10 fastest aircraft (great videos for aviation aficionados)


World's 10 Fastest Aircrafts - Sky's No Limit For Them | NitroBahn

 

If they're going to use a space craft as a their #1 then they should at least use the fastest manned space craft, which is most definitely not the Space Shuttle.

Apollo program space craft would reach 24,000mph between the earth and moon....easily a full 6,000mph faster than the Shuttle.

Also, the MiG-25 is one UGLY airplane.

 

But when the Shuttle begins to get lift, it becomes an aiplane (lifting body).

 

If I remember the copious reading I did on Apollo, the capsules actually generated some atmospheric lift during reentry - or at least the reentry trajectory could be controlled by reorienting the craft's lift vector through use of CM RCS.

Also if I remember correctly, the translunar reentry of Apollo capsules is probably the fastest humans have ever gone. A normal orbital reentry is slow compared to translunar.

 

The 111's, the first jet I worked on, they showed are from the 20th FW when they were based out of RAF Upper Heyford, UK. My old stomping ground when I was new to the AF. We had the E models and the EF-111A's which weren't the fastest flying 111's. The FB's that I worked on at Plattsburgh AFB were faster, but not by much. A crew chief friend of mine said that he say a mach meter stuck at 3.2 but figures the plane was in a dive when it hit that speed.

 

They put the X-43 on there? Thats unmanned... might as well just have the entire top 10 list full of the world's fastest missiles/rockets/etc.

Awesome videos though!

 

The shuttle isn't an airplane/lifting body when it's going 17,300mph.

 

I would suggest that the lifting body comes into play after reentry. Prior to that, it's either an attachment to a couple of Solid Rocket Boosters sucking a Gas Tank the size of a grain silo dry or a falling object for 10-14 days (Orbit). After reentry though, a perfect lifting body glider.

No touch an go's in that baby. Well, not touch and go very far anyway.

 

Some random thoughts/questions about aircraft top speed limitations....

Regarding the top speeds of high speed aircraft like fighters, etc...what is the main limitation to their top speed?

Thinking about how the F-111 is such a fast airplane, does it's variable geometry wings allow it to achieve a much higher critical mach speed than other fighters? Other things not-withstanding (like frontal area of turbine engine fans, etc), how much of a factor is critical mach in affecting the top speed of fighters vs. say brute engine thrust?

Also, looking at airliners, the 727 and 747 are both very fast in their own rights, and have considerable wing sweep compared to other airliners. Coincidence?

The Hornet is certainly a fast airplane, but not nearly as fast, and also doesn't have nearly as swept back wings. Coincidence? It certainly isn't lacking in thrust and doesn't appear to have any significantly draggy aspects of its design.

Thanks for humoring me!

 

I think apollo 13 holds the all-time speed record for manned vehicles, it came back faster than normal for obvious reasons.

However, speed in deep space really has nothing to with the design of the vehicle...with zero drag you are only limited by how much fuel you can carry (until you approach the speed of light). For that reason it's fair to include the shuttle, since it has to actually fly in the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds...not trivial airframe engineering.