Title: Fighter aircraft - Wikipedia
Headings: Fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft
Contents
Classification
Air superiority fighter
Interceptor
Night and all-weather fighters
Strategic fighters
Historical overview
Piston engine fighters
World War I
Inter-war period (1919–38)
World War II
European theater
Pacific theater
Technological innovations
Post–World War II period
Rocket-powered fighters
Jet-powered fighters
First-generation subsonic jet fighters (mid-1940s to mid-1950s)
Second-generation jet fighters (mid-1950s to early 1960s)
Third-generation jet fighters (early 1960s to circa 1970)
Fourth-generation jet fighters (circa 1970 to mid-1990s)
4.5-generation jet fighters (1990s to 2000s)
Fifth-generation jet fighters (2000s to 2020s)
Sixth-generation jet fighters (2020s onward)
Fighter weapons
See also
References
Citations
Bibliography
External links

Content: Early fighters were very small and lightly armed by later standards, and most were biplanes built with a wooden frame covered with fabric, and a maximum airspeed of about 100 mph (160 km/h). As control of the airspace over armies became increasingly important, all of the major powers developed fighters to support their military operations. Between the wars, wood was largely replaced in part or whole by metal tubing, and finally aluminum stressed skin structures (monocoque) began to predominate. By World War II, most fighters were all-metal monoplanes armed with batteries of machine guns or cannons and some were capable of speeds approaching 400 mph (640 km/h). Most fighters up to this point had one engine, but a number of twin-engine fighters were built; however they were found to be outmatched against single-engine fighters and were relegated to other tasks, such as night fighters equipped with primitive radar sets. Hawker Sea Hurricanes in formation
By the end of the war, turbojet engines were replacing piston engines as the means of propulsion, further increasing aircraft speed. Since the weight of the turbojet engine was far less than a piston engine, having two engines was no longer a handicap and one or two were used, depending on requiremen