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 maneuverable. They were developed in response to the fledgling use of aircraft and dirigibles in World War I for reconnaissance and ground attack roles. These early fighters were mostly wooden biplanes with light machine guns. As aerial warfare became increasingly important, so did control of the airspace. By World War II, fighters were predominantly metal monoplanes with wing-mounted cannon. Following the war, turbojets replaced piston engines as the means of propulsion, and missiles augmented or replaced guns. For historical purposes, jet fighters are classified by generation. The generation terminology was initiated by Russian defense parlance in referring to the F-35 Lightning II as a "fifth generation" plane. Years are not exact and intended as a guideline. Modern jet fighters are predominantly powered by one or two turbofan engines, armed primarily with missiles, and equipped with a radar as the primary method of target acquisition.

Prop-powered fighters

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World War I

Combat between aircraft has its origins in encounters between opposing scout aircraft early in World War I. Since early scout aircraft were unarmed, early encounters between opposing scouts were peaceful—pilots would often wave to one another as they passed by. Crafty pilots attempted to shoot down their counterparts in a manner of amateur ways, including grappling hooks, small arms, and grenades. As militaries realized the importance of aerial reconnaissance by aircraft and dirigibles, they also realized the importance of arming aircraft to destroy enemy scouts. One early solution was to mount a swiveling machine gun for the backseater or a forward-facing machine gun on the top wing to clear the propeller. Neither was particularly useful for a single seater, the latter being difficult to aim and reload. The central obstacle was firing a machine gun through the arc of the propeller without hitting the blades. French aviator Roland Garros's solution was to fit deflector plates to his propellers where the machinegun would strike. This was an imperfect solution as the plates could not withstand repeated fire. A copy eventually ended up in German hands after a prototype crashed in German territory. Inspired by this, Anthony Fokker's team invented the more reliable interrupter gear, which enabled the widespread design of single-seat fighters.

Notable aircraft:

• Vickers F.B.5 -One of the first purpose-built fighter aircraft.
• Nieuport
• Rumpler Taube
• Fokker: Fokker Dr.I, Fokker D.VII
• S.P.A.D., or "Spad"
• Sopwith Camel
• RAE SE5a
• Albatros

More on [ Fighter aircraft ]

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