The fastest taildragger?

txflyer

txflyer

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Fly it like you STOL it ♦
For the life of me I can't come up with the fastest taildragger to ever fly off the top of my head ....

Before I go on a google quest, I had the bright idea I would ask all the geniuses on POA first.

Who needs google anyway? :lol:
 
Possibly a modified P51? Or maybe daryl greenmyers modified bearcat.
 
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Don't know the fastest, but I sure know the slowest. The Cub. J3C-65, to be exact.

But, I wouldn't want it any other way!
 
Royal Navy Submarine "Attacker."

330px-Supermarine_Attcker_FB.2_WP290_ST812_1831_Sqn_STN_25.02.56_edited-2.jpg



Or.....maybe a Yak15

a1611528-251-yak-15-002.jpg
 
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The prototype Me.262 had tailwheel gear.

Oh, and let's get this out of the way now. Yes, the Concorde had a "tailwheel". No, it was not a taildragger.

:rolleyes:
 

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Pilawt said:
The prototype Me.262 had tailwheel gear.
:rolleyes:
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Yep. And imagine how much fun that was with two engines spooling up (or down) at slightly different rates and with no propwash over the rudder...
 
kyleb said:
Yep. And imagine how much fun that was with two engines spooling up (or down) at slightly different rates and with no propwash over the rudder...
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That was nothing compared to having to stroke the brakes to get the tail up at a pre-determined point on the takeoff roll. :hairraise:

My guess is the Dragon Lady (U2) also...

Chris
 
Okay- here is one for you. Fastest sea/float plane?
 
Tex_Mike said:
Wow! I had no idea. Thanks for sharing
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From Wikipedia:

Its retracting conventional gear, a feature shared with the first four Me 262 V-series airframes, caused its jet exhaust to deflect off the runway, with the wing's turbulence negating the effects of the elevators, and the first takeoff attempt [of the third prototype] was cut short. On the second attempt, Wendel solved the problem by tapping the aircraft's brakes at takeoff speed, lifting the horizontal tail out of the wing's turbulence. The aforementioned initial four prototypes (V1-V4) were built with the conventional gear configuration. Changing to a tricycle arrangement — a permanently fixed undercarriage on the fifth prototype (V5), with the definitive fully retractable nosewheel gear on the V6 and subsequent aircraft corrected this problem.
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kyleb said:
Yeah, but the SeaMaster looks like something a Bond villain would fly. It scores a 10 on the badass scale.
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The pic in the wiki article of the plane rotating looks awesome. Apparently the plane had a tail gun. Don't know if the gun was a remote or if someone sat back there but if someone was in the tail during that takeoff it must have been one heck of a
 
Pilawt said:
My source says "cruising speed" of a U-2 at 70,000' :eek: is 430 mph. That makes it faster than either a stock P-51 or Bearcat.
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But not faster than daryl greenmyers modified bearcat or several Reno P 51s, and at much much lower altitudes.
 
roncachamp said:
Top speed of the Supermarine Attacker was 590 mph.
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That's an amazing speed for that aircraft. I was going to chime in that I thought the ME-209 might be faster than the U2 but the Attacker beats it.

However, we are both wrong in that case, because the ME-163 Komet is the fastest at 702mph / 610kts set in 1944!

Reference:

1) ^ Flight Global Archive: Aviation History 1913-1971; Speed Record; Updated April 4, 2010
2) ^ Wikipedia: Flight airspeed records; Updated August 21, 2015
3) ^ Wikipedia: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet; Updated August 16, 2015
4) ^ Wikipedia: Messerschmitt Me 209 V1-4; Updated August 16, 2015
 
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