airplane
airplane
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airplane

aircraft
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Also known as: aeroplane, plane
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Key People:
Igor Sikorsky Howard Hughes Charles Lindbergh Olive Ann Beech Jacqueline Cochran
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airplane, also called aeroplane or plane, any of a class of fixed-wing aircraft that is heavier than air, propelled by a screw propeller or a high-velocity jet, and supported by the dynamic reaction of the air against its wings. For an account of the development of the airplane and the advent of civil aviation see history of flight. (Read Orville Wright’s 1929 biography of his brother, Wilbur.) The essential components of an airplane are a wing system to sustain it in flight, tail surfaces to stabilize the wings, movable surfaces to control the attitude of the plane in flight, and ...(100 of 8335 words)

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