On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright changed history. That morning, Orville flew the Wright Flyer, their fragile wood and fabric airplane, over the seaside beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Although it flew for only twelve seconds, the Wright Flyer had achieved the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air machine. Also on that historic day, Orville and Wilbur Wright made three more flights. The longest lasted fifty-seven seconds and covered a distance of 852 feet. Ever since, designers and engineers have tried to improve the capability and performance of aircraft to make them fly faster, farther and higher.
Soon, military commanders realized that enemy field positions could be readily observed from an airplane.
The Wright Flyer takes flight at Kitty Hawk.
In 1909, the Wright brothers supplied the United States Army with an improved version of the Wright Flyer to be used for reconnaissance. Many European countries like France, Germany and Britain developed their own airplanes for reconnaissance as well.
When World War I started in 1914, airplanes were immediately pressed into service by both sides in order to observe enemy positions. Ironically, no one considered what to do when two opposing enemy planes encountered each other. However, with the increasing number of airplanes being used to spy, eventually the issue would come to a head. At first, pilots carried hand guns and rifles in order to shoot at each other. As the war progressed, machine guns were fastened to the airplanes so that the pilot could better fly and shoot at the same time. From this humble beginning, the combat fighter plane was born.
Although still made of wood, wire and fabric, the biplanes (two wings) and triplanes (three wings) of World War I were remarkable improvements over the airplanes built just ten years earlier. Using the most powerful engines available (150-200 horsepower), the new fighter planes could carry machine guns as well as a few small bombs. Although primitive by todays standards, these planes represented leading edge technology at the time and they changed the face of the war forever.
World War I German "Albatross".
After World War I, the excitement of international airplane racing contests fueled the need for further advancement in aircraft. As bigger engines resulted in increased speed, so did the need for greater aerodynamic design and stronger materials. Wood and fabric bodies with wings held by wires couldn't withstand the force and stress encountered when engines producing over 1000 horsepower hurled planes faster than 300 miles per hour. Sadly, many racing pilots crashed when the wings or tails tore off their airplanes at high speeds. High speed flight required streamline single wing planes built with metal frames, fitted with metal skin. As racing demanded pilots to fly faster, the newer single wing metal planes became standard. By the end of 1935, even the most advanced wood and fabric biplanes had become obsolete.
At the onset of World War II, the German Luftwaffe was by far the most superior air force in the world. German technical improvements in aircraft design, much of it learned from airplane racing competition, resulted in the development of single wing fighter planes that could reach speeds greater than 350 miles per hour. When the Luftwaffe lead the German forces into Poland in 1939, the older biplanes flown by the Polish Air Force were no match for the speed and power of the new sleek German fighter planes. In time, the French and Belgium Air Forces, also flying outdated aircraft, would learn the same costly lesson.
Wary of the remarkable aircraft advancements being made by the Germans throughout the 1930s, British airplane designers continued their research and tested new aircraft designs. In 1935, the British manufacturer Hawker developed a rugged single wing fighter utilizing the 1030 horsepower Merlin engine that could fly faster than 300 miles per hour. To make it more resistant to the stress of this speed, metal skin was used on the wings and front of the plane. A left over from the previous generation of aircraft, the back of the fuselage however, still utilized fabric stretched over an aluminum frame. The fighter was called the Hawker "Hurricane".
Another British aircraft company, Supermarine, developed what would become known as one of the finest fighter planes ever designed. In 1936, the first Supermarine "Spitfire" prototype was flown by the RAF. The Spitfire utilized a radical elliptical wing design and a more powerful engine to give it superior flight performance.
By the spring of 1940, England raced to fill squadrons with new Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes in preparation of war. Only by the thinnest of margins were enough Hurricanes and Spitfires produced for the pilots of the RAF to save England from defeat at the hands of the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.
Although designers hurried to create faster more powerful fighters during the war, it took years to design and produce new types of planes. As a result, the existing designs were constantly updated and improved to provide even the slightest edge over the enemy. Larger engines, and modifications in wing design were often quickly made to increase the speed and effectiveness of existing aircraft on both sides.
Unfortunately, limitations in the basic design of aircraft are encountered at some point. The Hawker Hurricane, eventually could not be improved upon any further and was all but retired by the end of 1943. However, the more advanced aerodynamic design of the Supermarine Spitfire allowed it to continue in service throughout the duration of the war. By 1945, the Spitfire design had been modified over twenty times to improve the original fighter plane.
However, by the end of the war, a revolution in aircraft design occurred. Development of the jet engine promised to propel fighter planes faster than any piston engine could. The age of the jet fighter plane was born. After 1945, the piston engine, propeller driven airplane would begin to fade from the rolls of combat fighters. Jet fighters could fly faster, farther and higher than anything ever created before.