W.W.II Fighter Performance Chart

This is an interactive chart of the performance of World War II fighter aircraft. It displays the maximum speed versus altitude curve for four different aircraft. The units are km/h for the speeds and meters for the altitude.

Click on a name in the list to select an aircraft, then press a button to store the name in one of the four fields. The corresponding curve will be drawn.

Known problems

• Netscape 4.02 for Windows 32-bit does not correctly update the display when the window is uncovered or reopened. You will need to press a button to get a correct display. Or, if you have a small enough display, scroll the Applet off-screen and then back on again.
• Internet Explorer 4.0 on the other hand, has problems when scrolling.
• Netscape 4.02 for Windows 32-bit occasionally (well, far too often) hangs up while starting Java.

Sources

• The Spitfire Story.
  Alfred Price, published by Arms and Armour, 1995.
• Cobra! -- Bell Aircraft Corporation 1934-1946.
  Birch Matthews, published by Schiffer, 1996.
• Les chasseurs Lavotchkine a moteurs a piston.
  Jacques Marmain, K. Kosminkov, G. Serov, M. Tarassenko. Published in Le Fana de l'Aviation, Janvier 1993 -- Avril 1993.
• Interceptor Fighters for the Royal Air Force 1935-45.
  Michael J.F. Bowyer, Patrick Stephen's Ltd, 1984.

Contributed data are welcome.

Materials

Here is the source code for the applet the data plotting class, an auxiliary math class, and the data file that is read by the applet.