ADS NOT DISPLAYED TO REGISTERED USERS.
+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 15 of 15

Fastest air-breathing jets?

Modern Discuss Fastest air-breathing jets? in the Other Eras forums; Apart from the A-11/SR-71 family, the MiG-25 Foxbat, and the XB-70 Valkyrie, what are the world's fastest air-breathing jets that ...

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    114
    Country
    United States

    Fastest air-breathing jets?

    Apart from the A-11/SR-71 family, the MiG-25 Foxbat, and the XB-70 Valkyrie, what are the world's fastest air-breathing jets that have either flown or at least been on a drawing board?


  2. #2
    Creator of Interesting Threads tomo pauk's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    4,476
    Country
    Croatia
    MiG-31, F-4, F-14, F-15, A-5, TSR - pretty fast birds...

  3. #3
    IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO FLYBOYJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    20,526
    Country
    United States
    Don't forget the F-106

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    479
    X-43 is the current fastest reaching M9.68 with a scramjet.

    The UK had the BS.1010 pushing ramjet technology and hydrocarbon fuel out to Mach 7. The fastest design postulated was the APD.1019H2 which was a flying wedge scramjet (vertical landing as well) supposed to get up to Mach 10 with a crew of three. More sensible were the Hawker P.1134 studies looking at Mach 4+ with a combined reheated Avon / ramjet powerplant and crew of two.

  5. #5
    IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO FLYBOYJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    20,526
    Country
    United States
    The X-43 is the fastest overall but it is unmanned. The MiG-31 is probably the fastest out of the manned bunch listed.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    3,539
    Country
    United Kingdom
    I thought the F-111 was supposed to be uncatchable to any Allied interceptor and could only be caught by the MiG-25

  7. #7
    IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO FLYBOYJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    20,526
    Country
    United States
    Quote Originally Posted by Colin1 View Post
    I thought the F-111 was supposed to be uncatchable to any Allied interceptor and could only be caught by the MiG-25
    You beat me to the punch!

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    479
    It becomes fairly academic for those sorts of aircraft as redline speed simply depends on what heating loads you're dealing with are where the designers feel the limit is. For MiG-31 it's around M2.8 with others at reduced limits depending on how much aluminium you want to use in the structure.

    F-111 is going to be caught fairly easily with a missile shot, which is the main reason speeds have decreased. It's easier and cheaper to design a fast missile than a fast aircraft.

  9. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    3,539
    Country
    United Kingdom
    Quote Originally Posted by red admiral View Post
    F-111 is going to be caught fairly easily with a missile shot, which is the main reason speeds have decreased. It's easier and cheaper to design a fast missile than a fast aircraft.
    Yes
    but that's not the theme of the thread or are these air-breathing missiles?

  10. #10
    Glock Perfection Matt308's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Washington State
    Posts
    18,808
    Country
    United States
    Yeah but the scope of the original request is sufficiently vague...
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Fastest air-breathing jets?-6bb176d9.jpg   Fastest air-breathing jets?-152m.jpg  

    Fastest air-breathing jets?-get_pict.jpg   Fastest air-breathing jets?-m-50.jpg  

    Fastest air-breathing jets?-m50-3.jpg   Fastest air-breathing jets?-m60-3a.jpg  

    Fastest air-breathing jets?-moni_b16.jpg   Fastest air-breathing jets?-ru_monino_aircraft_su100_01_s.jpg  

    Fastest air-breathing jets?-s-100_b-70_comp.gif   Fastest air-breathing jets?-sukhoi-t4ms.jpg  

    Fastest air-breathing jets?-t4_s.jpg   Fastest air-breathing jets?-tu-98.gif  

    Fastest air-breathing jets?-tu-98.jpg  

    "Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if
    they made a difference in the world. But, the [U.S.]
    Marines don't have that problem."
    -- Ronald Reagan

    Master of Duplicate Posts

  11. #11
    Glock Perfection Matt308's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Washington State
    Posts
    18,808
    Country
    United States
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry W. Loper View Post
    what are the world's fastest air-breathing jets that have either flown or at least been on a drawing board?
    That's a tall order. I even remember a nuclear powered US bomber that was proposed in the 1950s that was supposed to be Mach 3-4 capable and had a... wait for it... battlefield bonus of spewing nuclear radiation as exhaust over the target country.

    "Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if
    they made a difference in the world. But, the [U.S.]
    Marines don't have that problem."
    -- Ronald Reagan

    Master of Duplicate Posts

  12. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    3,539
    Country
    United Kingdom
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt308 View Post
    ...a nuclear powered US bomber that was proposed in the 1950s that was supposed to be Mach 3-4 capable and had a... wait for it... battlefield bonus of spewing nuclear radiation as exhaust over the target country
    Not to mention the host nation that it took off from

    The gals at Mildenhall and Upper Heyford would've had a field day with that one... until they all keeled over

    Difficult to imagine Oxfordshire with a great big ring-fence around it

  13. #13
    Glock Perfection Matt308's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Washington State
    Posts
    18,808
    Country
    United States
    As I recall it had conventional jet turbine propulsion and only the dash capability was the dreaded radiation spewing nuclear propulsion. Stupid idea. But then again there are so many.

    "Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if
    they made a difference in the world. But, the [U.S.]
    Marines don't have that problem."
    -- Ronald Reagan

    Master of Duplicate Posts

  14. #14
    Senior Member The Basket's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Posts
    1,004
    Country
    Scotland
    Concorde could fly at Mach 2 for extended duration.

  15. #15
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    479
    Quote Originally Posted by Colin1 View Post
    Yes
    but that's not the theme of the thread or are these air-breathing missiles?
    Good point.

    Fastest air breathing jet gets heavily involved with spaceplanes. Fastest pretty much comes down to a spaceplane design that isn't designed to go into space. Some strange examples would be HOTOL or SKYLON. Air breathing engines but space capable.

+ Reply to Thread

Similar Threads

  1. Fastest Piston Engine
    By engguy in forum Engines
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 03-18-2010, 03:04 PM
  2. The Fastest Spitfire Ever!!
    By Capt. Vick in forum Aircraft Pictures
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 12-07-2009, 02:43 AM
  3. The fastest police cars
    By comiso90 in forum OFF-Topic / Misc.
    Replies: 55
    Last Post: 04-21-2009, 09:47 AM
  4. The three fastest bombers of WWII
    By Vincenzo in forum Aviation
    Replies: 38
    Last Post: 01-04-2008, 11:03 AM
  5. Fastest Piston Engined Aircraft of WW2?
    By Gimmeacannon! in forum Aviation
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 02-20-2007, 11:48 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86