Hi everyone,
just out of curiosity (and to discuss nerdy aircraft stuff) I wondered how fast Cold War aircraft actually flew at low-level or would have flown in an actual mission. Handbooks often give top speeds close to 1.000 km/h at sea level for many jet types, but these are highly theoretical figures. Of course, it would depend to a great deal on payload, fuel, the specific mission profile, exact altitude and other factors. Furthermore, there is a different between the possible and the bearable speed (the speed the pilot and the airframe can endure over a certain period). Nevertheless, I think, we can talk about a range of typical speeds.
It would be interesting to know how much faster were aircraft designed for the low-level role (e.g. Buccaneer, Tornado, B-1) compared to others that were just adapted for this role. And how slow was the A-10 really compared to types in its natural habitat?
By just looking through my bookshelf I found the following figures quoted in the literature. Sometimes it seems to refer to the attack speed and some time to the max cruising speed:
Avro Vulcan: 375 kts (695 km/) with an one-time acceleration to 415 kts (769km/h). Interestingly, the limiting factor seems to have been the structural integrity of the airframe. (McLelland, Avro Vulcan (2019))
EE Canberra: 300-420 kts ?? (556-778 km/h) (Brookes, Canberra Boys (2017)
Lockheed F-104G: “speed at low level” between 778 – 889 km/h (F-104 G Jabo Tiel 1, F-40, No. 27)
Fiat G.91: “penetration speed” 666 km/h (recce), 555 km/h (fighter bomber), “combat speed” 740 km/h (Fiat G.91, F-40, No. 29)
Do you have additional data for more types (Tornado, Buccaneer, Phantom, B-52 ...)? Any comments?