Tag Archives: World Record for Speed Over a 3 Kilometer Course

4–9 February 1982

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A Sikorsky S-76A in flight over the City of New York. (Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company)

4–9 February 1982: Sikorsky test pilots Nicholas D. Lappos, William Frederick Kramer, Byron Graham, Jr., David R. Wright, and Thomas F. Doyle, Jr., set a series of Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) speed, time-to-climb and sustained altitude world records while flying a Sikorsky S-76A helicopter, serial number 760178, FAA registration N5445J, at Palm Beach, Florida.

On 4 February, Nick Lappos, who had made the first flight with the prototype S-76 nearly five years earlier, set a record of 335,50 kilometers per hour (208.47 miles per hour) over a 3-kilometer course (FAI Record File Number 1261, Class E-1d), and 342,61 km/h (212.89 m,p,h.) over a straight 15/25 kilometer course (1262). Flying in the E-1e class for heavier helicopters, Billy Kramer ¹ flew both the 3 kilometer and 15/25 kilometer course at an average 340,48 km/h (211.56 m.p.h.) (1828, 1829).

On 5 February, Byron Graham, Jr.,² flew the S-76A to 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) in 3 minutes, 11 seconds (1819); to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) in 8 minutes, 37.3 seconds (Class E-1d, 1821); and a sustained altitude of 7,940 meters (26,050 feet) in level flight (Class E-1D, 9947).

On 6 February, David R. Wright averaged 331,22 km/h (205.81 m.p.h.) over a 100 kilometer closed circuit without payload (Class E-1d, 1264), and 334,69 kilometers per hour (207.97 m.p.h.) over a closed circuit of 100 kilometers without payload (Class E-1e, 1265).

After taking a day off, the Sikorsky S-76A was back in the air on 8 February, this time with Thomas F. Doyle, Jr., flying the helicopter over the 500 kilometer closed circuit, without payload. The Sikorsky averaged 345,74 km/h (214.83 m.p.h.) (Class E-1, 1844, E-1e, 1845). This was also an Absolute World Speed Record for helicopters (Class E, 11660).

On the last day of the series, 9 February 1982, David R. Wright was back in the cockpit of N5445J. Flying the 1,000 kilometer closed circuit without payload, the S-76A averaged 305, 10 km/h (189.58 m.p.h.) (Class E-1e, 1827).

After 37 years, nine of these twelve Fédération Aéronautique Internationale world records still stand.

Sikorsky S-76A N5445J

N5445J was owned by Rodgers Helicopter Service, Kearney, Nebraska, and operated as an air ambulance by Good Samaritan AirCare until its U.S. registration was cancelled, 10 July 2006.

Fire-damaged Sikorsky S-76A serial number 760178, registration PR-IME, at Macae Airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 29 December 2008.
Fire-damaged Sikorsky S-76A, serial number 760178, registration PR-IME, at Macaé Airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 29 December 2008.

The record-setting helicopter eventually found its way to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Owned and operated by Atlas Taxi Aereo, 760178 had been re-registered as PR-IME and was transporting Petrobras employees to offshore oil production platforms.

At approximately 8:30 a.m., 29 December 2008, PR-IME had departed Macaé Airport enroute Platform P-12 in the Campos Basin with 7 persons on board.

Shortly after takeoff, the flight crew observed an AC generator caution light and returned to the airport. Before landing, a fire warning light also illuminated. Upon landing on Runway 24, all seven escaped from the burning helicopter without injury. The fire was quickly extinguished, but the Sikorsky S-76A was substantially damaged.

Cutaway illustration of a Sikorsky S-76A. (Sikorsky Archives)
Cutaway illustration of a Sikorsky S-76A. (Sikorsky Archives)

The Sikorsky S-76A is a twin-engine intermediate class helicopter that can be configured to carry 6 to 12 passengers. It is used as an executive transport, a scheduled passenger airliner, utility transport, search and rescue aircraft and air ambulance. The helicopter is certified for instrument flight and has retractable tricycle landing gear.

The prototype was rolled out at Stratford, Connecticut on 11 January 1977 and the first flight took place on 13 March. It was certified in 1978 and the first production aircraft was delivered to Air Logistics, 27 February 1979.

The number 2 Sikorsky S-76 makes the type’s first flight, 13 March 1977. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)

The S-76A is 52 feet, 6 inches (16.00 meters) long with rotors turning. The fuselage has a length of 43 feet, 4.43 inches (13.219 meters) and a width of 8 feet (2.44 meters). The helicopter’s overall height is 14 feet, 5.8 inches (4.414 meters). The four bladed composite main rotor is 44 feet (13.41 meters) in diameter. The blades are attached to a one-piece forged aluminum hub and use elastomeric bearings. As is customary with American helicopters, the main rotor turns counter-clockwise as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the right.) The four-bladed tail rotor has a diameter of 8 feet (2.438 meters) and turns clockwise as seen from the helicopter’s left. (The advancing blade is below the axis of rotation.) It is mounted in a pusher configuration on the left side of the tailboom. The tail rotor is constructed of composite airfoils mounted to graphite spars.

The S-76A was equipped with two Allison 250-C30 turboshaft engines rated at 557 shaft horsepower, each. Subsequent variants have been built with Turbomeca Arriel 1S and 2S engines, as well as Pratt & Whitney PT6B-3A and PW210S engines.

The S-76 has an empty weight of 7,007 pounds (3,178 kilograms). The S-76A maximum gross weight was 10,500 pounds (4,763 kilograms). Beginning with the S-67B, this was increased to 11,700 pounds (5,307 kilograms).

The Sikorsky S-76 has a maximum cruise speed of 155 knots (287 kilometers per hour). It can hover in ground effect (HIGE) at 7,050 feet (2,149 meters) or out of ground effect (HOGE) at 3,300 feet (1,006 meters). The service ceiling is 13,800 feet (4,206 meters).

The helicopter was designed with offshore oil support as a major consideration. It was intended to carry 2 pilots and 12 passengers 400 nautical miles (460 statute miles, or 741 kilometers). Maximum range with no reserve is 411 nautical miles (473 statute miles/762 kilometers).

Sikorsky built 307 S-76As. More than 850 of all variants have been built. The current production model is the S-76D.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation advertisement in The Post, West Palm Beach, Florida, Vol. XLIX, No. 9, Sunday, 28 February 1982, Page A12, columns 1–3.

¹ William F. Kramer was killed in the crash of a Sikorsky S-76B, N5AZ, near Sutton, Massachusetts, 6 June 1986. Also killed were another company test pilot, Ronald W. Kuhrt, son of Wesley A. Kuhrt, a former Sikorsky president; William F. Gilson; and Richard C. Elpel. The aircraft had been flying a group associated with King Hussein of Jordan. At the time, sabotage was considered a possibility. The NTSB investigation was unable to determine a probable cause.

² Byron Graham, Jr., a former U.S. Marine Corps officer, along with Lieutenant Colonel Robert P.Guay, performed as series of loops and rolls with a Sikorsky CH-53A Sea Stallion, 23 October 1968.

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

25 December 1934

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Raymond Delmotte, 1894–1962. (FAI)
Raymond Delmotte, 1894–1962. (FAI)

At Istres, in the south of France, French World War I fighter ace and test pilot Raymond Delmotte flew a Caudron C.460 Rafale single-engine monoplane over a 3-kilometer (1.864 miles) straight course at an average speed of 505.85 kilometers per hour (314.32 miles per hour), setting a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world record speed for land planes.¹

Flight reported the event:

“. . . The attempt consisted of four trial flights over a regulation three-kilometre straight course, the average time made during all of them being taken as the final result. Delmotte made a preliminary attempt in the morning, but, owing to a crosswind of 10 m.p.h. then prevailing, he was able to attain only 478 km./hr. as the average result. He then waited until the afternoon, when, the wind having fallen to about 2½ m.p.h., he took off again and accomplished an average speed of 505.84 km./hr., according to the official timers, who will submit this figure to the F.A.I. for homologation.”

—FLIGHT The Aircraft Engineer & Airships, No. 1358, Vol. XXVII, Thursday, 3 January 1935 at Page 16

The New York Daily News reported that Delmotte won a prize of 300,000 francs, equivalent to $19,000 U.S. dollars.

Raymond Delmotte and his dog, a fox terrier named Tailwind, with a Caudron C.460, No. 6907, race number 8. (Le musée de Caudron)

The Caudron C.460 Rafale was designed by Marcel Riffard, technical director of Société des Avions Caudron, a French aircraft manufacturer which had been established in 1909. (Rafale means gust: “a brief, strong, rush of wind.”) It was a light-weight, single-seat, single-engine racer with retractable landing gear. Three were built.

Three-way general arrangement drawing of the Caudron C.460 from a National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics technical publication. (NACA)

The airplane was primarily constructed of spruce, covered with doped fabric, with the engine cowling and fuel tanks fabricated of magnesium. It was 7.125 meters (23 feet, 4½ inches) long with a wingspan of 6.75 meters (22 feet, 1¾ inches) and overall height of 1.8 meters (5 feet, 11 inches). The C.460’s empty weight was 520 kilograms (1,146 pounds) and it had a gross weight of 875 kilograms (1,929 pounds).

Raymond Delmotte in the cockpit of a Caudron racer, 1935. (Bibliothèque nationale de France)

The C.460s were originally powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 7.947-liter-displacement (484.928 cubic inches) Renault 6Q inverted 6-cylinder inline overhead valve (OHV) engine. It had 2 valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 6:1.  The engine produced 310 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m., and 325 horsepower at 3,200 r.p.m. The direct-drive, left-hand tractor engine turned a two-bladed metal Helices Ratier automatic variable-pitch propeller with a diameter of 1.80 meters (5 feet, 10.9 inches). The Renault 6Q was 1.62 meters (5 feet, 3.8 inches) long, 0.93 meters (3 feet, 0.6 inches) high and 0.52 meters (1 foot, 8.5 inches) wide. It weighed 190 kilograms (419 pounds).

Prior to Delmotte’s speed record attempt, the C.460’s engine was changed to a larger, more powerful  9.501 liter (579.736 cubic inches) Renault 6Q engine, also a direct-drive engine, which produced 370 chaval vapeur (364.9 horsepower) at 3,250 r.p.m. The engine’s centrifugal supercharger turned 26,000 r.p.m. The variable-pitch Ratier propeller was retained.

Raymonde Delmotte with his record-setting Caudron C.460 Rafale.
Raymond Delmotte with his record-setting Caudron C.460 Rafale. (Le musée de l’Air et de l’Espace MA25842)
Raymond Delmotte's C-460
Raymond Delmotte’s Société des Avions Caudron C.460 Rafale. (FAI)

There is little biographical information available about Raymond Delmotte. He was born at Saint-Quentin, Aisne, France, 11 November 1894. He married Mlle Louisa Dagneaux, and they had three children, Fernande, Raymond, and Ann Marie. He held ten FAI records for speed and distance. He died 13 December 1962.

The Rue Raymond Delmotte in Saint-Quentin is named in his honor.

Raymond Delmotte with Mme Delmotte and his canine associate, 6 May 1937. (Henry Ely-Aix)

¹ FAI Record File Number 8749

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

17 December 1947

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Jackie Cochran with her “Lucky Strike Green” North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang, NX28388, circa 1948. (Library of Congress)

17 December 1947: At Thermal, California, Jackie Cochran flew her green North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, NX28388, to a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 3 Kilometer Course. Her average speed, after two passes over the course in each direction, was 663.054 kilometers per hour (412.002 miles per hour).

Cochran’s altitude over the record course was at Sea Level.

National Aeronautic Association Certificate of Record in the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives. (Bryan R. Swopes)
National Aeronautic Association Certificate of Record in the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives. (Bryan R. Swopes)

The airport at Thermal is 115 feet (35 meters) below Sea Level. During December, the daily high temperature averages 71.0 ˚F. (21.7 ˚C.). The airport was established as Thermal Army Airfield during World War II, but today is the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport (TRM).

A week earlier, 10 December 1947, Cochran set another record World Record, flying NX28388 over a 100-kilometer (62 miles) closed circuit, averaging 755.668 kilometers per hour (469.549 miles per hour). (FAI Record File Number 4478).

That record still stands.

For a series of six records set in her P-51, Jackie Cochran, who held a commission as a colonel in the United States Air Force, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Jackie Cochran's green North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang, NX28388. (FAI)
Jackie Cochran’s green North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang, NX28388. (FAI)

NX28388 was the first of three P-51 Mustangs owned by Jackie Cochran. It was a North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang built at Inglewood, California in 1944. It was assigned NAA internal number 104-25789 and U.S. Army Air Corps serial number 43-24760. She bought it from North American Aviation, Inc., 6 August 1946. The airplane was registered to Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics, Inc., 142 Miller Street, Newark, New Jersey, but was based at Jackie’s C-O Ranch at Indio, California. The Mustang was painted “Lucky Strike Green” and carried the number 13 on each side of the fuselage, on the upper surface of the left wing and lower surface of the right wing.

NX28388 was powered by Packard V-1650-7 Merlin V-12, serial number V332415.

Jackie Cochran’s North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang NX28388, #13, with drop tanks, at Van Nuys Metropolitan Airport, California, August 1946. Left profile. Color. (Unattributed)
Jackie Cochran’s North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang NX28388, #13, with drop tanks, at Van Nuys Metropolitan Airport, California, August 1946. (Unattributed)

Jackie Cochran flew NX28388 in the 1946 Bendix Trophy Race and finished second to Paul Mantz in his P-51C Mustang, Blaze of Noon. Cochran asked Bruce Gimbel to fly the Mustang for her in the 1947 Bendix. There was trouble with the propeller governor and he finished in fourth place. In May 1948, Jackie set two more speed records with NX28388. Jackie and her green Mustang finished in third place in the 1948 Bendix race. She asked another pilot, Lockheed test pilot Sampson Held, to ferry the fighter back to California from Cleveland, Ohio after the race, but,

“. . . my plane crashed, carrying my associate, Sam Held, with it to his death.”

—The Stars At Noon, by Jacqueline Cochran, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1954, Chapter IV at Page 79.

NX28388 crashed six miles south of Sayre, Oklahoma, 8 September 1948, killing Sam Held. Two witnesses saw a wing come off of the Mustang, followed by an explosion.

Jackie Cochran's North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, NX28388, on the flight line at the Cleveland National Air Races, 1948. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)
Jackie Cochran’s North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, NX28388, on the flight line at the Cleveland National Air Races, 1948. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)

The P-51B was the first production Mustang to be built with the famous Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, and was virtually identical to the P-51C variant. (The P-51Bs were built by North American Aviation, Inc., at Inglewood, California. P-51Cs were built at North American’s Dallas, Texas plant.) They were 32 feet, 2.97 inches (9.829 meters) long, with a wingspan of 37 feet, 0.31-inch (11.282 meters) and overall height of 13 feet, 8 inches (4.167 meters) high. The fighter had an empty weight of 6,985 pounds (3,168 kilograms) and a maximum gross weight of 11,800 pounds (5,352 kilograms).

P-51Bs and Cs were powered by a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,649-cubic-inch-displacement (27.04-liter) Packard V-1650-3 or -7 Merlin single overhead cam (SOHC) 60° V-12 engine which produced 1,380 horsepower at Sea Level, turning 3,000 r.p.m and 60 inches of manifold pressure (V-1650-3) or 1,490 horsepower at Sea Level, turning at 3,000 r.p.m. with 61 inches of manifold pressure (V-1650-7). These were license-built versions of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 63 and 66. The engine drove a four-bladed Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic constant speed propeller with a diameter of 11 feet, 2 inches (3.404 meters).

Jackie Cochran’s North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang, NX28388. (Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum NASM 9A02672)

The P-51B/C had a cruise speed of 362 miles per hour (583 kilometers per hour) and the maximum speed was 439 miles per hour (707 kilometers per hour) at 25,000 feet (7,620 meters). The service ceiling was 41,900 feet (12,771 meters). With internal fuel, the combat range was 755 miles (1,215 kilometers).

In military service, armament consisted of four Browning AN/M2 .50-caliber machine guns, mounted two in each wing, with 350 rounds per gun for the inboard guns and 280 rounds per gun for the outboard.

1,988 P-51B Mustangs were built at North American’s Inglewood, California plant and another 1,750 P-51Cs were produced at Dallas, Texas. This was nearly 23% of the total P-51 production.

Identical to the Inglewood, California-built North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, this is a Dallas, Texas-built P-51C-1-NT, 42-103023. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
Identical to the Inglewood, California-built North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, this is a Dallas, Texas-built P-51C-1-NT, 42-103023. (North American Aviation, Inc.)

© 2016, Bryan R. Swopes

17 November 1926

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Major Mario de Bernardi with his record-setting Macchi M.39, 1926.
Major Mario de Bernardi with his record-setting Macchi M.39, 1926. (FAI)
Colonel Mario de Bernardi, Regia Aeronautica
Colonel Mario de Bernardi, Regia Aeronautica

17 November 1926: At Hampton Roads, Virginia, Major Mario de Bernardi, Regia Aeronautica, broke his own record, set just four days earlier, when he flew the Aeronautica Macchi M.39, number MM.76, to a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 3 Kilometer Course with an average speed of 416.62 kilometers per hour (258.88 miles per hour).¹

Ing. Mario Castoldi

The Macchi M.39 racing float plane was designed by Mario Castoldi. It was a single-place, single engine monoplane with two pontoons, or floats. The wing is externally braced, has 0° dihedral, and incorporates surface radiators. The M.39 was 6.473 meters (22 feet, 2.8 inches) long with a wingspan of 9.26 meters (30 feet, 4.6 inches) and height of 3.06 meters (10 feet, 0.5 inches). The empty weight of the Schneider Trophy racer was 1,300 kilograms (2,866 pounds) and its maximum gross weight was 1,615 kilograms (3,560 pounds).

With its cowling removed, the Macchi M.39’s Fiat AS.2 engine can be seen. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)

The M.39 was powered by a water-cooled, normally-aspirated, 31.403 liter (1,916.329 cubic inch) Fiat AS.2 60° DOHC V-12 direct-drive engine with a compression ratio of 6:1. It used three carburetors and two magnetos, and produced 882 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m. The engine drove a two-bladed, fixed-pitch metal propeller designed by Dr. Sylvanus A. Reed. The AS.2 engine was designed by Tranquillo Zerbi, based on the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company’s D-12 engine. The engine was 1.864 meters (6 feet, 1.4 inches) long, 0.720 meters (2 feet, 4.4 inches) wide and 0.948 meters (3 feet, 1.3 inches) high. It weighed 412 kilograms (908 pounds).

The Macchi M.39 could reach 420 kilometers per hour (261 miles per hour).

Macchi M.39 MM.76 is in the collection of the Aeronautica Militare museum.

Macchi M.39 at Hampton Roads, 1926. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)
Macchi M.39 at Hampton Roads, 1926. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)

¹ FAI Record File Number 11835

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

11 November 1937

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Dr. Ing. Hermann Wurster (left of center, wearing goggles, flight helmet and parachute) with the record-setting Bf 109 V13, D-KPKY. (AIRBUS)
Dr.-Ing. Hermann Wurster (left of center, wearing goggles, flight helmet and parachute) with an early Bf 109. Second from right, the tall man wearing a flat cap and leather coat is Prof. Dr. Ing. e.h. Wilhelm Emil “Willy” Messerschmitt, the airplane’s designer. (Airbus Group)

11 November 1937: At Augsburg, Germany, Dr.-Ing. Hermann Wurster set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 3 Kilometer Course when he flew a prototype Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG Bf 109, D-IPKY, to an average speed of 610.95 kilometers per hour (379.63 miles per hour) in four passes over a 3-kilometer course.¹ This broke the speed record set two years earlier by Howard Hughes with his Hughes H-1 Special, NR258Y, by 43.83 kilometers per hour (27.23 miles per hour).²

Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Bf 109 V13 (Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Aktiengesellschaft)

Versuchsflugzeug 13, the BFW Bf 109 V13, Werk-Nr. 1050 (FAI records describe it as a Messerchmitt BF113, and contemporary news reports referred to it as the Messerschmitt BF 113R), was one of four prototypes built from production Junkers Jumo 210-powered Bf 109B airframes to test the Daimler-Benz AG DB 600 engine. It was given a civil registration, D-IPKY. Along with two Bf 109B fighters, V13 was part of an aerial demonstration team which was sent to the International Flying Meeting at Dübendorf, Switzerland, during the last week of July 1937. It was equipped with a Daimler-Benz DB 600 rated at 960 horsepower.

BFW Bf 109 V13, D-IPKY. Note the long air intake above the exhaust ports. (Unattributed)

On its return from Switzerland, V13 was prepared for a speed record attempt. It was given a standard drag reduction for racing airplanes, with all its seams filled and sanded smooth, and a coat of paint.

A modified version of the DB 601 engine was installed, reportedly capable of producing 1,660 horsepower for five minutes, with its maximum r.p.m increased from 2,500 to 2,800. It used special Bosch spark plugs. A three-bladed variable-pitch propeller was driven through gear reduction, although the gear ratio is unknown.

Record-setting Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Bf 109 V13, D-IPKY. (Unattributed)
Left three-quarter view of the record-setting Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Bf 109 V13, D-IPKY. (Unattributed)

Like the Jumo 210, the Daimler-Benz 601 was a liquid-cooled, supercharged, single overhead cam, inverted 60° V-12, though with a much larger displacement. The DB 601 had a displacement of 33.929 liters (2,070.475 cubic inches). An improvement of the DB 600, the 601 series used direct fuel injection rather than a carburetor, and a hydraulically-driven two-speed supercharger.

A production Daimler-Benz DB 601 A had a compression ratio of 6.9:1 and was rated at 1,050 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m. at 5.2 inches of pounds per square inch (0.36 Bar) of boost, for take-off (1 minute limit). It could produce 970 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m. with 2.4 pounds per square inch (0.17 Bar) of boost at 12,000 feet (3,658 meters). Its propeller gear reduction ratio was 14:9. The DB 601 A was 67.5 inches (1.715 meters) long, 29.1 inches (0.739 meters) wide, and 40.5 inches (1.029 meters) high. It weighed 1,610 pounds (730.3 kilograms).

Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Bf 109 V13 D-IPKY without its identification markings. (Unattributed)
Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Bf 109 V13 D-IPKY without its identification markings. (Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Aktiengesellschaft)

The Bf 109D production variant was developed from V13.

In 1938, BFW became Messerschmitt AG. The Bf 109 (also commonly called the Me 109) was produced from 1937 to 1945. Total production was 33,894 aircraft, which amounted to 57% of total fighter production for Germany. Seven plants produced the 109 during World War II. After the war ended, Czechoslovakia produced a variant until 1948. Another Spanish-built variant, the Hispano Aviación HA-1112, remained in production until 1958.

Herman Wurster was born at Stuttgart, Germany, 25 September 1907. In 1926, he began studying aircraft at Königlich Bayerische Technische Hochschule München (TH Munich) and at TH Stuttgart (the Stuttgart Technology Institute of Applied Sciences). He earned a doctorate in engineering (Dr.-Ing.) in 1933. He then became the chief designer for the German Research Institute for Aviation (Deutschen Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt) in Berlin.

In 1935 and 1936, Dr.-Ing. Wurster was a test pilot for the Luftwaffe‘s testing site at Rechlin, Mecklenburg, Germany. From 1936 until 1943, he was the chief test pilot for Bayerische Flugzeugwerk and Messerschmitt at Augsburg. From 1943 until the end of the war, Wurster was responsible for the development of Messerschmitt’s rocket-powered surface-to-air guided missile, the Enzian E.1 and its variants.

After the war, Dr.-Ing. Wurster founded a building materials company at Nördlingen, Bavaria. He died in Augsburg 17 October 1985 at the age of 78 years.

A historical photograph of a Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 during World War II. (Unattributed)
A photograph of a Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 during World War II. (Unattributed)

¹ FAI Record File Number 8747

² FAI Record File Number 8748

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes