First aircraft to exceed 1,000 mph

The British-built Fairey Delta 2 (FD2) monoplane was filmed travelling at a blistering 1,811 km/h (1,132 mph) on 10 March 1956, making it the first aircraft to break the 1,000-mph barrier. This also secured it the world air-speed record, although that was surpassed by the McDonnell F-101A Voodoo on 12 December 1957. The FD2’s innovative delta-wing design was later incorporated into the supersonic commercial plane Concorde. After a number of successful attempts that the cameras on the ground infuriatingly failed to capture, the Fairey Delta 2 was captured travelling at its record-breaking speed of 1,811 km/h (1,132 mph) on its eighth try.