Two of the most popular questions, at least for pilots and other students of aviation history, are: What are the top 10 planes of all time, and which one’s the greatest of them all?
At first glance, it seems a silly idea that you could even come up with an answer. After all, planes come in so many different shapes and sizes, with an equal number of mission types to match. How could you possibly choose just one?
This is how.
We started with a group of really great airplanes, or at least we tried to. We started with 10 of them before deciding, as they did in Spinal Tap, to make this one go all the way up to 11. We thought of consciously working to make it a cross-section of aircraft types, but that happened automatically.
But looking at the different kinds of mission types, i.e., training, personal transportation, commercial transportation, fighters, bombers, reconnaissance and more, we decided to narrow things down even more by asking ourselves if there were a top dog among those planes. Surprisingly, the answer to that question was often an unequivocal, “Yes!” Who knew?
Before you begin, consider these bizarre facts about the most outrageous top 10 list of planes you’ll ever see. For starters, there are only two non-American planes on the list. There are five planes that are advertised as supersonic, one other that might have gotten there, four with propellers, three with rocket motors, eight that are no longer being produced, and one that was first built in 1956 and is still in production today.
Finally, after our Greatest Airplanes Of All Time, we present 25 others that a lot of you will argue belong on the main list. In many cases, you’d have a strong argument. Enjoy!
10. Concorde
Our inclusion of Concorde on our list of amazing planes will be among the least controversial. Anytime the goal is to do the impossible and you pull it off, well, that deserves recognition. But when you look at what Concorde did to become the worldâs only truly successful commercial passenger-carrying supersonic aircraft, itâs even more impressive. And itâs remarkable the plane made it into production at all, that the team, composed of British and French groups (itself noteworthy for its degree of difficulty) overcame huge aerodynamic, regulatory, legal, environmental, human-factor and commercial hurdles to build a Mach 2.02 commercial airliner.
Was it a commercial success? Hardly. It was subsidized throughout its service life because, with its combination of limited available routings (since it couldnât overfly land at supersonic speeds), low passenger capacity (a maximum of 128 passengers, though most carried closer to 100), too-loud engines and very high fuel usage, it wasnât a winning commercial or environmental proposition. Its technical achievements, however, are mind-blowing, such as anti-skid brakes, a droop nose for better visibility when landing, full-time autothrottle and autopilot, fly-by-wire flight controls and in-flight fuel distribution to combat CG changes in flight. All that, and itâs one of the most beautiful airplanes ever built.
Margin of error: 10%. Contenders: Tupolev Tu-144. Also beautiful. It flew first. In service for seven years, with 16 built. Faster than Concorde in cruise. But its range was 20% shorter and fuel burn higher, and it needed afterburners for supercruise.
