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The 1903 Wright Flyer did 48 km/h (30 mph) during its first flight; the Bleriot XI reached 75 km/h (47 mph) in 1909. Fabric-covered biplanes of the World War I era and shortly after could do up to 320 km/h (200 mph). In 1925 U.S. Army Lt. Cyrus K. Bettis flying a Curtiss R3C won the Pulitzer Trophy Race with a speed of 400.6 km/h (248.9 mph).
Speeds of all-metal monoplanes of the 1930s jumped into the 700 km/h (430 mph) range with the Macchi M.C.72 reaching a top speed of 709 km/h (441 mph), still the record for piston-powered seaplanes. The Messerschmitt Me 209 V1 set a world speed record of almost 756 km/h (470 mph) on 26 April 1939, and the Republic XP-47J (a variant of the P-47 Thunderbolt) is claimed to have reached 813 km/h (505 mph) in testing. A prototype of the the successor to the Supermarine Spitfire, the Supermarine Spiteful F.16 (RB518), reached 494 mph (795 km/h), making it the fastest piston propeller plane of World War Two. The Spiteful did not see action as the plane was abandoned as jets were given priority in Research & Development. The fastest German propeller driven aircraft to see combat in WWII was the Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil" which had a top speed of 474 mph (763 km/h).
The single engined Hawker Sea Fury was the fastest piston plane flown in World War Two, however, not operational. The plane reached a speed of around 485mph (780 km/h), (although a de-militarised Sea Fury holds the unofficial speed-record for a piston-engined aircraft in level flight at 474 mph (763 km/h) 547 mph.
The record-shattering flight, on 2 October 1941, of one of the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter prototypes that reached a top speed of 624 mph (1,004 km/h), as well as development of jet-powered fighters by both the Allies and Axis powers during World War II, ensured that all new absolute air speed records would be held by jet or rocket-powered aircraft.
During the 1950s two unorthodox United States Navy fighter prototypes married turboprop engines with a "tailsitting design", the Convair XFY "Pogo" and the Lockheed XFV. Maximum design speeds of 980 km/h (610 mph) at 4,600 m (15,100 ft) and 930 km/h (580 mph) respectively have been quoted. The Lockheed XFV was fitted with a less powerful engine than it was designed for and had makeshift non-retractable landing gear for horizontal takeoff and landing; the Convair's landing gear supported it in a vertical position. It was usually flown with the cockpit open, since the ejection seat was thought unreliable. These aircraft had "compromised in-flight speed" because of the conflicting demands of vertical and horizontal flight.
Read more about this topic: Fastest Propeller-driven Aircraft