Aircraft encyclopedia: Civil

Aircraft models with their history, specifications and variants.

Aaron headly (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1933
Boeing 247
First flown on February 8, 1933, the Boeing 247 is regarded as the first modern airliner: an all-metal monoplane with retractable landing gear, an autopilot and de-icing equipment. Only 75 were built, because its very success drove the…
more…
Htm (CC BY SA), vía commons
Unknown authorUnknown author (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1934
Douglas DC-2
The Douglas DC-2 was an American twin-engined airliner seating fourteen passengers, developed from the DC-1 prototype and a direct rival to the Boeing 247. It flew on 11 May 1934, entered service with TWA a week later and became the basis…
more…
FotoSleuth (CC BY), vía commons
Norstrøm/Billedbladet NÅ/Riksarkivet (CC BY SA), vía commons
OTFW, Berlin (CC BY SA), vía commons
Victor Grigas (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1942
Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 was an unpressurized four-engine transport whose production series first flew on February 14, 1942. Mass-produced during the Second World War as the military C-54 Skymaster, it became one of the workhorses of postwar…
more…
Eduard Marmet (CC BY SA), vía commons
MaxEmanuel (CC BY), vía commons
Uli Elch (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1946
Douglas DC-6
The Douglas DC-6 is the piston-engined four-motor airliner with which the Douglas Aircraft Company took on Lockheed in the post-war long-range commercial market. It began as a military order: in 1944 the United States Army Air Forces asked…
more…
Chalmers Butterfield (CC BY), vía commons
Aeroprints.com (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1947
Boeing 377 Stratocruiser
The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, the civil derivative of the C-97 and ultimately of the B-29 bomber, first flew on 8 July 1947 and entered service with Pan American on 1 April 1949. With its double-deck fuselage and lower-deck lounge it…
more…
Bill Larkins (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1953
Douglas DC-7
The Douglas DC-7 was the last large piston-engined airliner built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, produced between 1953 and 1958 as a direct derivative of the DC-6. It answered a very specific request from American Airlines: an aircraft…
more…
Pedro Aragão (CC BY SA), vía commons
Pedro Aragão (CC BY SA), vía commons
Sebastian Barheier (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1957
Lockheed L-188 Electra
First flown on December 6, 1957, the Lockheed L-188 Electra was the first large turboprop airliner built in the United States. Its passenger career proved short, yet the sturdy airframe went on to a long second life hauling cargo and…
more…
Airliner · 1959
Convair 880
The Convair 880 was an American narrow-body jet airliner that first flew on 27 January 1959 and entered service with Delta Air Lines in 1960. Marketed on sheer speed, it proved a commercial failure, with only 65 aircraft built.
more…
James Petts from London, England (CC BY SA), vía commons
Unknown (CC BY SA), vía commons
Ank Kumar (CC BY SA), vía commons
James Petts from London, England (CC BY SA), vía commons
James Petts from London, England (CC BY SA), vía commons
James Petts from London, England (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1961
Convair 990 Coronado
The Convair 990 Coronado was the last jet airliner designed and built by Convair, the San Diego division of General Dynamics, and the fastest four-engined passenger jet of its generation. It grew out of a specific request from American…
more…
Foto: 4300streetcar (CC BY 4.0)
MarcelX42 (CC BY SA), vía commons
Sergey Kustov (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Airliner · 1969
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 was history's first wide-body airliner and, for half a century, the very symbol of intercontinental flight. Nicknamed the "Jumbo", its partial double-deck silhouette made it the most recognisable aircraft ever built:…
more…
Marcualico (CC BY SA), vía commons
Björn Strey (CC BY SA), vía commons
Sofiacreimer (CC BY SA), vía commons
Tomás Del Coro from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1969
Fairchild Metroliner
The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner brought the regional market a pressurised 19-seat twin grown out of the Swearingen Merlin business aircraft. It flew on 26 August 1969, entered service in 1972, and its long, narrow fuselage became a…
more…
Flox Papa (CC BY), vía commons
Aeroprints.com (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airwolfhound from Hertfordshire, UK (CC BY SA), vía commons
Aeroprints.com (CC BY SA), vía commons
Aeroprints.com (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1982
Beechcraft 1900
The Beechcraft 1900 is the 19-seat regional turboprop with which Beechcraft took the King Air family into scheduled airline work. It flew on 3 September 1982 and was built until October 2002, with 695 aircraft delivered.
more…
Cory W. Watts from Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America (CC BY SA), vía commons
Aeroprints.com (CC BY SA), vía commons
AVA Navigate (CC BY SA), vía commons
Acroterion (CC BY SA), vía commons
John Robert McPherson (CC BY SA), vía commons
Airliner · 1998
Boeing 717
The Boeing 717 is an American five-abreast narrow-body airliner with two rear-mounted engines, conceived for the 100-seat market. It originated inside McDonnell Douglas in the early 1990s as the MD-95, a shortened derivative of the MD-80…
more…