Editing Heinkel He 100 (section)

== World speed record ==
[[File:Ганс Дитерли в кабине рекордного Не 100V8 после полёта 30 марта 1939 года.JPG|thumb|Hans Dieterle in the cockpit of He 100 V8 after the record flight on March 30, 1939.]]

One aspect of the original ''Projekt'' 1035 was intended to capture the absolute speed record. The third and eighth prototypes were specially modified for speed, with unique outer wing panels of reduced [[Wingspan|span]]. The third prototype crashed during testing. The record flight was made using a special version of the DB 601 engine that produced {{convert|2,010|kW|abbr=on}} and had a service life of just 30 minutes. Prior to setting this absolute speed record over a short, measured course, Ernst Udet flew the second prototype to a {{convert|100|km|abbr=on}} closed course record of {{convert|634.32|km/h|abbr=on}} on 5 June 1938. Udet's record was apparently set using a standard DB 601a engine.

However, although the [[Messerschmitt Me 209|Me 209 V1]] (known erroneously as the "Me 109R", ignoring [[RLM aircraft designation system#Name changes and new constructors|the July 1938-dated change]] in prefixes) officially won over the He 100 and held the world speed record for piston engined aircraft for roughly 30 years, some historians such as Erwin Hood, state that the Me 209 V1's flight was 450 meters above sea level due to the topography of where its flight was held (at Augsburg) compared to that the He 100 V8's location of 50 meters above sea level (in Mecklenburg), thus their speed comparisons are not valid as the higher an aircraft goes, the lower the density of the atmosphere is, thus there is less drag. Hood then asserts that, based on his own calculations, if the He 100 V8 had flown at the same altitude of the Me 209 V1, it would have obtained a speed of 757&nbsp;km/h.<ref>Hood 2007, p. 59.</ref>