History's Most Important Planes?

[Nopax,thanx]

I'm indebted to 'Touchdown News' for this item;

Smithsonian's List of History's Most Important Planes Misses a Few

Here's the list they ultimately decided on...
Wright 1905
– A modified version of their original design, Wilbur Wright flew this plane
24.5 miles in just under an hour, making it what Air & Space calls "the world's first practical airplane."

Junkers F13
– The first civilian plane with an all light metal internal skeletal frame, the F13 was first to "anticipate the onset of modern air transport,"
according to NASM fellow Dick Hallion.

Boeing 314
– Tricked out with lounges, dining rooms, and chefs, Pan Am's 314 Clipper taught a generation that commercial flight could be glamorous, even opulent.

The Enola Gay
– Infamous for dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, this B-29 was the first nuclear capable aircraft, and the first with a pressurized cockpit.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 15
– The Soviet's answer to the B-29 bomber, this Korean-era fighter plane put the world on notice that the Soviet Union was a force to be reckoned with in the skies.

Sikorsky S-55
– During this Korean War this helicopter saved the lives of over 10,000 US soldiers, and forever changed perceptions of what a military copter could accomplish.

Cessna 172
–The most successful mass-produced light aircraft ever, the 172's saw its proudest day in 1987, when a bold West German landed on in the heart of Moscow's Red Square.

Learjet 23
– The granddaddy of private planes, the 12,499-pound Learjet 23 and popularized the idea of on demand aviation. Which makes Bill Lear a hero to executives everywhere.

Boeing 747
– Since 1970, 96 airlines have used 747s to crisscross the globe, flying 3.5 billion businesspeople and vacationers to destinations near and far.

General Atomics MQ-1 Predator – Call it an unmanned aerial vehicle or a flying robot, the MQ-1 was the first unmanned vehicle to kill a human, and in the process changed warfare forever.
Photo by US Library of Congress.


Edit: We have said many times that we do not allow blogs.

[treadigraph]

I'll bite!

Wright Flyer - others (imitators?) notwithstanding , officially it's number one.

SE5. Arbitrary I'll admit, but machines like this made the aeroplane significant.

Gipsy Moth. Arbitrary again, but a light aeroplane that brought flying to the masses and achieved some records. Americans can substitute the Jenny. Or the Cub.

DC-3. I'd suggest the true progenitor of modern air transport

Spitfire or Mustang. Need I say more?

Comet. Take a DC-3 and add jets. Good enough for me.

B-52. The aeroplane that made bombing really scary. B-29 is a noble predecessor, but the B-52 has legs and longevity.

SR-71. Takes the Spitfire or Mustang mystique to a whole new level - and speed!

Concorde. A glimpse of what might have been.

Sukhoi 26. Not a true first, but an aeroplane that really threw away aerodynamics and substituted brute force in a different way.

That's my 10 with very little thought - what about yours?

[fdcg27]

1. Wright Flyer (well, duh!)
2. B247,DC1,DC2,DC3. I group these, since the corporate realtionships of Boeing at the time allowed Douglas into the game, with the DC1 prototype leading to the DC2, leading to the DC3 (DST). These, as a group, were the first modern airliners, and WWII resulted in huge production of the DC3, many of which still fly today, although the last new frame was delivered in 1946.
3. Lockheed Contellation/Douglas DC6 and DC7. I group these because they were the ultimate piston airliners. Boeing's contemporary offering was pretty useless.
4. Cessna 172 and 182. The 172 was (is) Everyman's airplane, and the 182 was (is) a larger, faster, higher gross weight variation on that theme. Both are in production today, and both can be seen at any GA airport in the world.
5. Boeing 707. Boeings first sucessful airliner, and the first really practical jet transport. Some civil 707s still fly, after fifty years from EIS.
6. Boeing 737. The 727 had a relatively short life, although some still fly freight and pax. The 737 has been evergreen (the NG would not exist were it not for the first 731), and as some are fond of saying, Boeing has sold more 737 aircraft than Airbus has sold aircraft.
7. Boeing 747. Nothing more need be said.
8. Concorde. An airplane that operated with a combination of farther, faster, higher, at higher payloads, than any other airplane ever built, and made money doing so. And all this on early 'sixties technology.
9. Airbus A300. The first big twin, and the first Airbus. Still operated sucessfully for both frieght and pax.
10. Airbus A320 (family). The French 737. Made Airbus the potent competitor it is today. Flown everywhere, and everyone has flown in one.

[MReyn24050]

I will go along with treadigraph, with the exception of replacing the Sukhoi 26 with the Harrier which demonstrated that engines were not just there for propelling the aircraft through the air forwards but could support the aircraft in the hover and in what ever direction the pilot wished.

[windriver]

The Topic is Most Important rather than commercially successful .

As Treadigraph says the Comet should be on that list.... and arguably the Avro 504 & ME 262.

[barit1]

- that broke the mold, and showed the public what could be accomplished:

1905 Wright Flyer - first publicly demonstrated heavier-than-air fully controllable aircraft

Several WWI aircraft - military significance

Ryan NYP - Nonstop mainland US to mainland Europe

Stuka - Blitzkrieg weapon

Hurricane/Spitfire - BoB

B-17/P-51 - long-range bombardment w/ escort protection

C-54 - Berlin airlift (mass airlift)

Comet - commercial jet

747 - Air travel for everyone

Concorde - commercial SST

NOTE: many of those mentioned in earlier posts are faster, more efficient, greater production runs - but didn't make the public stop and think like my candidates.

[ICT_SLB]

Wright Flyer (although Glenn Curtiss gets my vote for real practicality)

Fokker Eindekker/Morane Saulnier (first "point airframe at target" fighters)

Gotha R-planes (first sustained heavier-than-air assault on civilian targets - so effective that it altered British government thinking well into WWII)
just about a tie with:
Vickers Vimy (first transatlantic flight and first mass evacuation by air of an entire civilian population - Kabul 1924)

The Schneider Trophy winning seaplanes - aerodynamics, powerplants, fuels

Me 262 (first jet fighter)

Vickers Viscount (first practical turbine transport)

X-15 (vehicle that produced the first astronauts)

Later posts seem to have added an economic/ops bias so I guess I should add my favourite bird:

Canadair CL-601R RJ-200 Regional Jet - in the US spawned a complete new industry (the Regionals) and in Europe brought CAT IIIa ops to much smaller destinations with the FlightDynamics HGS.

[WHBM]

The initial list seems to be biased to putting an "American History class" slant on things. What a thin reason for choosing the MiG. They also seem to have gone for one from each aviation sector (eg one commercial jet, one business jet, one light aircraft, etc, rather than history's most important.

So I will put in :

Wright Flyer
DC3
Spitfire
Bell 47
Boeing 707
Boeing 737
Concorde
Space Shuttle

[beamer]

Sopwith Camel
SE5A
Spitfire
Lancaster
Viscount
Comet
Concorde

Oops - nothing from the good ole USA - shame............................

[411A]

If we look at commercial airliners, the following are quite notable.

From America.

DC-3
The first true practical airliner, that could (reliably) make a profit, for airlines, in all weather conditions.

Douglas DC-6/7
Lockheed Constellation

Grouped together, these represented the pinnacle of 4-engine piston transport.
The 1049G/H and the DC-7C were the first two true non-stop North Atlantic (both directions) airliners.
Further, only one of these various types was the most economical to operate, per seat/mile...the DC-6B. No other piston airliner could top this very remarkable design, for economy of operation.

Boeing 707.
The first swept-wing jet airliner, and a forerunner of all future Boeing designs.

From Britian.

Vickers Viscount.
Lets face facts here.
The Brits did it first, with turbine-powered airliners, and the Viscount was first, and could make a tidy profit for its operators.

deHavilland Comet.
The first jet airliner, which developed into quite a successful (and profitable) airplane.

HS.121 Trident.
Yep, the British were first here, as well, with the Tridents very accurate/reliable autoland capability.
Quite a remarkable achievement.

France.

SUD Aviation Caravelle.
The first true twin-jet airliner, that also provided a tidy profit for its operators.

[Jackneville]

Mmmm.....Historically Important , well the Events of the 1940's sure would have been different without the Avro Lancaster and the Boeing B-17.

[India Four Two]

I would include the Akaflieg Stuttgart FS-24 (Phönix), the first fibreglass glider. 40:1 L/D in 1957.

[evansb]

Otto Lilienthal's 1895 glider.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/convair640/Lilenthal_1895.jpg