Aircraft
Aircraft: a machine capable of atmospheric flight (see air transport). Aircraft can be sub-divided into two broad categories: heavier than air (airplanes, autogyros, helicopters, and variants), and lighter than air (balloons, blimps, and dirigibles).
A fixed-wing aircraft is also known as an airplane (British spelling: aeroplane).
Conventional or fixed-wing, aircraft generally use a propeller or jet engine to provide thrust, which moves the craft forward through the air. The movement of air over the wings produces lift, which allows the aircraft to fly. An exception is gliders which have no engines and gain their thrust from gravity. That is, they must descend in relation to the air in order to maintain their forward speed. Helicopters use a spinning rotor (a rotary wing) to provide both lift and thrust.
Lighter-than-air craft float in air in the same way that a ship floats in water, by displacing the air around the craft with a lighter gas such as helium, hydrogen, or hot air. They may have propellers to provide forward thrust or they may simply drift with the wind.
Types of Aircraft
Lighter than air
Heavier than air
- autogyros
- fixed wing aircraft
- helicopter (rotary wing) aircraft
- Military aircraft
- General aviation
- Commercial aviation
- Glider aircraft
- Amphibious aircraft
- Unmanned air vehicles or drones
Propulsion Types
- Propeller
- Rocket
- Ramjet (see jet engine)
- Pulse jet
- Turbojet (see jet engine)
- Turboprop (see jet engine)
Aircraft manufacturers (in alphabetic order)
(it might be useful to distinguish between current and historic list, at some point.)
- Aermacchi (1913-Present)
- Aero Commander
- Aerocar
- Aeronca
- Aerospatiale
- Aero Vodochody
- Airbus
- Airco
- Airspeed
- American Aviation
- Antonov
- Armstrong-Whitworth
- Augusta
- Auster
- AviaBellanca (1983-Present)
- Aviat
- Aviation Traders
- Avro
- BAMC
- Beagle
- Beechcraft
- Bell
- Bellanca (1927-1983)
- Beriev (1934-Present)
- Blackburn
- Blenheim
- Boeing
- Bolkow
- Bombardier
- Boulton Paul
- Brantly
- Breguet (1911-1973)
- Bristol
- British Aerospace
- Britten-Norman
- Bucker
- Canadair
- CASA
- Cessna
- Champion
- Chilton
- Consolidated
- Convair
- Chrislea
- Comper
- Culver
- Dassault
- de Havilland
- Dornier
- Douglas
- Druine
- Edgley
- Embraer
- English Electric
- Enstrom
- Ercoupe
- Fairchild
- Fairey
- Fiat
- Focke-Wulf
- Fokker
- Folland
- Fuji
- General
- General Aircraft Factory
- General Dynamics
- Gloster
- Grahame-White
- Grob
- Grumman
- Handley-Page
- Harbin
- Hawker
- Hawker Siddeley Group (1959- )
- Heinkel
- Helio
- Hiller
- Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL)
- Hughes
- Hunting
- Ilyushin
- Israeli Aircraft Industries
- Junkers
- Kamen
- Kamov
- Kawasaki
- Lake
- Laverda
- Lockheed-Martin
- Luscombe
- Luton
- Martin
- Martinsyde
- Maule
- McDonnell-Douglas
- Messerschmitt
- Mikoyan
- Mil
- Miles
- Mooney
- Myasischev
- NAMC
- North American Aviation
- Northrop
- Panavia
- Parnall
- Partenavia
- Percival
- Piaggio
- Pilatus
- Piper
- PZL
- Raytheon
- Rearwin
- Republic
- Robin
- Robinson
- Rockwell
- Saab
- Saunders-Roe
- Schweizer
- Scottish Aviation
- SEPECAT
- Shorts
- SIAI-Marchetti
- Sikorsky
- Slingsby
- Socata
- Soko
- Sopwith
- Spartan
- Sukhoi
- Supermarine
- Swearingen
- Taylorcraft
- Technovia
- Trago Mills
- Travelair
- Tupolev
- Vickers
- Vickers-Armstrong
- Vought
- Waco
- Westland