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North American X-15
Fastest crewed, powered aircraft (Mach 6.7)
On 3 October 1967 pilot William 'Pete' Knight flew the rocket-powered X-15 to Mach 6.72. The aircraft was dropped from a B-52 and flew at the edge of space.
The X-15 programme, run by NASA, the US Air Force and Navy, ran from 1959 to 1968 and studied flight at very high speed and altitude. Three aircraft were built, and the rocket engine burned for only a short time, so each flight was dropped from a B-52 bomber and glided back to land on a dry lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base.
Pete Knight's flight on 3 October 1967 reached Mach 6.7, about 7,274 km/h, in a modified aircraft, the X-15A-2. That aircraft was covered in a heat-resistant ablative coating for the test. On that flight, a dummy engine mounted below the plane suffered heat damage and the aircraft was damaged, though Knight landed safely.
The record covers the fastest crewed aircraft powered by its own engine. Spacecraft returning from orbit travel much faster but are not powered aircraft, and some uncrewed vehicles have flown faster. The speed is a record as officially recognised by aviation bodies. The programme as a whole produced data that fed into later spacecraft design, and several X-15 pilots earned astronaut wings for flights above 50 miles.