The Supermarine Spitfire was one of the best fighter planes of World War II
Contents Battle Machines Fighter Planes First Fighters World War I Advances Battle of Britain Fighters P-51 Mustang First Jet Fighters Stealthy Machines At the Controls Targeting Weapons Attack Helicopters F-35 Fighter Timeline Fact File Glossary Index 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 29 30 32
BATTLE MACHINES FIGHTER PLANES Modern fi ghter planes are superfast superloud and supercomplex battle machines crammed with clever technology Fighter planes battle each other to control the air because air superiority gives one side a big advantage in a confl ict Most modern fi ghters also have other roles such as attacking enemy forces on the ground Fighter Types These days the term fighter can mean several different kinds of planes which complete different missions Many planes can be changed to do different jobs Air superiority fighter A fighter designed to fight enemy aircraft and gain control of the air Strike fighter A fighter that also attacks ground targets Multirole combat aircraft A fighter that performs various roles including air-to-air combat Old and New Two types of aircraft here show how the technology of fighters has changed over the last one hundred years Above right is a Sopwith Triplane from World War I 1914 1918 the first war to feature fighter planes Below left and right is a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor a modern fighter Its structure engine controls and weapons would be unrecognizable to a Sopwith Triplane pilot F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is a state of-the-art air superiority fighter It is fast agile and stealthy with air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons 6
Sopwith Triplane The Sopwith had only one seat and three sets of wings It was a favorite among pilots for its ability to move quickly and smoothly 7
