Military aircrafts

Vocabulary training

Fighter jets


What is a jet fighter ? Simply one of the best aircrafts designed, one of the best to fly, and one that conveys power.
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets. The hallmarks of a fighter are its small size relative to contemporary types, speed and maneuverability. Many fighters have secondary ground-attack capabilities, and some are dual-roled as fighter-bombers. It is not unusual for aircraft that do not fulfill the standard definition to be labelled or described as fighters. This may be for politicial or national security reasons, for advertising purposes or other reasons. Fighters are the means by which armed forces gain air superiority over their opponents in battle. Since World War I, achieving and maintaining air superiority has been essential for victory in conventional warfare.

Bomber aircrafts


In the early days of the Great War, the bomber was a relatively new concept. Like all Great War era aircraft, it had many problems, the majority of them crippling. As Canadian ace Billy Bishop once stated: "They gave us these bombs, and told us to drop them on someone". Early bombing was a very archaic practice. Rickety biplanes were not strong enough to hold bombs underwing until later on in time. Sometimes, the sheer weight of the bombs prevented the planes from even getting off the ground, and in order to accommodate the bombs, instruments, or even the invaluable machine guns, might be removed. The pilot would have to load his bombs, fly to his target, and throw them out of the plane, guiding them to their target with equal measures luck and prayer. As one could expect, this form of bombing never made a significant dent in the war machines of the Allies or the Entente. It did provide pilots, however, with valuable lessons on the art of bombing.