9. Aardvark F-111 – The first F-111 aircraft were delivered to the Air Force in 1967. The tactical fighter was designed initially for the Navy, but was used primarily by the Air Force in the Vietnam war. It carried one 20mm M61A1 cannon and up to 24 conventional or nuclear weapons, and had a published maximum speed of 1,452 miles per hour.
8. MiG-31 FoxHound - Mikoyan-Gurevish’s MiG-31 is classified as an “all-weather interceptor and ECM aircraft.” Initially mistaken by western intelligence as a “superdogfighter,” the MiG-31 has a published maximum speed of 1,865 miles per hour.
7. Bell X-2 “Starbuster”- According to NASA, “The Bell X-2 was a rocket-powered, swept-wing research aircraft designed to investigate the structural effects of aerodynamic heating as well as stability and control effectiveness at high speeds and altitudes.” On 9/27/1956, Capt. Milburn G. Apt and the X-2 were the first pilot and aircraft to travel three times the speed of sound, reaching 2,094 miles per hour just before control divergence caused the X-2 to fatally tumble to the ground.
6. XB-70 Valkyrie – The XB-70A Valkyrie was built by North American Aviation for the U.S Air Force Strategic Air Command as a high-altitude bomber. Due to funds limitations only two XB-70 aircraft were built, and those were used instead as research aircraft for advanced study of aerodynamics. The published maximum speed of the Valkyrie is Mach 3.1 or 2,056 miles per hour.
5. MiG-25 Foxbat – Another Mikoyan-Gurevish all-weather interceptor, the MiG-25 is one of the fastest combat aircraft ever produced, capable of speeds in excess of Mach 2.83. The MiG-25 was designed as a countermeasure for the XB-70 Valkyrie.
4. SR-71 Blackbird – The Lockheed SR-71 design originated in the 1950′s and the first flight of a Blackbird was completed in late 1964. The SR-71 is designed to cruise at the unthinkable speed of 2,200 miles per hour and is capable of doing so for over an hour. According to NASA, “NASA crews flew four Lockheed SR-71 airplanes during the 1990s. Two were used for research and two to support Air Force reactivation of the SR-71 for reconnaissance missions.” The final flight of the SR-71 was on 10/9/1999.
3. X-15 – This rocket-propelled aircraft was built for military use by the California North American Aviation plant. According to Boeing, “It exceeded its design specifications of 4,000 miles per hour and altitudes up to 50 miles.” Boeing’s history pages indicate, “Air Force Capt. William “Pete” Knight took the X-15A-2 to the fastest speed recorded during the program, Mach 6.7, during an Oct. 3, 1967 flight.” Boeing also, oddly, claims, “A new version, known as the X-15A-2, designed for flight at eight times faster than sound, at an altitude of 100,000 feet and creating potential temperatures of over 2400 degrees Fahrenheit, was turned over to the U.S. Air Force by the Los Angeles plant in February 1964.”
2. X-43A – Described by NASA as a “hypersonic, scramjet-powered research aircraft” the X-43A broke its own Guinness World Record for speed by a jet-powered aircraft on 11/16/2004. The X-43A’s final flight yielded a speed of almost 7,000 miles per hour (Mach 9.6).
1. Space Shuttle - NASA’s space shuttle is the fastest aircraft in the world. It began setting records with its first launch on April 12, 1981 and continued to set high marks of achievement and endurance through 30 years of missions. Starting with Columbia and continuing with Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, the spacecraft has carried people into orbit repeatedly, launched, recovered and repaired satellites, conducted cutting-edge research and built the largest structure in space, the International Space Station. The final space shuttle mission, STS-135, ended July 21, 2011 when Atlantis rolled to a stop at its home port, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
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