Hello Adama55; You are obviously confusing the several different measures of air speed of a aircraft. first there is IAS, or Indicated Air Speed as measured by the instruments in the plane based solely on the dynamic Ram Air Pressure at the Pitot Tube. This is the most important aspect because it affects the flight characteristics of the plane, primarily the stalling speed which lets it fall from the sky like a rock, if not maintained! Then there is True Air Speed, or Speed over the ground. This is how many miles are covered for Navigational reasons! They include things like head and tail winds and cross winds too, but most people who have never flown have no clue about either thing. Then there is "Calibrated" Air Speed. This is an adjustment to the instruments applied because they are not quite accurate on that particular airplane. For the record flight of the XB-42, the IAS, or indicated Air Speed was flown between about 340 and 260 MPH as shown on the flight instruments. This speed varied with the weight of the plane and got faster as it burned off the several tonnes of fuel. This was the speed through the air, but had almost nothing to do with the distance covered as the plane had a Tail wind of 50-70 MPH thus yielding the 433.xx MPH shown in the record citation.
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