Author's Note: Wells Sullivan has done a complete speed analysis for all the fighters in WB, speed-trialing all the fighters to 30k, in 5k increments. His speed measurement technique is far more accurate than mine (he uses the vertical speed indicator and auto-speed to get precise speed readings). The url for his page is: http://www.iaw.com/~general6/speed.htm
Maximum Level Speed is the maximum speed an airplane can attain in level flight. In almost all cases, an airplane is flying faster or slower than this speed, and if it levels out and flies straight/level, at full power, it will slow down/speed up to this speed.
In order to determine this speed, 10 minutes of fuel was loaded for each experiment. First, the plane was started on the runway. The plane was brought to 1,000ft, and full WEP. Two minutes passed, and the speed recorded. Then the plane was started at 5,000ft. The plane was dived to 1,000ft, leveled out, and brought to full WEP. Two minutes passed, and the speed recorded. This was repeated for 5,000ft (climbing from 3,000ft, and diving from 10,000ft). These are denoted below as "climbing speed" and "diving speed".
Maximum Level Speed, by Plane:
Plane | 1,000ft Climb Speed |
1,000ft Dive Speed |
5,000ft Climb Speed |
5,000ft Dive Speed |
F6F | 325mph | 335mph | 320mph | 325mph |
F4F | 270mph | 280mph | 260mph | 270mph |
FM2 | 290mph | 300mph | 285mph | 285mph |
F4U | 340mph | 345mph | 335mph | 340mph |
A6M2 | 270mph | 275mph | 270mph | 270mph |
A6M3 | 290mph | 290mph | 290mph | 295mph |
A6M5a | 295mph | 295mph | 295mph | 295mph |
Ki43 | 290mph | 295mph | 290mph | 290mph |
Ki84 | 350mph | 350mph | 340mph | 340mph |
Bf 109E4 | 295mph | 295mph | 290mph | 290mph |
Bf 109F4 | 315mph | 320mph | 310mph | 315mph |
Bf 109G6 | 320mph | 325mph | 310mph | 320mph |
Bf 109G6R6 | 315mph | 320mph | 305mph | 310mph |
Bf 109K4 | 350mph | 350mph | 340mph | 350mph |
Bf 110C4 | 285mph | 285mph | 285mph | 285mph |
Bf 110G2R3 | 300mph | 300mph | 295mph | 300mph |
Fw190A4 | 340mph | 340mph | 330mph | 340mph |
Fw190A8 | 335mph | 340mph | 320mph | 330mph |
Fw190D9 | 360mph | 365mph | 350mph | 355mph |
SpitIa | 295mph | 295mph | 290mph | 290mph |
SpitV | 300mph | 300mph | 300mph | 300mph |
SpitIX | 315mph | 320mph | 310mph | 320mph |
HurriI | 260mph | 260mph | 255mph | 255mph |
HurriIIc | 275mph | 275mph | 270mph | 275mph |
P38F | 305mph | 310mph | 310mph | 320mph |
P38J | 335mph | 340mph | 330mph | 340mph |
P38L | 335mph | 340mph | 325mph | 340mph |
P39D | 315mph | 320mph | 310mph | 320mph |
P40E | 290mph | 305mph | 290mph | 300mph |
P47D | 335mph | 340mph | 330mph | 340mph |
P51D | 350mph | 360mph | 345mph | 355mph |
D3A2 | 250mph | 250mph | 245mph | 245mph |
B5N2 | 210mph | 210mph | 210mph | 210mph |
SBD-5 | 230mph | 235mph | 215mph | 220mph |
Ju88A4 | 270mph | 270mph | 260mph | 270mph |
B25H | 250mph | 260mph | 250mph | 255mph |
B25J | 255mph | 260mph | 255mph | 255mph |
B17G | 240mph | 250mph | 230mph | 250mph |
TBF | 250mph | 255mph | 245mph | 245mph |
Maximum Level Speed, sorted, averaging dive/climb:
1,000ft | 5,000ft | |
#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 |
363 190D9 355 P51D 350 Ki84 350 109K4 343 F4U 340 190A4 338 190A8 338 P38J 338 P38L 338 P47D 330 F6F 323 109G6 318 109F4 318 109G6R6 318 SpitIX 318 P39D 307 P38F 300 110G2R3 300 SpitV 298 P40E 295 FM2 295 A6M5a 295 109E4 295 SpitIa 293 Ki43 290 A6M3 285 110C4 275 F4F 275 HurriIIc 273 A6M2 270 Ju88A4 260 HurriI 258 B25J 253 B25H 253 TBF 250 D3A2 245 B17G 233 SBD-5 210 B5N2 |
353 190D9 350 P51D 345 109K4 340 Ki84 337 F4U 335 190A4 335 P38J 335 P47D 333 P38L 325 190A8 323 F6F 315 109G6 315 SpitIX 315 P38F 315 P39D 313 109F4 307 109G6R6 300 SpitV 298 110G2R3 295 A6M5a 295 P40E 293 A6M3 293 Ki43 290 109E4 290 SpitIa 285 FM2 285 110C4 273 HurriIIc 270 A6M2 265 F4F 265 Ju88A4 255 HurriI 255 B25J 253 B25H 245 D3A2 245 TBF 240 B17G 217 SBD-5 210 B5N2 |
Graph: