> After a search for "112.5 airplane" I ended up at a page about
> AMO physics (whatever that is). Within the page, a caption pointed out
> that the E mpire S tate E xpress, a train, set the world speed record
> of 112.5 mph in 1893, ten years before the first airplane was built.
> Probably on the wrong track here -- must be a coincidence, but it is
> interesting.

A very odd coincidence. I looked for more about the Empire State Express and it seems the 112.5mph record was set by "Engine 999"

"The record run was made when she picked up the Empire State Express at Syracuse on the last lap to Buffalo, 150 miles away. Engineman Charles H. Hogan was told to try for a record and when he came to the thirty-six miles of straight track between Batavia and Buffalo, he pulled 999's throttle wide open and held it there. Stop watches confirm that during the next memorable quarter of an hour, one mile of the thirty-six had been covered at the rate of 112.5 miles per hour."