What do planes look like?

Answer 1

Characteristics of a Fighter PlaneToday, a fighter plane is usually a jet aircraft. The characteristics of a fighter jet were established back in World War 2, when Britain and Germany made the first jets. One characteristic of the fighter jet was that their wings are swept back. Older airplanes had straight wings, even though they might get smaller further out at the tip.

The swept-back wings reduced the drag caused by the voritces at the wing tips. This allowed the jets to fly faster.

Most fighter jets have their jet engines mounted inside the fuselage; as opposed to mounted under the wings. The first German fighter jet had wing-mounted engines. Very few fighter jets continued with this design.

Most fighter jets have a pilot (or 2 pilots) sitting in a cockpit mounted on top of the fuselage. This provides better visibility so the pilots can watch for enemy aircraft during combat. Bombers will have the cockpit buried down in the fuselage(one exception is the B-47 bomber that had a cockpit like a fighter jet).

How to spot a Fighter Plane?Modern jet aircraft have changed dramatically. So this question is difficult to answer. Some fighter jets server in many different roles: fighter, reconnisance, bomber. Some fighter jets have 2-crewmen and 2 engines and are quite large where others are a single pilot and very small. The most recent ones have stealth technology that gives their wings and fuselage very unique shapes.