WW1 Aircraft Ranked by Speed
World War 1 saw the birth of the fighter and bomber airplane - with each new passing month, a newer design of greater capability was unleashed.
As with any war, World War 1 pushed the limited of the technology of the period, providing the canvas for new engines with corresponding airframes developed to certain military specifications. Many designs proved pioneering in their nature and solidified both the fighter and the bomber as capable tools of war to be used in conjunction with land and naval forces. Many-an-ace were made thanks to the impressive mounts fielded in a war where it proved just as important to outmatch your opponent through sheer power than skill alone. The list below showcases WW1 aircraft by their reported maximum speed values. Bear in mind that the listed speeds below pertain to a specific production variant rather than to an entire family of aircraft. Additionally, some developmental aircraft appearing during the war are featured in this list despite them having not seen formal service nor combat.
There are a total of 123 WW1 Aircraft Ranked by Speed in the Military Factory. Entries are listed below by maximum reported speed. Flag images indicative of country of origin.
1918
Variant: Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard
The Martinsyde F.4 "Buzzard" was a British-designed, single-seat fighting biplane appearing in the latter months of World War...
1917
Variant: Airco DH.4
With production numbering over 6,000 total units, the Airco / de Havilland DH.4 was another one of Geoffrey de Havilland's su...
1917
Variant: SPAD S.XIII
The SPAD S.XIII (S.13) was a further development of the successful SPAD S.VII (S.7) design, the latter eventually becoming ou...
1917
Variant: Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a
The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 ("S.E." for "Scout Experimental") was designed from the outset as an aircraft with a "green"...
1918
Variant: Ansaldo A 1 Balilla (Hunter)
The Ansaldo A 1 Balilla ("Hunter") was the first aircraft fighter design of Italian origins. Italian forces consistently used...
1917
Variant: SPAD S.XII
French flying ace Georges Guynemer pushed the idea of a cannon-armed fighter plane after his experiences in aircraft such as ...
1917
Variant: Bristol F.2B
The Bristol F.2 fighter series operated throughout the British Empire for decades, serving through World War 1 and through th...
1917
Variant: Nieuport 28
The French-built Nieuport 28 fighter was the third of the successful trilogy of "Nieuport Fighting Scouts" that included the ...
1917
Variant: Breguet Bre.14B2
French aviation design triumphed with the arrival of the Breguet Bre.14 series (sometimes written as Breguet Br.XIV). The air...
1918
Variant: Sopwith Snipe
The Sopwith Snipe took all of the components that had made the Sopwith Camel a legend in the middle years of World War 1 and ...
1916
Variant: SPAD S.VII
The SPAD S.VII (or "S.7") was one of France's best single-seat fighters of World War 1 (1914-1918). The type epitomized the q...
1917
Variant: Sopwith F.1 Camel
Though the Sopwith Camel (the official designation being Sopwith Biplane F.1) was designed as a replacement for the Sopwith P...
1918
Variant: Siemens-Schuckert D.IV
The Siemens-Schuckert D.IV was a further development of the D-series brand, itself a copy of the spectacular French Nieuport ...
1918
Variant: Ufag C.I
The Ufag C.I was a two-seat, single-engine biplane fighter serving the Austro-Hungarian Empire air services. The aircraft mad...
1917
Variant: Macchi M.5
The Italian concern of Macchi was founded in 1912 by Giulio Macchi out of Varese, Italy. Despite Italy being a member of the ...
1918
Variant: Fokker D.VII
The Fokker Dr.VII is now regarded as the best German fighter of the First World War. This biplane design entered development ...
1916
Variant: Sopwith Triplane
The Sopwith Triplane (dubbed the "Triplehound" by her pilots) was a three wing design built upon the successes of the Sopwith...
1918
Variant: Fokker D.VIII
The Fokker D.VIII was a rare monoplane design of World War 1 and regarded as one of the best fighters of the German Empire in...
1918
Variant: Salmson 2
The French Salmson concern was founded in 1890 by Emile Salmson and produced a variety of automobiles prior to World War 1. J...
1916
Variant: Hansa-Brandenburg D.I (Type KD)
The D.I was another of Ernst Heinkel's aircraft designs for the Hansa-Brandenburg firm (known formally as Hansa und Brandenbu...
1917
Variant: Albatros D.V
At the time of its inception, the Albatros D-series of fighter aircraft (beginning with the D.I model) was a stellar gunnery ...
1917
Variant: Albatros D.Va
The Albatros D.I of 1916 proved instrumental in bringing air superiority back into the favor of the German Empire during Worl...
1918
Variant: Halberstadt CL.IV
The CL.IV was a further development of the CL.II design, both aircraft a product of Halberstadt Flugzeugwerke of Germany. The...
1917
Variant: Nieuport 27
The Nieuport Nie.27 (or simply Nieuport 27) was designed by Gustave Delage and became an advanced trainer and frontline fight...
1917
Variant: Aviatik D.I
The Aviatik D.I served the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a fighter and reconnaissance escort through the final years of World Wa...
1916
Variant: Hanriot HD.1
Despite its French origins, the Hanriot HD.1 biplane fighter saw extensive service with the Belgian and Italian air services ...
1918
Variant: Caudron R.11
The Caudron R.11 was initially intended as a reconnaissance platform for the French Air Force but went on to serve the role o...
1917
Variant: Airco DH.9
The AirCo / de Havilland DH.9 was a further revision of the DH.4 bomber. Design was accomplished by the de Havilland company ...
1917
Variant: Siemens-Schuckert D.III
The Siemens-Schuckert D series of fighters evolved from captured French-made Nieuport 11 aircraft. The D.III appeared as an i...
1916
Variant: Sopwith Pup
The Sopwith Pup appeared in 1916 at a time when the Allies were coming up against what would be known as the "Fokker Scourge"...
1917
Variant: Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin
The Sopwith Dolphin was yet another fighter design in the long line of Thomas Sopwith production aircraft during World War 1....
1917
Variant: Phonix D.I
The Phonix D.I was a single-seat fighter platform developed and produced by the Phonix Flugzeug-Werke firm in Germany. The ai...
1917
Variant: Phonix C.I
The Phonix C.I was a rather simplistic two-seat armed reconnaissance fighter utilized by the Austro-Hungarian Empire during W...
1916
Variant: Nieuport 17
Fresh off of the heels of the success that was the Nieuport 11, the Nieuport 17 was a direct development intended to improve ...
1916
Variant: Albatros D.I
The Albatros Flugzeugwerke firm certainly made a name for itself in World War 1. It was responsible for a series of well-resp...
1916
Variant: Albatros D.II
Albatros produced a variety of capable fighter mounts throughout World War 1 and the original D.I series proved instrumental ...
1917
Variant: Albatros D.III
While the Albatros D.I proved critical in winning back air superiority for the Germans in early 1917, it was not a perfect al...
1917
Variant: Albatros C.X
The Albatros production of the C.X model continued the firm's commitment to producing capable reconnaissance biplane aircraft...
1918
Variant: Vought VE-7 Bluebird
In 1917 Mr. Birdseye B. Lewis formed an aircraft business with the Vought group, becoming the Lewis & Vought Corporation in t...
1916
Variant: Albatros C.V
The Albatros C.V can, in some ways, be approached as a step backwards in the progression of the C-series as a whole. Though t...
1917
Variant: LVG C.V
The LVG C.V was a general-purpose, two-seat reconnaissance aircraft utilized by the German air service in World War 1. Despit...
1918
Variant: LVG C.VI
The LVG C.VI became one of the final German two-seat aircraft to see quantitative production in World War 1 and appeared as a...
1918
Variant: Martin MB-1 / Glenn Martin Bomber
The Martin MB-1 (also known as the "Glenn Martin Bomber") became the first American-designed heavy bomber type to be purchase...
1919
Variant: Vickers Vimy Mk II
The Vimy was designed to a Royal Air Force (RAF) requirement for a night bomber with inherently long endurance intended to re...
1917
Variant: Beardmore SB 3F
The Beardmore WB III was nothing more than a highly-modified, navalized version of the successful land-based Sopwith Pup sing...
1918
Variant: Sopwith Rhino
Lost in the discussions concerning Sopwith aircraft of World War 1 was the Sopwith "Rhino", an interesting triplane bomber gi...
1917
Variant: Fokker Dr.I Triplane (Dreidecker) Triplane
The Fokker Dr.I ("Dr" for "Dreidecker" meaning "triplane") series is most closely associated with Manfred von Richthofen (aka...
1917
Variant: Pfalz D.IIIa
The Pfalz D.III was an exceptional aircraft produced in large numbers by Bavaria for Bavarian forces and; later, Imperial Ger...
1916
Variant: AEG G.IV
The AEG G.IV was another successful product of the Allgemeine Elektritzitats Gesellschaft aircraft corporation and was an ama...
1915
Variant: Morane-Saulnier Type N
The Moraine-Saulnier Type N (or simply "Moraine-Saulnier N") was a French fighter aircraft of the First World War. It appeare...
1916
Variant: Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter
Like other Sopwith Aviation Company aircraft, the wartime Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter owed its existence to the arrival of the Sop...
1917
Variant: Airco DH.5
With the view afforded the pilots of the DH.2, famed aircraft designer Geoffrey de Havilland set out to create a similar, yet...
1914
Variant: Bristol Scout
The Bristol Scout was born from a racing aircraft and was, therefore, based upon an excellent performance pedigree. However, ...
1918
Variant: Junkers CL.I
The Junkers CL.I was a break-through aircraft design produced in limited quantities in the final year of World War One. The s...
1917
Variant: Hansa-Brandenburg W.12
The Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 was a two-seat floatplane fighter seaplane design serving the German Empire through the final year...
1918
Variant: Blackburn R.T.1 Kangaroo
The Kangaroo was the product of the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company, Limited. The design began as a venture in 1916 to ...
1916
Variant: AEG C.IV
The C.IV was a twin-seat biplane aircraft produced by the German firm of Allgemeine Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft (or simply "AE...
1918
Variant: Handley Page H.P. O/400
The O/400 model series by Handley Page aircraft firm was the principle heavy bomber of the RAF by the end of the First World ...
1915
Variant: Nieuport 11 (Bebe)
The Nieuport 11 "Bebe" (or "Baby" - known officially as the "Nieuport 11 C1") was one of the first true Allied fighters of Wo...
1916
Variant: Avro 523 Pike
Avro (A.V. Roe and Company) was founded in 1910 and based out of Manchester. The firm played a large role from World War 1 in...
1916
Variant: Siemens-Schuckert D.I
Siemens-Schuckert D.I aircraft were in fact reverse-engineered copies of the French-made Nieuport 11. So desperate was German...
1916
Variant: DFW C.V
The DFW C.V series of biplane aircraft was of German design in World War 1. The system was particularly noted for its good ha...
1917
Variant: Curtiss H-16
In 1911, the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company unveiled their Model D, a biplane aircraft powered by a single Curtiss E-4 e...
1917
Variant: Avro 529A
The Avro 529 followed closely in line with Avro's preceding bomber attempt - the 523. Both were designed as large bomber type...
1916
Variant: Rumpler 6B
The Rumpler concern has become a largely forgotten aviation manufacturer when pitted alongside the likes of Albatros and Fokk...
1917
Variant: Armstrong Whitworth FK.8
The Armstrong Whitworth FK.8 model series was an aircraft conceived of by aircraft designer Frederick Koolhoven of Dutch orig...
1913
Variant: Avro Type 504K
Without knowing it from the outset, the Avro Type 504 series of aircraft would become one of the most produced and influentia...
1915
Variant: Rumpler C.I
Austrian-born engineer Edmund Rumpler settled his Rumpler Flugzeugwerke concern in 1909 and began by producing copies of the ...
1916
Variant: Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8
The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 ("F.E." for "Fighter Experimental") was developed in 1915 and released as an operational air...
1915
Variant: Airco DH.2
Geoffrey de Havilland was hired by the Airco firm in June of 1914 as lead designer and quickly lent his design talents to dev...
1917
Variant: Dorand AR.I
The Dorand AR series was developed for the French air service to replace the outmoded, two-seat Farman F.40 observation aircr...
1917
Variant: Felixstowe F.5
The Felixstowe F.5 series originated in the United Kingdom as a militarized flying boat in the last year of World War 1 (1918...
1915
Variant: Aviatik C.I
Aviatik (Automobil und Aviatikwerke) of Germany was already involved in aircraft designs from the outset of the war, graduati...
1915
Variant: Albatros C.I
The Albatros C.I series of aircraft was the next evolution in the brand's reconnaissance aircraft line. Stemming from the dev...
1915
Variant: Albatros C.III
Continuing in the long line of short-term reconnaissance biplane designs, the German Air Force fielded the Albatros C.III in ...
1915
Variant: Fokker E.III (Eindecker) Monoplane
As with most aircraft developed during World War 1, the Eindecker series enjoyed a relatively short period of time at the fro...
1916
Variant: Hansa-Brandenburg C.I
The Hansa-Brandenburg C.I was a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft seeing action with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War ...
1917
Variant: Gotha G.V
With the Germans having gained critical territory up to the Belgian coast in 1914, thoughts to the bombing of targets within ...
1917
Variant: Albatros J.I
The Albatros J.I was conceived of as a dedicated ground attack aircraft for use in the "infantry close-support role" during W...
1917
Variant: Rumpler C.VIII
The aircraft, as a viable standalone weapon of war, emerged in World War 1 (1914-1918) along with the "tank". Rivaling the ne...
1918
Variant: Curtiss NC-4 (Navy Curtiss / Nancy Boat)
World War 1 in Europe prompted all military industries to develop and produce various solutions to ongoing (and some new) pro...
1917
Variant: Fairey Campania F.22
The British became big proponents and pioneers of naval aviation during World War 1. War had broken out in Europe during the ...
1916
Variant: Lohner C.I
The Lohner C.I was nothing more than the armed version of the two-seat Lohner B.VII reconnaissance aircraft fielded by the Au...
1915
Variant: Lohner B.VII
The Lohner B.VII was a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft produced by and for the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War 1. W...
1917
Variant: Caproni Ca.3 (Ca.36)
The Caproni Ca.36 represented the definitive model in the C-bomber series debuted in 1914 as the C.31. The Ca.36 was a tremen...
1916
Variant: Rumpler C.III
Rumpler Flugzeugwerke followed their Rumpler C.I biplane reconnaissance aircraft with the improved C.III series. The Rumpler ...
1915
Variant: Lebed Type XII
The Russian Empire did not field many indigenous aircraft designs during World War 1, instead relying on purchase or local pr...
1917
Variant: Friedrichshafen G.III
The Friedrichshafen G.III was a medium bi-plane class bomber utilized by the German Empire in World War 1 and designed by the...
1915
Variant: Caudron G.4A.2
The Caudron G.4 series was a twin-engine bomber platform introduced in the early years of World War 1 by the French. The syst...
1915
Variant: LVG C.II
The LVG C.II was a limited-production reconnaissance scout plane utilized by the German Empire during World War 1. She hersel...
1915
Variant: Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b
The F.E.2 series of aircraft were produced by the Royal Aircraft Factory and had their origins in the F.E.1, a 1910 design by...
1915
Variant: AGO C.II
The AGO C.II was the product of the Aerowerke Gustav Otto (abbreviated as "AGO") concern and is considered by some as one of ...
1915
Variant: Lloyd C.II
The Lloyd C.II was a reconnaissance biplane fielded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War 1, with service of the type b...
1914
Variant: Hansa-Brandenburg (Type FD)
Ernst Heinkel - whose German firm Heinkel would gain some level of notoriety in World War 2 - designed a series of reconnaiss...
1915
Variant: Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny)
The much-loved Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" two-seat trainer aircraft was utilized in a myriad of ways throughout her operational car...
1915
Variant: Caproni Ca.1 (Ca.32)
While the British Handley Page and German Gotha bombers receive their fair share of notoriety in World War 1 text, both Italy...
1915
Variant: Sikorsky Ilya Mourometz Type V No 167
The Sikorsky Ilya Mourometz series of aircraft were the world's first four-engine bombers in operational service. Igor Sikors...
1916
Variant: Aeromarine 39A
The Aeromarine 39 was a two-seat plane for land-based or seaplane training ordered by the US Navy in 1917. The versatile air...
1917
Variant: Standard J-1
The Standard J-1 appeared in the First World War and served the United States Army Air Service in the role of trainer. The sy...
1918
Variant: Aeromarine 40F
The Aeromarine Model 40 (or simply "Aeromarine 40") was a two-seat flying boat trainer aircraft serving the United States Nav...
1915
Variant: Vickers FB.5
The FB.5 (also known as the "Gunbus") was of a biplane type design for the scouting role. What set the system apart from earl...
1914
Variant: Farman MF.11 Shorthorn
The Farman MF.11 "Shorthorn" was a development of French aeronautical engineering and was essentially an early-war biplane de...
1915
Variant: LVG B.I
Prior to production of military aircraft, the LVG concern ("Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft") was focused on manufacture of dirigi...
1915
Variant: Voisin Type 5
The French Voisin Type 5 bomber was developed from the proven Voisin III series and saw action in the First World War. Though...
1914
Variant: Albatros B.II
The Albatros B.II was a reconnaissance biplane used in the early years of the First World War, particularly on the German sid...
1914
Variant: Aviatik B.I
The Aviatik B.I series handled reconnaissance duties for Germany in the early years of the war, serving up to about early 191...
1909
Variant: Bleriot XI
The Bleriot XI was one of the first notable monoplanes to achieve any level of fame. Primitive by today's standards, the syst...
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