Fastest Aircraft Ever Flown — Guinness World Records
Source:
Guinness World Records
Key Findings
🏆
X-15 (USA) leads in Top Speed (km/h) with 7,274 in 1994.
📅
1967 recorded the highest combined total across all categories.
↔️
Gap in 1994: X-15 (USA) is 3.3× larger than Concorde (UK/France).
About This Dataset
Fastest Aircraft Ever Flown — Guinness World Records
The fastest aircraft ever to fly, ranked by maximum recorded speed according to Guinness World Records and official flight test documentation. The NASA/USAF X-15 rocket-powered aircraft holds the speed record for a crewed powered aircraft at Mach 6.72 (7,274 km/h), set in October 1967 — a record that still stands today.
Analysis
The top three in Top Speed (km/h) in 1994 are X-15 (USA) (7,274), SR-71 Blackbird (USA) (3,530) and MiG-25 Foxbat (USSR) (3,395). The 8 entries in Top Speed (km/h) cover a range of 5,095, from 7,274 down to 2,179. Most of that gap is between first and second alone (3,744 of 5,095); the other 7 are separated by just 1,351. The other 6 are bunched between 2,179 and 3,395 Top Speed (km/h).
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- Guinness World Records
- Coverage
- 8 entities · 1967–1994 (8 years) · 8 observations
- Measure
- Top Speed (km/h)
- Last updated
- 6 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
- Missing years are left empty rather than estimated — no interpolation, no carrying a previous year forward.
- Change is measured between the first and last year in which an entity actually reported a value, so a series that starts late is not penalised for the years before it existed.
- The compound annual rate is (last ÷ first)^(1 ÷ years) − 1, using those same two reported years.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 1994.
- An entity that reported nothing in the latest year is still listed — it follows the ranked entities in the table rather than being dropped.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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