[drgondog]

Franek - Iim pretty sure the fastest production fighter in level flight is the P-51H which flew at 487mph at 25,000 feet. I think the Do-335 was the fastest German fighter at 474mph and I recall that one variant of the Spitfire attained 479mph. They never flew against each other obviously.

The fastest experimental P-51 was the XP-51G at 495mph and the fastest experimental P-47 was the P-47J at 507mph. All of these were achieved at high altitude in level flight.

I am not aware of any 'official' faster speeds for un-modified ships in level flight.

It should be noted that the Reno racer Bearcats and Mustangs (HIGHLY modified) flew at 528 mph world speed records on the deck but were never tested for max speed at optimal altitude and presumably would have been faster in 20-25,000 range if the contrast between P-51 on the deck and altitude were used as a thought guideline. I recall (but could be wrong) taht the only non Bearcat/Mustang a/c that exceeded 500mph on the deck was the highly modified Sea Fury..

Offhand what true airspeeds were recorded and validated (accurate TAS) in either the Luftwaffe or RAF dive tests for the Spit, the P-47, the Fw 190 and the P-51? For example the Mach crit number for the 51 airfoil was around .82 but the mach limitation in a dive was .76 before bad things happened - a reflection of the entire a/c not just the wing.

What was a comparable critical mach for the Spit in a dive?