<P> The FAI record for the fastest piston - powered aircraft over a long - distance circuit is the 2000 - km record of 720.13 km / h (447.47 mph) set on 22 May 1948 by Jacqueline Cochran in a P - 51C . (She also holds the 100 - km record of 755.67 km / hr, set in December 1947 .) Higher speed records exist; some are unofficial and some were officially - timed one - way trips aided by tailwinds . Examples of the latter: a B - 29 averaged 725 km / hr from Burbank to Floyd Bennett Field (3957 km in 5.455 hours) on 11 December 1945, and Joe DeBona averaged 904 km / hr from Los Angeles LAX to New York Idlewild (3981 km in 4.405 hours) in a P - 51 on 30 March 1954 . </P> <P> The 1903 Wright Flyer did 48 km / h (30 mph) during its first flight; the Bleriot XI reached 75 km / h (47 mph) in 1909 . Fabric - covered biplanes of the World War I era and shortly after could do up to 320 km / h (200 mph). In 1925 U.S. Army Lt. Cyrus K. Bettis flying a Curtiss R3C won the Pulitzer Trophy Race with a speed of 400.6 km / h (248.9 mph). </P> <P> Speeds of all - metal monoplanes of the 1930s jumped into the 700 km / h (430 mph) range with the Macchi M.C. 72 reaching a top speed of 709 km / h (441 mph), still the record for piston - powered seaplanes . The Messerschmitt Me 209 V1 set a world speed record of almost 756 km / h (470 mph) on 26 April 1939, and the Republic XP - 47J (a variant of the P - 47 Thunderbolt) is claimed to have reached 813 km / h (505 mph) in testing . A prototype of the successor to the Supermarine Spitfire, the Supermarine Spiteful F. 16 (RB518), reached 494 mph (795 km / h). The fastest German propeller driven aircraft to see combat in WWII was the twin - DB 603 - powered Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil" which had a top speed of 763 km / h (474 mph). </P> <P> During the 1950s two unorthodox United States Navy fighter prototypes married turboprop engines with a "tailsitting design", the Convair XFY "Pogo" and the Lockheed XFV . Maximum design speeds of 980 km / h (610 mph) at 4,600 m (15,100 ft) and 930 km / h (580 mph) respectively have been quoted . The Lockheed XFV was fitted with a less powerful engine than it was designed for and had makeshift non-retractable landing gear for horizontal takeoff and landing; the Convair's landing gear supported it in a vertical position . It was usually flown with the cockpit open, since the ejection seat was thought unreliable . These aircraft had "compromised in - flight speed" because of the conflicting demands of vertical and horizontal flight . </P>

What was the fastest piston engined aircraft of ww2