only a handful of folks know just how fast the SR-71 is able to go – certainly “top secret” information.
Chris
F-15 Eagle is really looking cool
Factual error: The variable swing wings on the F-111 (or on an F-14, for that matter) have nothing to do with making it take up less space on the deck of a carrier. It is actually to give the aircraft more maneuverability at slow flight speeds (such as is required when landing on a carrier). It turns out that aircraft with fixed- but strongly swept back wings don’t fly well at low speeds.
I like Mig-25 so much and I have the miniature at my home. . .
Thanks for this information. . .
Hmm, that F15 looks a lot like an F14 Tomcat.
RT
No English Electric Lightning? It outperformed all of the best from the US at the time in terms of speed, climb rate and manoeuvrability.
Very interesting article.
Please correct the spelling in the article’s title. The plural of “aircraft” is “aircraft” FYI.
Admin Note : I apologize for this… It was an editing mistake that crossed our notice.
Great article. Is it really fair to group unmanned rockets in with jet aircraft though? Also, the unit of thrust is “lbf” and stands for pounds of force. Foot-pounds or “lb-ft” is a different unit for power or torque.
Admin Note : Corrected… Thanks for pointing it out
17,900 lb-ft… 1,650 mph…
Please add metric units to the article so we can understand how powerful and fast these airplanes really are.
Admin Note : Will def. work on it the next time.
Wow, they didn’t mention the Avro Arrow.
aircraft is the plural of aircraft
Admin Note : I apologize for this… It was an editing mistake that crossed our notice.
Shuttle is not even in the same category it reaches those speeds outside atmosphere in space where there is no gravity or air resistance, at this rate you should put Russian rockets/ramjets bulava rsm-56 plus it comes with a surprise 6-10 MIRV warheads with a yield of 100-150 kT each
The space shuttle isn’t an aircraft, it’s a spacecraft and should not be included here. I also don’t think anything rocket-powered should be included either, but that’s just personal opinion.
it would be fun to see a race, they all line up and hit the gas at the same time
The Blackbird has always been my favorite.
I’m not sure the top speed for the F-15 has ever been officially released, but I’m pretty sure it’s nowhere near “2,660 mph.”
I’d drop the shuttle. Otherwise, nice list!
The SR-71 goes faster than the article states – definitely faster.
Admin Note : Three SR-71s flown by three different crews set seven world speed and altitude records on July 27 and 28, 1976. They captured three records previously held by a specially modified Russian MiG 25 Foxbat and bettered four records held by the Lockheed/USAF YF-12. The new marks included absolute and class records of 2,193 mph (3,530 kph) for speed over a straight course and 85,069 feet (25,930 m) for altitude in sustained level flight.
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/aboutus/history/SR71Blackbird.html
Highway through the danger zone…. .
I Love the SR-71!! They will never tell us, but I believe that it was capable of Mach 4 for short periods of time when needed! It is mentioned that it was capable of outrunning missiles when they were fired upon! OUTSTANDING!
(Quote) “The XB-70 primarily served the USAF as a strategic bomber which surfaced into the U.S fleet in the early 60’s. Though the aircraft suffered an early retirement from the service” The XB-70 never entered service. There were only two of the aircraft built. Tail numbers 20001 & 20207. (although metal was cut on a third which was never completed) Aircraft 20207 was destroyed in a mid-air collision with a F-104N, tail number 813 during a photo op flight on June 8,1966. F-104 pilot Joe Walker and XB-70 co-pilot Carl Cross were tragically killed. Aircraft 20001 made its last flight on Feb 4, 1969, landing at Wright-Patterson AFB to become a star display at the Air Force Museum.
I’M WONDERING WHY THE SUPERSONIC B-58A “HUSTLER” WAS NOT MENTIONED. WE HAD OURS AT 2.4 MACH NUMBER WITH PLENTY OF THROTTLE TO SPARE. THE USSR HAD NOTHING TO CATCH US AND HAD TO DEVELOP A FIGHTER WITH THE CAPABILITY TO MATCH OUR SPEED. AN OBVIOUS OVERSIGHT ON YOUR PART.
The F-111 was SecDEf Robert McNamar’s folly, known as the FTX during development, and intended for all services. However, the landing gear could not withstand carrier landings and the US Navy said, “Thanks, but no thanks!”
I agree with all others regarding including spacecraft in this article…apples and oranges makes fruit salad.
Also, Vincent Peck’s omments re The Hustler are spot on… an awesome airplance and FAST! Serious ommission!
I’m not sure the F-105 and F-104 don’t belong here. The F-105 could exceed Mach 1 on the deck and Mach 2.2 at altitude.
I spent 32 years in the service, mostly as an air traffic controller!
I think X-15 is worlds’ fastest aircraft because it can fly 4,520 mph world speed record. X-15 is not only is the North American fastest piloted aircraft ever, it is the highest flying. The X-15 was launched from under the wing of a B-52. Thrust was obtained from one engine that produced 70,400 lbs. at maximum altitude.
Elizabeth Cooper [ Australia ]
I think VL- 3 is world’s fastest aircraft and the VL- 3 is an ultralight, single-engine, low-wing airplane of classical design with a bow-type retractable or fixed landing-gear and two side-by-side seats. The plane has been certified according to regulation UL-2 of the Amateur Aeronautical Association of the Czech Republic for maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 450 kg. Harmonious aerodynamic shape and excellent flying performance make the airplane suitable for touring or recreational flying.
http://www.toyotatrucksforsale.net
By the way thanks to nitrobahn.com for the huge information on aircraft
Charlie Williams
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