Aircraft

All flying machines are types of aircraft. Balloons and airships stay airborne because they are filled with lighter-than-air gas. Aeroplanes and helicopters are heavier-than-air...

Aircraft A-Z

How a plane flies

How does a heavy aeroplane fly through the air? It relies on its engines to drive it forward at speed and its wings to provide lift. To steer, the aeroplane's control surfaces...

Jet engine

All jets work in the same way: hot, compressed air is expelled from the back of the engine, driving it forwards. There are several kinds of jet engine, including turbojets...

Jet engine A-Z

Piston engine

Until the invention of jet engines in the 1930s, planes were powered by piston engines turning propellers. Nowadays, usually only light aircraft have piston engines. The kind of...

Story of flight

The first manned flight took place in 1783 in a hot-air balloon. It took another 120 years before the Wright brothers made the first controlled, powered flight in an aeroplane...

Historic aeroplanes

The first aeroplanes were built for individuals to achieve fame and fortune, but it was not long before people began to realise what a formidable weapon of war the aeroplane might...

Historic airships

Balloons, invented in the late 18th century, used hot air to raise them aloft but lacked any means of steering. Changing the gas-bag to a cigar-shape design, fitting a rudder and...

History of aircraft A-Z

Airliners

An airliner is a large aeroplane that transports passengers from one airport to another. It is designed to fly long distances without refuelling. An airliner’s engines, usually...

Boeing 747 jumbo jet

The Boeing 747 is one of the world’s largest airliners, also known as the “Jumbo Jet”. It can carry up to 568 passengers, but normally carries 467 in first, business and...

Aircraft record-holders

The first aircraft to fly faster than sound in level flight was the rocket-powered aeroplane, Bell X-1, nicknamed "Glamorous Glennis". On 14th October 1947 Chuck Yeager...

Helicopters

A helicopter flies with a rotary wing (which spins round) instead of a fixed wing. The rotor blades are shaped like long, thin wings. They rotate very quickly. The main rotor...

Story of helicopters

The way in which a helicopter flies has been understood for many centuries. A flying top, invented by the Chinese around 500 BC, was a small propeller that flew upwards when the...

Airports

An airport is a place where airliners and other passenger aircraft take off and land. It includes at least one runway along with a terminal building, control tower and aircraft...