Five of the most unusual aircraft. Types of aircraft. Aircraft classification

Even in ancient times, people dreamed of taking to the air and learning to fly like birds. History has brought to us a lot of evidence of various people’s attempts to make wings and fly. So, in 1020, the English monk Aylmer from Malmesbury, inspired by the Greek myth of Icarus, made artificial wings and jumped from the tower of the local abbey. Having flown a short distance, the monk broke his legs upon landing and wanted to, by improving the design and adding a tail, repeat the flight, but the abbot forbade him to do so. Most of the “inventors” ended up much worse - they crashed to death. And yet, what is the history of aircraft and when did the first successful devices appear that allowed people to take to the air?

The history of flights begins in ancient China. Back in the 3rd-4th centuries BC. e. The Chinese invented the kite. Initially, this device was used to entertain people on various holidays.

Chinese dragon shaped kite

However, kites soon found other uses. For example, fishermen began to use kites to catch fish by tying bait to them; kites were used to exchange signals over long distances; they were even used to deliver messages and scatter leaflets. Of course, the Chinese were also struck by the idea that a large kite could lift a person into the air. Flying a kite was quite risky, but history has preserved evidence of successful flights. The first written mention of such a flight that has come down to us dates back to 559. This year, the cruel Emperor Qi Wenxuandi ordered the launch of his political opponents, condemned to execution, on large kites. One of them managed to fly several kilometers and land safely outside the city.

It is surprising that thousands of years passed before flying hang gliders, i.e., essentially the same simple aircraft without an engine as the Chinese kite, became popular and widespread. One of the enthusiasts of such flights was Otto Lilienthal, who made it at the end of the 19th century. more than 2000 successful flights on gliders of our own design. He used the same materials as the Chinese - wooden rods and silk.

photo - Lilienthal's flights

Unfortunately, one of the flights ended in an accident - a gust of wind overturned the glider and Lilienthal fell, breaking his spine. “Victims are inevitable,” he said about this. But the modern history of hang gliding began only in the 70s of the 20th century. The date of birth of the modern hang glider is considered to be 1971.

Before the advent of airplanes and helicopters, the easiest way to fly was to use lighter-than-air aircraft - balloons and airships. Interestingly, history here again takes us to China. Probably back in the 3rd century. BC e. Aerial lanterns were invented in China. This lantern is a simple rice paper design with a small burner inside.

chinese air lanterns

The Chinese used sky lanterns in ceremonies and as a means of signaling. Thousands of years passed before people started flying in balloons.

The Montgolfier brothers from France are considered the inventors of the hot air balloon. The brothers were guided by not entirely correct ideas - they came up with the idea of ​​​​making an analogue of a cloud and placing it in a bag so that it could lift this bag into the air. For this purpose, they filled their balloons with smoke from burning a mixture of straw and wet wool. However, their approach led to success. The brothers first experimented with small balloons at home, and then staged a large balloon demonstration for the residents of their city of Annone. This happened on June 4, 1783. Soon they learned about the balloon in Paris, and in the fall of the same year the Montgolfier brothers launched their balloons in Versailles. For the first time, they decided to launch passengers in a hot air balloon - they were a sheep, a duck and a rooster. Finally, making sure that a flight in a hot air balloon would not harm a person, on October 19, 1783, people made the first flight in a hot air balloon.

first hot air balloon flight

Balloons had a significant drawback - their flight depended on the direction of the wind, so during the 19th century. Attempts to create a controlled aircraft with an engine did not stop. We tried both options with installing the engine on a balloon, and with installing the engine on a glider. But despite the fact that the idea of ​​controlled flight was proposed shortly after the flight of the first hot air balloon, more than a hundred years passed before controlled flight became a reality. It was only in 1884 that the French Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs were able to build an airship that could move freely in any direction. Their airship had an elongated shape and was equipped with an electric motor powered by batteries.

airship of Renard and Krebs

Attempts to put an engine on a glider and thus invent an airplane did not lead to much success for a long time. Among such attempts was, for example, Mozhaisky’s plane. Mozhaisky, a rear admiral of the Russian fleet, began to invent an airplane back in the 50s of the 19th century. Starting with gliders that were lifted into the air by harnessed horses, Mozhaisky moved on to designing an aircraft with an engine. Unfortunately, the steam engines with which he tried to equip the plane were too heavy and could not keep it in the air, although there is evidence that Mozhaisky’s plane was able to take off for a short time.

Mozhaisky plane (model)

Mozhaisky spent all his money on inventive activities, sold his estate and eventually died of illness in poverty. Russian officials of that time were not interested in Mozhaisky’s ideas and did not finance his work; as a result, the American Wright brothers became the generally recognized inventors of the aircraft. They made their first confirmed flight in 1903, 13 years after Mozhaisky's death.

The first documented flight of an aircraft designed by the Wright brothers took place on December 17, 1903. In this case, the plane was launched using a rail catapult, and the distance it flew was only 30 meters.

first flight of the Wright brothers' airplane

The Wright brothers invented not only the airplane itself, but also a lightweight gasoline engine for it, which became a real breakthrough in aircraft construction. Nevertheless, time passed from the first flight to the active development of aviation. The following year, the Wright brothers, in the presence of journalists, were unable to repeat their success; the plane went into the hangar, and the inventors began constructing a new, more advanced model. The US Military Department was in no hurry to conclude a contract with the Wright brothers, doubting the ability of bicycle mechanics (this was the specialty of the inventors) to construct something worthwhile. In Europe, reports about the flights of the Wright brothers were generally considered a lie. It was only in 1908, after impressive demonstration flights carried out by the inventors both in the USA and in Europe, that opinion changed, and the Wright brothers became not only famous, but also rich.

In 1909, the Russian government finally realized the importance of inventions in the field of aviation. It refused to buy the Wright brothers' plane and decided to create its own plane on its own. The first Russian airplane was built and flown in 1910 by Professor Alexander Kudashev.

Hello!

I want to say right away that it is difficult to believe in this, almost impossible, the stereotype is to blame for everything, but I will try to present this clearly and justify it with specific tests.

My article is intended for people associated with aviation or those who are interested in aviation.

In 2000, an idea arose about the trajectory of a mechanical blade moving in a circle with a turn on its axis. As shown in Fig.1.

And so imagine, the blade (1), (flat rectangular plate, side view) rotating in a circle (3) rotates on its axis (2) in a certain dependence, by 2 degrees of rotation along the circle, 1 degree of rotation on its axis (2) . As a result, we have the trajectory of the blade (1) shown in Fig. 1. Now imagine that the blade is in a fluid, in air or water, with this movement the following happens: moving in one direction (5) around the circle, the blade has maximum resistance to the fluid, and moving in the other direction (4) around the circle, has minimal resistance to fluid.

This is the principle of operation of the propulsion device; all that remains is to invent a mechanism that executes the trajectory of the blade. This is what I did from 2000 to 2013. The mechanism was called VRK, which stands for rotating deployable wing. In this description, wing, blade, and plate have the same meaning.

I created my own workshop and started creating, tried different options, and around 2004-2005 I got the following result.

Rice. 2

Rice. 3

I made a simulator to test the lifting force of the lifting rocket (Fig. 2). The VRK is made of three blades, the blades along the inner perimeter have a stretched red raincoat fabric, the purpose of the simulator is to overcome the force of gravity of 4 kg. Fig.3. I attached the steelyard to the VRK shaft. Result Fig.4:

Rice. 4

The simulator easily lifted this load, there was a report on local television, State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Bira, these are stills from this report. Then I added speed and adjusted it to 7 kg, the machine also lifted this load, after that I tried to add more speed, but the mechanism could not stand it. Therefore, I can judge the experiment by this result, although it is not final, but in numbers it looks like this:

The clip shows a simulator for testing the lifting force of a lifting rocket. The horizontal structure is hinged on legs, with a rotary control valve installed on one side and a drive on the other. Drive – el. motor 0.75 kW, electric efficiency engine 0.75%, that is, in fact the engine produces 0.75 * 0.75 = 0.5625 kW, we know that 1 hp = 0.7355 kW.

Before turning on the simulator, I weigh the VRK shaft with a steelyard; the weight is 4 kg. This can be seen from the clip, after the report I changed the gear ratio, added speed and added weight, as a result the simulator lifted 7 kilograms, then when the weight and speed increased, it could not stand it. Let's return to the calculations after the fact, if 0.5625 kW lifts 7 kg, then 1 hp = 0.7355 kW will lift 0.7355 kW/0.5625 kW = 1.3 and 7 * 1.3 = 9.1 kg.

During testing, the VRK propulsion device showed a vertical lift force of 9.1 kg per horsepower. For example, a helicopter has half the lifting force. (I compare the technical characteristics of helicopters, where the maximum take-off weight per engine power is 3.5-4 kg/per 1 hp; for an airplane it is 8 kg/per 1 hp). I would like to note that this is not the final result; for testing, the lifting force must be made in the factory and on a stand with precision instruments to determine the lifting force.

The propeller propulsion system has the technical ability to change the direction of the driving force by 360 degrees, this allows for vertical take-off and switching to horizontal movement. In this article I do not dwell on this issue; this is set out in my patents.

Received 2 patents for VRK Fig.5, Fig.6, but today they are not valid for non-payment. But all the information for creating a VRK is not contained in patents.

Rice. 5

Rice. 6

Now the most difficult thing is that everyone has a stereotype about existing aircraft, these are airplanes and helicopters (I am not taking examples of jet-powered aircraft or rockets).

VRK - having advantages over the propeller such as higher driving force and a change in direction of movement by 360 degrees, allows you to create completely new aircraft for various purposes that will take off vertically from any site and smoothly transition to horizontal movement.

In terms of complexity of production, aircraft with a propeller-propelled rocket system are no more complicated than a car; the purpose of aircraft can be very different:

• Individual, put it on your back, and flew like a bird;
• Family type of transport, for 4-5 people, Fig. 7;
• Municipal transport: ambulance, police, administration, fire, Ministry of Emergency Situations, etc., Fig. 7;
• Airbuses for peripheral and intercity traffic, Fig. 8;
• An aircraft taking off vertically on a propeller rocket, switching to jet engines, Fig. 9;
• And any aircraft for all kinds of tasks.

Rice. 7

Rice. 8

Rice. 9

Their appearance and the principle of flight are difficult to perceive. In addition to aircraft, the propeller can be used as a propulsion device for swimming vehicles, but we do not touch on this topic here.

VRK is a whole area that I can’t cope with alone, I would like to hope that this area will be needed in Russia.

Having received the result in 2004-2005, I was inspired and hoped that I would quickly convey my thoughts to the specialists, but until this happened, all the years I have been making new versions of the propeller control system, using different kinematic schemes, but the test result was negative. In 2011, repeated the 2004-2005 version, el. I switched on the engine through an inverter, this ensured a smooth start of the VRK, however, the VRK mechanism was made from materials available to me according to a simplified version, so I can’t give the maximum load, I adjusted it to 2 kg.

I slowly raise the engine speed. engine, as a result the airborne rocket launcher exhibits a silent, smooth takeoff.

Full clip of the latest challenge:

On this optimistic note, I bid you farewell.

Sincerely, Kokhochev Anatoly Alekseevich.

Man has long dreamed of learning to fly like a bird, and flying machines are exactly what this desire and the scientific and technical vector of human development have led him to. Aircraft are a long branch of evolution and progress, starting with the first unsuccessful attempts to create a muscle plane (like the one with which Icarus failed) and ending with modern Boeings, fighters, bombers, spacecraft - everything that allows us to move, bypassing land and sea. Despite the seemingly unimaginably complex technology behind them, aircraft are for the most part considered a relatively safe and fast means of transportation. Only tragedies that claim the lives of several hundred people at once cause a special resonance. However, a person’s desire is the law, and it is safe to say that he has exceeded the plan to repeat the feat of the birds of this world.

Hybrid Air Vehicles, the company that built the Airlander 10 (the world's longest aircraft, also known as the "flying butt" for its resemblance to an ass), said its current prototype will not be rebuilt, but will build a new generation of flying airships. HAV has already received approval from the Civil Aviation Authority for a new series of aircraft planned for the early 2020s.

Most modern drones are designed to effectively move in only one or two directions. For example, the conventional placement of propellers at the top of an aircraft gives good lift, but only allows it to move in a position parallel to the ground, preventing it from “flipping”, which can be a big problem in strong wind conditions. A completely different approach is used in the Omnicopter drone, the propellers of which are located in such a way that the device can move equally effectively in any direction and, in fact, has neither a “top” nor a “bottom”.

Most of these aircraft are experimental models that never got off the ground. In today's selection you will find an overview of the most non-standard flying designs created at different times by aircraft developers from different countries.

NASA's M2-F1 design was nicknamed the "Flying Bathtub." It was supposed to be used as a capsule for landing astronauts. The first test flight took place on August 16, 1963. And in 1966 - the last one.

At NASA Air Force Base, two remote-controlled aircraft were tested from mid-1979 to January 1983. Compared to conventional fighters, they were significantly smaller in size, more maneuverable and could withstand greater overload.

Aircraft designers came up with the prototype of the McDonell Douglas X-36 aircraft only to verify the flight capabilities of tailless aircraft. Was developed in 1977. Remote control.

Ames AD-1 (Ames AD-1) is the world's first aircraft with an oblique wing. Experimental model from 1979. Its tests were carried out for about three years. After this, the plane was placed in the museum of the city of San Carlos.

The wings of the Boeing Vertol VZ-2 rotate. A distinctive feature from other similar aircraft is its ability to take off vertically and hover in the air. It was developed in 1957. After a series of successful tests that lasted three whole years, it was transferred to the NASA research center.

The heaviest and most load-lifting helicopter ever built in the world was developed by Soviet scientists - employees of the design bureau named after. M. L. Mil in 1969. It is capable of lifting a load weighing 40 tons to a height of 2250 meters. No one has yet managed to break this record.

The Avrocar is an aircraft developed in 1952 in Canada. Scientists worked on its creation for seven years, but the project was a failure. The maximum height to which the “plate” could rise did not exceed one and a half meters.

The Northrop XP-79B had two jet engines and a very strange appearance. According to the idea of ​​the American developers, the fighter was supposed to dive on enemy bombers and smash them, cutting off the tail section. But the first flight in 1945 ended in disaster. It happened fifteen minutes into the flight.

In 2007, the Boeing X-48 was voted the best invention in a Times poll. This is the result of joint cooperation between the American company Boeing and NASA. The first flight took place in the summer of 2007. The unmanned vehicle rose to a height of 2300 meters and landed safely after 31 minutes.

Another non-standard NASA development is the NASA Hyper III aircraft.

The legendary Vought V-173 aircraft, created by American engineer Charles Zimmerman, was often called the “Flying Pancake” for its unusual appearance. But, despite this, it had excellent flight properties. It was the Vought V-173 that became one of the first vertical/short takeoff and landing vehicles.

The HL-10 was used to study and test the ability to safely maneuver and land a low lift-to-drag vehicle after returning from space. Developed by NASA.

Su-47 "Berkut" is a carrier-based fighter designed in 1997 at the Design Bureau named after. Sukhoi (Russia). Composite materials were used to create it. A distinctive feature is the forward-swept wings. At the moment it is an experimental model.

The Grumman X-29 is the flagship 1984 project of Grumman Aerospace Corporation. It can be safely called a prototype of the Russian Su-47 Berkut. A total of two such fighters were assembled (special order from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).

The LTV XC-142 is capable of taking off vertically. He has swivel wings. Its first flight took place on September 29, 1964. In 1970, the project was frozen. Of the five aircraft built, only one has survived to date. It became part of the exhibition at the US Air Force Museum.

The experimental ekranoplane, developed in the design bureau of R. E. Alekseev, was officially called “Ship - Model” or abbreviated “KM”, but it was often called simply “Caspian Monster”. Its wing span was 37.6 m, length - 92 m, maximum take-off weight - 544 tons. Over the course of 15 years, numerous experimental flights were carried out, but in 1980, due to a pilot error, the giant crashed. Fortunately, there were no casualties. But there were no attempts to restore the CM.

The Super Guppy is nicknamed the "Air Whale" and is used by NASA to deliver large items to the ISS. The development belongs to Aero Spacelines.

A Douglas monoplane with a pointed nose is an experimental model. The first test flight took place in 1952.

This module, created in 1963, was part of the ambitious Apollo project. It was planned to be used for landing on the Moon. It had only one jet engine.

The Sikorsky S-72 first took to the skies on October 12, 1976. In 1987, the already modernized S-72 saw the light of day. But the project was soon closed due to insufficient funding.

Ryan X-13A-RY Vertijet was designed in 1950 in America. This is a vertical take-off and landing jet aircraft commissioned by the US Air Force.

Another module for landing on the Moon. Also was part of Project Apollo. Developed in 1964. Capable of performing vertical landing and takeoff.

Convair Pogo

The Grumman X23, or “Pogo,” represents a radical departure from aircraft manufacturing norms, ranging from mere eccentricity to complete absurdity. The body was built much like a conventional airplane, except for the rotor attached to the nose cone, which lifted the airplane vertically into the air. Unlike most VTOL aircraft, Pogo took off nose-up like a rocket with wheels attached to its tail fin. The canopy was designed at a 90-degree outward position, forcing the pilot to lie perpendicular to the ground as the vehicle rose into the air. Then, after leveling off the flight path, “Pogo” continued to fly like regular airplanes. This ship underwent a series of successful tests, but like all “strange” projects, it did not receive further development.

Convair V2 Sea Dart

A pilot's job is not always limited to simple airplanes. And controlling a fighter jet that can land on water right in the middle of the ocean turns the pilot into a driver of a giant jet ski. The Convair Sea Dart is an experimental American fighter aircraft designed in 1951 as a prototype for a supersonic seaplane. It was equipped with a waterproof hull and two hydrofoils. The Convair Sea Dart was retired after a fatal accident. However, before that, under the control of Sam Shannon, this plane became the first (and to this day only) seaplane to break the sound barrier.

McDonnell Douglas X-15

The X-15 is an even older design, but it was such a significant and unusual breakthrough in aircraft manufacturing that it remains unsurpassed to this day. The first tests took place in 1959. The X-15 rocket plane was 15.5 meters long, with tiny three-meter wings on either side. During a series of tests, the aircraft climbed to a height of 30.5 kilometers, and two of them were counted as space flights. During its passage through the atmosphere, its speed was six times the speed of sound. The plane's body was coated with a nickel alloy similar in composition to that found in meteorites. This allowed the plane not to burn up when entering the Earth's atmosphere. The enormous weight and high power of the X-15 created the basis for describing the characteristics of extreme aircraft.

Blohm and Voss BV 141

In nature, symmetry is important in everything - from the eyes to the wings. In the principles of reverse engineering, inspired by the rules of nature, this axiom is equally true for engines, fins and tails of aircraft. But during World War II, German aircraft makers Dornier created a reconnaissance aircraft and a light bomber with a single wing, a tail boom with an engine on one side, and a cockpit just behind them. This design, which has significant deviations from the accepted norm, may seem unreliable, but, nevertheless, the location of the cockpit on the right side of the propeller counteracts the torque and helps the plane fly straight. This strange aircraft not only took off from the ground, but also served as inspiration for the creation of a modern sports aircraft with a similar design.

Imagine a houseboat combined with an airplane. It was this idea that underlay the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano project. The machine, created in 1920, changed all existing standards for judging multi-wing aircraft. So much so that Richtofen’s Red Fokker would look just ordinary. This huge floating aircraft (21.5 m long and 55 tons of weight) was supposed to be the first transatlantic aircraft in the history of aviation. Borrowing from the theory that enough wings could make anything fly, the ship-shaped body was fitted with three wings at the front, three in the middle, and a third set of wings at the rear in place of a tail. This strange unearthly device can be described as a triple triplane. Nothing like this has ever been built. Takeoff was not a problem for this plane, but the first flight ended in disaster when the plane gained a height of 18 meters. Caprioni said he would repair it, but the wreckage of the plane was burned that night.

People have been obsessed with the idea of ​​taking to the air for centuries. In the myths of almost all nations there are legends about flying animals and people with wings. The earliest known flying machines were wings imitating those of birds. With them, people jumped from towers or tried to soar by falling off a cliff. And although such attempts usually ended tragically, people came up with more and more complex aircraft designs. We will talk about iconic aircraft in our today's review.

1. Bamboo helicopter

One of the world's oldest flying machines, the bamboo helicopter (also known as the bamboo dragonfly or Chinese pinwheel) is a toy that flies upward when its main shaft is quickly spun. Invented in China around 400 BC, the bamboo helicopter consisted of feather blades attached to the end of a bamboo stick.

2. Flying flashlight

A flying lantern is a small balloon made of paper and a wooden frame with a hole in the bottom under which a small fire is lit. It is believed that the Chinese experimented with flying lanterns as early as the 3rd century BC, but traditionally, their invention is attributed to the sage and general Zhuge Liang (181-234 AD).

3. Balloon

The hot air balloon is the first successful technology for human flight on a supporting structure. The first manned flight was carried out by Pilatre de Rosier and the Marquis d'Arlandes in 1783 in Paris in a hot air balloon (tethered) created by the Montgolfier brothers. Modern hot air balloons can fly thousands of kilometers (the longest hot air balloon flight is 7,672 km from Japan to North Canada).

4. Solar balloon

Technically, this type of balloon flies by heating the air inside it using solar radiation. As a rule, such balloons are made of black or dark material. Although they are primarily used in the toy market, some solar balloons are large enough to lift a person into the air.

5. Ornithopter

An ornithopter, which was inspired by the flight of birds, bats and insects, is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Most ornithopters are unmanned, but a few manned ornithopters have also been built. One of the earliest concepts for such a flying machine was developed by Leonardo da Vinci back in the 15th century. In 1894, Otto Lilienthal, a German aviation pioneer, made the first manned flight in history in an ornithopter.

6. Parachute

Made from lightweight, durable fabric (similar to nylon), a parachute is a device that is used to slow an object's movement through the atmosphere. The description of the oldest parachute was found in an anonymous Italian manuscript dating back to 1470. Today, parachutes are used to release a variety of cargo, including people, food, equipment, space capsules, and even bombs.

7. Kite

Originally constructed by stretching silk over a frame of split bamboo, the kite was invented in China in the 5th century BC. Over time, many other cultures adopted this device, and some of them even continued to further improve this simple flying machine. For example, kites capable of carrying humans are believed to have existed in ancient China and Japan.

8. Airship

The airship became the first aircraft capable of controlled takeoff and landing. In the beginning, airships used hydrogen, but due to the high explosiveness of this gas, most airships built after the 1960s began to use helium. The airship may also be powered by engines and contain crew and/or payload in one or more "pods" suspended beneath a gas cylinder.

9. Glider

A glider is a heavier-than-air aircraft that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air on its lifting surfaces, i.e. it is independent of the engine. Thus, most gliders do not have an engine, although some paragliders can be equipped with them to extend their flight if necessary.

10. Biplane

A biplane is an aircraft with two fixed wings that are located one above the other. Biplanes have a number of advantages over conventional wing designs (monoplanes): they allow for greater wing area and lift with a smaller wing span. The Wright brothers' biplane became the first aircraft to fly successfully in 1903.

11. Helicopter

A helicopter is a rotary-wing aircraft that can take off and land vertically, hover and fly in any direction. There have been many concepts similar to modern helicopters over the past centuries, but it was not until 1936 that the first working helicopter, the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, was built.

12. Aerocycle

In the 1950s, Lackner Helicopters came up with an unusual aircraft. The HZ-1 Aerocycle was intended to be used by inexperienced pilots as the standard reconnaissance vehicle for the US Army. Although early testing indicated that the vehicle could provide sufficient mobility on the battlefield, more extensive evaluations indicated that it was too difficult for untrained infantrymen to control. As a result, after a couple of accidents, the project was frozen.

13. Kaitun

Kaitun is a hybrid of a kite and a hot air balloon. Its main advantage is that the kite can remain in a fairly stable position above the rope's anchor point, regardless of wind strength, while conventional balloons and kites are less stable.

14. Hang glider

A hang glider is a non-motorized, heavier-than-air aircraft that lacks a tail. Modern hang gliders are made of aluminum alloy or composite materials, and the wing is made of synthetic canvas. These devices have a high lift ratio, which allows pilots to fly for several hours at an altitude of thousands of meters above sea level in updrafts of warm air and perform aerobatic maneuvers.

15. Hybrid airship

A hybrid airship is an aircraft that combines the characteristics of a lighter-than-air vehicle (i.e., airship technology) with the technology of a heavier-than-air vehicle (either a fixed wing or a rotor). Such designs were not put into mass production, but several manned and unmanned prototypes were produced, including the Lockheed Martin P-791, an experimental hybrid airship developed by Lockheed Martin.

16. Airliner

Also known as a jetliner, a jet passenger aircraft is a type of aircraft designed to transport passengers and cargo through the air, propelled by jet engines. These engines allow the aircraft to reach high speeds and generate sufficient thrust to propel a large aircraft. Currently, the Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger jet airliner with a capacity of up to 853 people.

17. Rocketplane

A rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine. Rocket planes can reach much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft. As a rule, their engine runs for no more than a few minutes, after which the plane glides. The rocket plane is suitable for flight at very high altitudes, and it is also capable of much greater acceleration and has a shorter takeoff run.

18. Float seaplane

It is a type of fixed-wing aircraft that can take off from and land on water. The buoyancy of a seaplane is provided by pontoons or floats, which are installed instead of the landing gear under the fuselage. Float planes were widely used before World War II, but were then replaced by helicopters and aircraft operated from aircraft carriers.

19. Flying boat

Another type of seaplane, the flying boat, is a fixed-wing aircraft with a hull shaped to allow it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that it uses a specially designed fuselage that can float. Flying boats were very common in the first half of the 20th century. Like float planes, they were subsequently phased out after World War II.

Also known by other names (such as cargo aircraft, freighter, transport aircraft, or cargo aircraft), a cargo aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted to carry cargo rather than passengers. At the moment, the largest and most payload-carrying aircraft in the world is the An-225, built in 1988.

21. Bomber

A bomber is a combat aircraft designed to attack land and sea targets by dropping bombs, launching torpedoes or launching air-to-ground cruise missiles. There are two types of bombers. Strategic bombers are primarily designed for long-range bombing missions - i.e., attacking strategic targets such as supply bases, bridges, factories, shipyards, etc. Tactical bombers are aimed at countering enemy military activities and supporting offensive operations.

22. Spaceplane

A spaceplane is an aerospace vehicle that is used in the Earth's atmosphere. They can use both rockets and auxiliary conventional jet engines. Today there are five similar devices that have been successfully used: X-15, Space Shuttle, Buran, SpaceShipOne and Boeing X-37.

23. Spaceship

A spaceship is a vehicle designed to fly in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, and transport of people and cargo.

A space capsule is a special type of spacecraft that has been used in most manned space programs. A manned space capsule must have everything necessary for daily life, including air, water and food. The space capsule also protects astronauts from cold and cosmic radiation.

25. Drone

Officially known as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a drone is often used for missions that are too “dangerous” or simply impossible for humans to fly. Initially they were used mainly for military purposes, but today they can be found literally everywhere.