Fixed-wing aircraft

A fixed-wing aircraft is a type of heavier-than-air craft—like an airplane—that flies by generating aerodynamic lift. It differs from rotary-wing aircraft, which use a spinning rotor for lift, and ornithopters, which flap their wings. The wings themselves don’t have to be rigid; kites, hang gliders, variable-sweep wing planes, and aircraft with morphing wings all fall under this category. These craft can be unpowered gliders (including free-flying gliders and tethered kites) that use moving air to rise, or powered versions (like airplanes, powered paragliders, powered hang gliders, and ground effect vehicles) that get forward thrust from an engine. Most are flown by a pilot, though some are remotely controlled or fully autonomous.

Kites first appeared around 2,800 years ago in China, where materials for building them were available. Leaf kites may have been flown even earlier in what is now Sulawesi, based on cave paintings on nearby Muna Island. By 549 AD, paper kites were in use—that year, one was used to send a message during a rescue mission. Ancient and medieval Chinese sources describe kites being used for measuring distances, testing wind, lifting people, signaling, and military communication. Marco Polo brought stories of kites to Europe in the late 13th century, and sailors from Japan and Malaysia introduced actual kites in the 16th and 17th centuries. Initially seen as curiosities, kites were used for scientific research by the 18th and 19th centuries.

Around 400 BC in Greece, Archytas is said to have built the first self-propelled flying device—a bird-shaped machine propelled by a jet of steam that reportedly flew about 200 meters. It may have been suspended during flight. One of the earliest glider attempts was by 11th-century monk Eilmer of Malmesbury, which failed. A 17th-century account claims 9th-century poet Abbas Ibn Firnas made a similar attempt, but no earlier sources confirm this. In 1799, Sir George Cayley outlined the modern airplane concept: a fixed-wing machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control. He built and flew fixed-wing models by 1803 and created a successful passenger-carrying glider in 1853. In 1856, Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris made the first powered flight by towing his glider *L’Albatros artificiel* behind a horse on a beach. In 1884, American John J. Montgomery made controlled glider flights as part of a series he built between 1883 and 1886. Other aviators making similar flights at the time included Otto Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher, and protégés of Octave Chanute. In the 1890s, Lawrence Hargrave studied wing structures and developed a box kite that could lift a person; his designs were widely adopted. He also created a type of rotary aircraft engine but never built a powered fixed-wing aircraft.

Sir Hiram Maxim built a 3.5-ton craft with a 110-foot wingspan, powered by two 360-horsepower steam engines driving two propellers. In 1894, it was tested with overhead rails to prevent it from rising. The test showed it had enough lift to take off, but the craft was uncontrollable, and Maxim abandoned the project. The Wright brothers’ flights in 1903 with their *Flyer I* are recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as the first sustained, controlled, heavier-than-air powered flight. By 1905, the *Wright Flyer III* could fly stable, fully controllable flights for long periods. In 1906, Brazilian inventor Alberto Santos Dumont designed, built, and piloted the *14-bis*, which set the first world record recognized by the Aéro-Club de France by flying 220 meters in under 22 seconds; the FAI certified the flight. The Blériot VIII design of 1908 was an early aircraft with the modern monoplane tractor configuration, featuring movable tail surfaces for yaw and pitch control, roll control via wing warping or ailerons, and a joystick and rudder bar for the pilot. It was a key predecessor to his later Blériot XI, which crossed the English Channel in summer 1909.

World War I marked the start of using aircraft as weapons and observation platforms. The first known aerial victory by a fighter with a synchronized machine gun occurred in 1915, flown by German Lieutenant Kurt Wintgens. Fighter aces emerged, with Manfred von Richthofen achieving the most victories. In 1919, Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight, and the first commercial flights began between the United States and Canada that same year. The interwar period, often called the Golden Age of Aviation, saw updates of earlier breakthroughs. Innovations included Hugo Junkers’ all-metal airframes from 1915, leading to multi-engine aircraft with wingspans over 60 meters by the early 1930s; the adoption of air-cooled radial engines alongside liquid-cooled V-12 engines; and increasingly long flights—such as a Vickers Vimy in 1919, followed by the U.S. Navy’s NC-4 transatlantic flight, and culminating in Charles Lindbergh’s solo transatlantic flight in May 1927 aboard the *Spirit of St. Louis*, which spurred even longer attempts. During World War II, aircraft were central to major battles.