Famous Aircraft
Many amazing planes have flown over the years. Here are some of the greatest.
The Wright Flyer
The first ever plane was designed and built by Orville and Wilbur Wright and Flown at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903.
The Fokker Dreidekker
WW1 German triplane famously flown by air ace Manfred von Richthofen
Spirit of St Louis
This was a custom built monoplane that Charles Lindberg flew solo from New York to paris in 1921
Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf109 was a WW2 German aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt in the early 1930s. More than 30,000 of these planes were produced before and during the war, and they were multi-role planes in service as interceptors, bomber escorts, fighter bombers, bomber destroyers and ground-attack aircraft. The Messerschmitt 109 was the plane flown by Erich Hartmann of Jagdgeschwader 52. He was to become the top scoring fighter pilot of World War II (352 victories)
Spitfire
The semi legendary British warbird was designed by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine. it was adapted from the Schneider Trophy winning seaplane (Supermarine S.6b) he had designed in the late 1920s. The Spitfire outclassed the Bf 109 and pretty much every other plane in the sky. Pilots loved to fly these planes and the are still considered by many to be the most beautiful aircraft ever created.
Concorde
The Anglo-French Concord was the world's first supersonic passenger liner. She could fly at 1350mph and was able to cross the atlantic from London Heathrow to New York JFK in under three hours. Concorde's famous drop nose allowed pilots to see properly during takeoff and landing. Once in the air the nose was raised to present the most streamline shape possible for supersonic flight. Only 20 Concordes were ever built and they flew for British Airways and Air France until 2003.