Heinkel HE-111 accompanied by a Heinkel HE-100 during a demonstration flight in 1940. by Ronnie Bell
Via Flickr:
On the 30th of March 1939 a prototype of the new Heinkel He 100 fighter design streaked into the record books at 746.6km/h — the new world absolute speed record. Surprisingly it took the record away from a plane with well over twice the horsepower, and beat it by over 40km/h. Lessons learned from earlier Heinkel projects had been put to good use and its advanced aerodynamics resulted in a plane that was the best performing fighter in the air, even in its less slippery production line model. Little information on the plane is available, and what there is often contradictory. All we know for sure is that Heinkel built the world's fastest plane, and it was suitable for use as a fighter (unlike many racing planes). We also know that after being built and proving itself in testing, the production line only built twelve planes before shutting down. The rest of the He-100 story is clouded in mystery, which makes it all the more interesting.