In 1931 the Supermarine S5 won the Schneider Trophy for the fastest seaplane over a distance of 220 miles. It was the third win by Supermarine within 5 years and the rules awarded them the trophy outright. It now sits in the Science Museum in London. Ten years later the design had evolved into the MK V Spitfire fighter which had a top speed of 374 mph.* On November 16, 2021 an electricly driven plane, “Spirit of Innovation” reached a top speed of 387.4 mph. The link between the three is that all were powered by Rolls Royce engines, The name is a clear reference to the “Spirit of Ecstacy”, the iconic mascot on Rolls Royce cars although the car and marine/aircraft engine companies are now separate.
The firm - whose aerospace headquarters are based in Derby - said the plane reached a top speed of 387.4 mph (623 km/h) during test runs at an experimental aircraft testing site.
It is thought to have set new World Records over three different distances.
Rolls-Royce said Spirit of Innovation was more than 132 mph (213.04 km/h) faster than the previous record set by the Siemens eAircraft powered Extra 330 LE Aerobatic aircraft in 2017.
It reached a top speed of 345.4 mph (555.9 km/h) over 1.9 miles (3 km) and 330 mph (532.1 km/h) over 9.3 miles (15 km).
It is also thought to have broken the fastest time to climb to 9842.52 ft (3,000 m) by 60 seconds with a time of 202 seconds.
While not quite up to Schneider Trophy speed, the rapid development in electricly powered aircraft shown by these records bode well.
*In April 1944 a MK XI Spitfire reached 620mph or Mach 0.92 in a dive, the propeller ripped off tipping the plane up and allowing the pilot to glide home. The force pushed the wings into a swept shape that became standard on early supersonic aircraft.