The fighter aircraft was born in World War I, and has been crucial in modern military history. Fighter aircraft have won wars as well as defended nations. The speed, agility, and armament have improved greatly since then, ranging over vast areas of airspace to maintain air superiority.

Although the Wright Brothers achieved contollable flight in 1903, they were not the first to build military aircraft. The first contract for a military aeroplane was awarded in 1892 to Clement Ader of France, for a two seater aeroplane capable of lifting a 165lb bomb. Even though his plane did not fly, the precedent had been set- the military were interested in using the airplane as a weapon.

The United States Army released their specifications, and an order for military aircraft in 1907. It was to travel at a speed of at least 40 miles per hour, and carry two people of a combined weight of 350 lbs for 125 miles.

In 1910, the first missiles were dropped from a military airplane. Lt Paul Beck of the United States Army released sandbags representing bombs over Los Angeles in January 1910. The first firearm to be fired from an airplane was a rifle fired by Lt Jacob Earl Fickel of the United States Army on August 20, 1920 from a Two-seater Curtiss biplane. A German patent was taken out in 1910, for a device to let a fixed machine gun fire from an airplane.

The first radio transmission from an airplane to the ground was in the USA in 1910. This was before transistors when radios weighed up to 250 lbs. When it became practical, leather flying helmets with earpieces sewn in and microphones in the breathing masks were produced.

At first, planes were made of wood, and the first wright plane turned through the flexing of the wings. When the armor became necceseary, and when engines were powerful enough to support it, planes were made with metal frames, with either a metal or taut fabric skin.