Warbird Information Exchange

Out of curiosity, what was the fastest piston powered aircraft of WWII within the following guidelines?

1) Fastest speed at sea level.
2) Piston powered (single or multiple engines)
3) Any country.
4) At least 1 squadron of the aircraft active in any theatre of operations between September 3rd 1939 and August 15th 1945.

Needle

Just a guess without doing any research - the P-47M, operated by the 56th Fighter Group.

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I would venture that the Hawker Tempest would also be in the hunt along with the Do-335.

From what I remember, the Do-335 was the fastest piston engined aircraft of WWII. But since it did have two engines, it can't really be compaired to standard single engine fighters.

Should this be fastest speed at any altitude?

One aircraft which is fastest at on altitude is not nessecerily the fastest at another altitude!

Okay, let's look up some speeds here....my source will be 'Aircraft of WWII' by Stewart Wilson, a nice reference book...

P-47N....10,000 ft....397 mph....32,500 ft...467 mph

Dornier Do 335......Crusie 295 mph.....max speed 455 mph at 23,295 ft (did it ever reach squadron strength?)

Hawker Tempest V.....392 mph at sea level.....435 mph at 17,000ft.

Vought F4U-4 Corsair....446 mph at 26,200 ft.

Focke Wulf TA-152.....350 mph at sea level.....465 mph with MW boost at 29,860 ft.

P-51H model Mustang (operated in the pacific in the last three months of the war) max speed 487 mph at 25,000 ft...463 mph at 15,000 ft.

Not all listings showed a 'sea level' speed quote....so I simply quoted the lowest altitude that a speed was given for...

Mark

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Mark Morris

The Dornier DO-335 Pfeil had a maximum speed of 478 mph (770 km/h) at 21000 feet. But the NAA P-51H was faster 487 mph (784 km/h) at 25000 feet powerd by a V-1650-9 Pacard Merlin and putting out 2218 hp (1654 kW)

I don't think the Do-335 was operated in squadron strength. The NASM page for it calls it "the fastest production piston-engined fighter ever built", but none entered combat.

If I recall correctly, there were about 32 DO-335 & 67 TA-152 airframes built.

Regards,

I don't know of any P-51H used operationally in WWII. The 7th AF flew P-51Ds, the 5th AFs 35th FG, 348th FG & the 3rd ACG used P-51Ds also.

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Just quotin' the book, folks....it says the P-51H operated in the Pacific, I passed that on..."The P-51H first flew on 3 February 1945 and 555 had been built by the time hostilities ended and orders for a further 1845 were cancelled. Although entering service too late to see action in Europe, the P-51H did operate in the Pacific during the final three months of the war." Straight from the book. As for the top speed of the Dornier 335, I have seen nothing that says it ever surpassed the 455 I have found, but I have a limited collection of reference material.

Mark

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Mark Morris

Gentlemen,

Your points are mostly moot, for the original parameters state fastest at sea level.

Quite simply, of all the WWII piston fighters produced none could keep up with the F2G-1 at sea level at 399 mph. And most certainly the F2G would never keep up with the likes of P-47M, P-51H, Ta-152, Do-335, Shinden, MB5, etc. at 25,000 feet.

I know, the parameters also dictate aircraft that served at squadron strength. My money rides on the MkV Tempest.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

A good point....and as I recall at altitude the F2G, depending on who you go with, was either a bit slower than the F4U-4 or only 4 miles and hour FASTER than the F4U-4...but never faster than 450 mph (still not too shabby...)

Alright....let's go BACK...and find the FASTEST at sea level...

Focke Wulf FW-190 A-4-8.....355 mph at sea level (D-9 version 357 mph at SL)

Hawker Tempest V.....392 mph at sea level

Heinkel He 100D....358 mph at sea level

Messer BF 109 H/K.....378 mph at sea level

Ok...how about this...Messer 163 Komet....593 mph from sea level to altitude.....LOL

You guys'll have to dig up the rest.....my book did'nt list sea level speeds for every fighter type unfortunately..

M

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Mark Morris

Indicated, calibrated, equivelent, true, or Mach?

I would imagine that the Hawker Typhoon would also be pretty quick at low altitude. I know it didn't do well at altitude but I can't find any sea level performance numbers.

The Tempest Mk V is probably faster but down low I would guess probably not by much. The thick Typhoon wing probably made for a more stable ride down low.