Wasn't the first supersonic jet the F-100 Super Sabre that achieved it in level flight.

Yes....first in level flight.     ...........;)

 

I'm being rather technical. Note, i never said "plane".

V2 rocket in 1942 broke mach 3 i believe. First time anything went supersonic.


Wasn't one of the brit fighter the first to do that, the Swift perhaps?  In any case, the Skyray was developed before the F-100, so that would be the first US one to do it. |
I'll have to check up on the first level flight one....I'd lay a small wager it was a brit plane though.

You sure Jafo??? The Skyray was a few years before the F-100, and it could achieve it in level flight.

The Skyray was the first carrier launched plane to go supersonic @ 752.943 mph. Short lived service and never saw combat. Had to refer to Wikipedia to get it straight. It was the first Navy and Marine fighter to exceed Mach 1 in level flight. Originally designated F4D but later changed to F6.

Nah...in service...56 vs 54 for the Sabre...;)

The RAF Swift was in sevice in 54 too.... as for who did what first in prototype...the Swift had the world absolute record in proto in 53 ...but that's 'beyond' mach ...so when it may have gone transonic vs the others...first....who knows.

Probably all that's really logged is sevice entry dates...;)

There you go.....world's fastest prop-driven..... flop. ...;)

Yeah, I remember that one. Much like the VTOL that almost but not quite made it. Remember the Gremlin? Tiny jet that hooked up to a mothership, B-36 I think it was. Ugly little sucker.

You want to know a cool job...I interviewed with Lockheed back when the F-22 was still under design.  They had models of the F-22 before it was a real thing and models of lots of planes you've probably never heard of because they never made it to "mass" production.   Besides that, I would have been designing the real thing.  In the end, though, I took another job for the better pay.  But there was no question this was cool work.  All the defense jobs were pretty cool.    They're also relatively easy to get...if you're white or black, English is your first language, and you're unquestionably American.  

I wonder...is there a website that caters to aviation? More specifically prototypes or X planes?

You mean the Goblin? Yeah weird little thing, interesting concept though. I love the B-36 though, it's sheer size at the time it was developed must have been a huge nightmare for the designers/builders.

Speaking of ugly though,



Yeah i don't really know of any one site myself. Jafo might know. I usually just read up on Wiki. there are a number of experimental aircraft sites, but they mainly deal with current projects and are not a database in anyway, or at least i have found.

 

There's several sites catering for experimental designs....not just the 'x' series....;)

And they are.....................?

............to be found via Google ....;)

Grrrrrr.....
**mumbles a barley audible motorbike themed insult under breath**

Uvah, one site i have bookmarked that is pretty interesting and has a  WW2 fighter aircraft section is, http://www.militaryfactory.com/. It is not a full complete DB, but has some pretty useful sections.

<edit> Okay, it's much more of a DB then i had thought, its quite an impessive site.  Bet you use this Jafo! <edit>

Thanks Neilo and you too Jafo.