During its early test flights in the 1960s, the Blackbird would set new speed records nearly every time it flew, and it ultimately topped out at Mach 3.5. The SR-71 Blackbird is one of the most intimidating-looking airplanes ever conceived. The new higher speed of the X+ not only makes it the new speed champ for certificated, civilian airplanes but it also gives the new model a significant boost in range.
The addition of winglets in this most updated version also helped improve the speed slightly at higher altitudes. In addition to its powerful engines, the Citation X+ gets its speed capability from the sharply swept wings and horizontal stabilizer and the aerodynamic fuselage shape, which makes use of what is known as the area rule, which speeds the flow of air over the fuselage with unintuitive shapes like you see in the X+’s distinctive belly bulge. Inside the massive cowlings of the plane are two dual-channel, fadec-controlled Rolls-Royce AE3007C2 engines that bring the X+ up to a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.935, a hair past the Gulfstream G650’s Mach 0.925 - a speed that allowed the Savannah, Georgia-based company to steal the top spot from the Citation X for a few years. The X-1, powered by an XLR11 rocket motor, pushed beyond the sound barrier in 1947 after being released from a B-29 Superfortress at 23,000 feet.Ĭessna recently reclaimed the number one spot as the maker of the fastest civilian jet - the Citation X+. The best known speed record, though it has been broken since, was set in 1947 by the Bell X-1, piloted by Chuck Yeager. Helicopters have, in recent years, been modified to produce thrust in the horizontal plane, producing aircraft that not only are fast but can hover as well. For fixed wing airplanes, delta-shaped or swept-back wings produced the greatest speed. The jet age took speeds to an entirely new level as wings became smaller and engineers figured out new ways to optimize aerodynamic efficiency.
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As engine technology advanced, aircraft were designed around these new power plants, and over time the introduction of wind tunnels and computer software for aircraft design allowed engineers to more closely study the airflow around the surfaces of the airfoils and fuselage to reduce drag further and make airplanes even faster.
The first air races sprung up as early as 1909 and speed records quickly reached new highs, pushing aerodynamic engineers to reduce drag.
Fascination with creating the fastest airplanes has existed since the dawn of aviation.