Ten War Planes That Redefined Flight

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Anything can fly as long as you put a big enough engine in it, but these ten planes did much more. Like reinventing aviation.


10.) Fokker DR.I

Fokker thought using thicker wings on their triplane and getting rid of the cables connecting them would kick ass during World War One. Then came the Red Baron to prove how right they were.

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9.) Boeing B-29 Superfortress

Pressurization, remote gun turrets, tricycle landing gear. It defined the idea of a modern bomber. One called Enola Gay also changed the world.

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8.) Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk

After its first flight in 1981, you had to have stealth.

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7.) Fokker Eindecker

This plane introduced the synchronization gear, meaning it could fire its gun without the bullets hitting the propeller blades. It was kind of a big deal.

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6.) General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark

The first to use terrain-following radar, afterburner engines and variable-sweep wings. Also, its fuel dump meant plane-b-que!

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5.) De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito

Nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", the Mosquito was built using a revolutionary (and necessary) wooden composite and could fly extremely low, making precision bombing possible at the end of WW2. They were also used as spy planes, since they were the fastest aircraft the Allies had until the arrival of the P-51 Mustang.

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4.) Hawker Siddeley Harrier

Vertical takeoff and landing in 1967. Boom!

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3.) North American F-100 Super Sabre

This was the first plane designed specifically for supersonic operations. It debuted in the early fifties, and it delivered big time.

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2.) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

Technically, the Nazis started the jet age by their successful but late-to-the-War Messerschmitt Me 262 project. In 1947, however, the Soviets defined the field with the MiG-15. More than 18,000 of these fighters were built.

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1.) General Atomics MQ-1 Predator

The plane that defined the drone age in which we now live. See those guys sitting in a little room of controls? Yep, that's how we fly above enemy territory nowadays.

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Welcome back to Answers of the Day - our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!

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