Fighter planes went from fabric biplanes to stealth jets in a century
The first fighters were wooden frames wrapped in fabric that topped out near 160 kilometres an hour. Today's fighters are bigger and heavier than Second World War medium bombers, and designers deliberately limit top speeds, because beyond about Mach 2 an aircraft cannot manoeuvre well enough to dodge an attack.
A fighter's job is air superiority: controlling the sky over a battle so friendly bombers can work and enemy ones cannot. Since the First World War that control has been treated as essential to winning a conventional war. Success depends on pilot skill, sound tactics and the number and quality of aircraft. In that first war most fighters were biplanes, though the German Albatros used a plywood shell for extra strength and speed, and between the wars metal tubing and then stressed aluminium skins took over.
By the Second World War typical fighters were all-metal monoplanes carrying batteries of machine guns or cannon, some approaching 640 kilometres an hour. Twin-engine fighters proved no match for single-engine rivals and were switched to jobs such as radar-equipped night fighting. Late in the war jet engines began replacing pistons, and because turbojets were so much lighter, a second engine stopped being a burden. Faster aircraft demanded ejection seats for escape and G-suits to protect pilots from the forces of hard turns.
Wings grew thinner and swept back to cut drag near the speed of sound, and skins were milled from solid alloy slabs rather than riveted sheet. Radar-guided missiles arrived in the 1950s, letting pilots engage from any angle, at longer range and in bad weather. By the early 1960s many assumed guns were obsolete at such speeds, but combat over Vietnam proved otherwise, and most later fighters carry a 20 to 30 millimetre cannon alongside missiles.
Turbofans replaced turbojets in the 1970s, saving enough fuel to make multi-role combat jets practical, while honeycomb structures and the first composite parts appeared. As computerised defences improved, the United States, Russia, India and China pursued stealth, burying engines, removing sharp corners, angling reflections away from enemy radar and applying radar-absorbing coatings. Composites now form major structural parts, helping offset ever-rising weight.
Source: Fighter aircraft
