Aircraft
51 Military Aircraft: Hawker Hurricane
Sidney Camm’s rugged, reliable gun platform
52 Engine: Rocketdyne J-2 (Saturn V)
33,000kN of sheer brute force
53 Moment: 1986 – Voyager first unrefuelled round-the-world flight
Nine days, 3m, 44s in the air
54 Moment: 1968 – Apollo 8 crew see first Earthrise
A blue jewel in an ocean of blackness
55 Moment: 1927 – Winning of the Orteig Prize (Spirit of St Louis)
Rarely can $25,000 have been better earned
56 Moment: 1939 – First jet-powered aircraft (Heinkel 178)
A dozen test-flights, then consigned to a museum
57 Military Aircraft: MiG-21
Nimble, ubiquitous, but short-ranged
58 Civil Aircraft: de Havilland Comet
So much promise, sadly largely unfulfilled
59 Person: Jack Northrop
The personification of determination, with a fascination for flying wings
60 Military Aircraft: Mirage 2000
Gallic elegance and dash
61 Engine: Wright Cyclone
Radial engine family with a 20-year production span
62 Military Aircraft: MiG-25
Took old technology to new heights of excellence. Brilliantly production-engineered.
63 Moment: 1911 – First deck take-off and landing (Eugene Ely)
Aiming a pusher biplane at a 40-metre wooden platform
64 Engine: GE J-79
Motive power for the F-4, F-104 and B-58 Hustler
65 Military Aircraft: Northrop B-2A
Radar-evading black bat
66 Person: Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin
Airship pioneer for civil and military roles
67 Engine: Rolls-Royce Allison 250
More than 30,000 built, 170-plus civil and military applications
68 Engine: Daimler-Benz DB601
Motive power for the Me109
69 Engine: Pratt & Whitney J-58 axial-flow
First engine designed to operate in afterburner for extended periods
70 Civil Aircraft: Cessna 172
Bringing flying training to the world
71 Civil Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-10
The last ‘DC’, tainted by tragedy
72 Person: Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown
World record-holder for number of types flown
73 Person: Joe Sutter
‘Father of the 747’
74 Military Aircraft: Lockheed U-2
Less than 10kts between stall and maximum speed
75 Engine: Rolls-Royce Spey
Military, civil, marine all-rounder
76 Engine: Lycoming 0-235
Venerable, venerated piston power
77 Moment: 1947 – Flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules (‘Spruce Goose’)
Still the largest aircraft ever built; it flew for around one minute
78 Moment: 1982 – Operation Black Buck
At the time, the longest bombing raid in history
79 Moment: 1996 – Introduction of enhaned ground proximity warning system (EGPWS)
Curbing controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)
80 Civil Aircraft: Junkers Ju 52
The Luftwaffe’s rugged resupplier
81 Person: Hanna Reitsch
Crashed in a Komet; feted by the Führer
82 Civil Aircraft: Bell B206 Jet Ranger
The key entry-level single-turbine helicopter
83 Military Aircraft: Northrop F-5
Supersonic lightweight for the US’s friends
84 Engine: Rolls-Royce Nene
Most powerful turbine of its time
85 Person: Bernt Balchen
Pioneering polar aviator
86 Civil Aircraft: Learjet 23
The beginnings of a new industry sector
87 Civil Aircraft: de Havilland Tiger Moth
The archetypal inter-war trainer
Turboprop heavy metal on Transall, Belfast and Vanguard
89 Person: Brig-Gen Robin Olds
Legendary Vietnam F-4 pilot
90 Civil Aircraft: Ilyushin Il-18
Long-lived turboprop workhorse
91 Civil Aircraft: Ilyushin Il-76
Rugged jet freighter and military transport
92 Moment: 1929 – Filming of Hell’s Angels
Remarkable aerial sequences
93 Civil Aircraft: Boeing 247
A streamlined monoplane airliner when biplanes were still the norm
94 Moment: 1986 – Mir launched into orbit
Providing invaluable insights on long-term human exposure to spaceflight
95 Civil Aircraft: Ford Trimotor
Shrinking the time to travel across the US
96 Person: Jiro Hirokoshi
The designer behind Mitsubishi’s Zero masterpiece
97 Engine: Perm PS 90
Fourth-generation Russian turbofan
98 Military Aircraft: Mitsubishi A6M Zekev
Manoeuvrable but increasingly outclassed
99 Civil Aircraft: Sikorsky VS300
Rotary revolutionary
100 Civil Aircraft: Martin M-130
3,500nm at 150mph
100 Greatest
Top 10 | 11-20 | 21-50 | 51-100
Top 5s
Civil Aircraft | Military Aircraft | Person | Moment | Engine
Through the decades
Civil Aircraft | Military Aircraft | Person | Moment | Engine
Links posted in this story:
Click here to check out the highest rated articles
Click here to subscribe to Flightglobal.com for more industry news and analysis.
Related Articles
Top 5 Greatest People
(16/07/08)
Flight's 100 Greatest revealed
(16/07/08)
100 Greatest 11-20
(15/07/08)
Top 5 Greatest Military Aircraft
(15/07/08)
Top 5 Greatest Civil Aircraft
(15/07/08)
Top 5 Greatest Engines
(15/07/08)
Top 5 Greatest Moments
(15/07/08)
FREE Online Marketing Training
Learn how to reach new customers through online advertising and email marketing, drive traffic through SEO and generate new leads online with Flightglobal's 'What Works Online' webinar series
Don’t miss you opportunity to be trained by the experts
Make the most of the web
Flightglobal is offering a series of FREE ‘What Works Online’ webinars to equip you with the knowledge, resources and best practice advice to help you achieve your business goals
Learn how to reach new customers through online advertising and email marketing, drive traffic through SEO and generate new leads online
Don’t miss this free training opportunity delivered by experts in online marketing
