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…
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…
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German single-seat monoplane fighter laid out in the mid-1930s by the team of Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser at Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, the company whose initials gave the aircraft its «Bf» prefix. It…
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was an American four-engined heavy bomber designed in the mid-1930s for the United States Army Air Corps. Fast for its size, able to work at high altitude and bristling with defensive guns at the expense of…
The Supermarine Spitfire is the British single-seat fighter with which the Royal Air Force fought the Second World War from beginning to end, and the aeroplane in which Britain invests its memory of 1940. It was designed by R. J. Mitchell…
The Short Empire was a four-engined monoplane flying boat developed by Short Brothers in the 1930s for Britain's imperial routes, carrying passengers and mail across two decks. Imperial Airways, BOAC, Qantas and TEAL operated it until…
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger — "shrike", the bird that impales its prey — was the Luftwaffe's second great single-seat fighter and, in the judgement of many who flew it, the finest German combat aircraft of the Second World War. It was…
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is the most heavily produced heavy bomber in history and, at the same time, the American four-engined bomber of the Second World War that occupies the least space in popular memory. It was born out of a job…