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Fighter aircraft


 

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. Fighters are comparatively small, fast, and highly maneuverable, and have been fitted with increasingly sophisticated tracking and weapons systems to intercept and attack other aircraft.

Historical overview

1914-1918

Although aircraft have been used in the Italo-Turkish War, actual aerial combat first appeared in World War I.

Related Topics:
Italo-Turkish War - World War I

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1919-1938

During the interwar period fighter design evolved from the fabric and wood bi-planes of the Great War into metal-skinned monoplanes with enclosed cockpits and retractable landing gear.

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In the last few years leading up to the Second World War, the fighters that would become famous during the Battle of Britain were developed - the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109. The latter would be tested in the Spanish Civil War.

Related Topics:
Supermarine Spitfire - Hawker Hurricane - Messerschmitt Bf 109 - Spanish Civil War

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Biplanes

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1939-1945

Fighter aircraft of the second world war featured all the innovations of the 1930s. Piston-engined fighters continued to be refined and developed with increasing performance and capabilities, up until the advent of jet aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Me 262 and Gloster Meteor.

Related Topics:
Jet aircraft - Messerschmitt Me 262 - Gloster Meteor

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Many of these fighters would do over 400 mph (600 km/h) in level flight, and were fast enough in a dive that they started encountering the transonic buffeting experienced near Mach 1, occasionally breaking up in flight due to the heavy load placed on an aircraft near the so-called "sound barrier". Dive brakes were developed late in WW II to minimize these problems and restore control to the pilots.

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1945-1952

The first generation of production jet fighter planes had performance problems near sonic speed (similar to that of the latest piston engined fighters) until aeronautical engineer Richard Whitcomb discovered the "area rule" in 1952. Subsequent designs featured a "Coke bottle-shaped" fuselage that improved performance. This would be an important distinction between early jet fighters (F-86, etc.) and later ones, like the F-5. A notable example of the importance of area rule is the Convair F-102(mentioned below). The prototype YF-102A had poor performance and was unable to achieve supersonic speeds in level flight. However, the production F-102 performed better, once the fuselage was redesigned with area rule in mind.

Related Topics:
Area rule - F-102 - Supersonic

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1953-1967

During this era, high-performance supersonic fighters became the norm. Specialized fighter designs were still common, ranging from fighter-bombers such as the F-105 and the Sukhoi Su-7 to interceptors such as the English Electric Lightning and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25.

Related Topics:
Supersonic - Fighter-bomber - F-105 - Sukhoi Su-7 - English Electric Lightning - Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

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Interceptor aircraft often sacrificed agility and payload in favor of speed and rate of climb. Since guided missiles were seen to be the wave of the future, many fighters of this period lacked gun amament and the manouverability needed to dogfight.

Related Topics:
Rate of climb - Guided missiles - Dogfight

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1967-Present

When dedicated designs showed deficiencies in the late 1960s, most fighters designed since then were conceived with versatility in mind. New technology such as swing-wings and more powerful engines enabled airframes to be designed with more flexibility. Fighters such as the MiG-23 and Panavia Tornado have versions specially suited for various roles, while the latest multirole warplanes including the F/A-18 Hornet and Dassault Mirage 2000 are just as suited for ground attack as they are for aerial combat.

Related Topics:
Swing-wing - MiG-23 - Panavia Tornado - F/A-18 Hornet - Dassault Mirage 2000

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Unlike interceptors of the previous generation, most modern air-superiority fighters have been designed to be agile dog-fighters. Fly-by-wire controls and relaxed stability is common among modern fighters.

Related Topics:
Fly-by-wire - Relaxed stability

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Recently Introduced, Experimental and Proposed Future Designs

The current cutting edge of fighter design combines proven versatility with new developments such as glass cockpits, thrust vectoring, composite materials, supercruise, and stealth technology. To date, none of these fighters have been tested in combat.

Related Topics:
Glass cockpit - Thrust vectoring - Composite materials - Supercruise - Stealth technology

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◄ Fighter aircraft: Introduction
Fighter aircraft: External links ►

~ Table of Content ~

►Introduction
►Historical overview
►External links

 

 

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