Hi,
900km/h TAS in low level are around mach0,73, even in 20000ft this 'only' would be mach0.84, but in this high alt the german planes wasnt allowed to dive that fast!!
But isnt the dive speed limit in the manual related to the speed the gauges show(IAS)?? In this case such values dont say anything regarding the real speed, cause the speed meter´s did vary pretty much.
Angus, you seems to forget that the measured speed with normal measurement systems (common pitot tube) get badly wrong at around mach0,75, even in normal speeds the measurement is pretty wrong with this system.
And for sure no WWII plane would have been able to reach mach1, they simply did miss the needed airfoil and toughness. They would have lost their wings due to shockwaves. As i wrote befor, even the Me163 and Me262 with their arrowed wings and thrust at highspeed wasnt able to reach Mach1. This planes even wasnt able to make a powered dive with more than 25° angle without to get into compressions, resulting in a endless dive. Mach 1 was far away.
The Me163 did reach 1006km/h(Mach0,84) in 3000m alt in level flight. But wasnt realy contollable anymore, it wasnt able to get much faster in a dive, its divelimit was .
Read here about the 163 and its highspeed problems, its critical mach was at "only" mach0,84!
http://mitglied.lycos.de/luftwaffe1/me163/me163_tactical.htmlYou realy think the Spit had a smaler drag than the Komet, with its smal wings and aspectratio?? The Komet was able to reach its critical mach of 0,84 while climbing, but yes, sure, the spit was able to reach a much faster speed. lol (read in the article about what happen when critical mach got reached)
btw, the aspectratio is a major factor for smal drag while highspeed flights, cause the air can get shifted away in a 2 dimensional way, much more important than the thickness of the wing. The Komet had a wing aspectratio of 4,85, the arrowed wing also got proven as advanced.
Greetings, Knegel