Fighter aircraft were first employed in World War I. Three types of fighters evolved, the bi-plane and the tri-plane along with a few mono-plane designs. The open-cockpit lightweight planes were built of wood and fabric. The aircraft featured machine guns synchronized to fire through the spinning propeller. Notable aircraft of the period included the British Sopwith Camel, the French Spad and the Fokker tri-plane flown by the Flying Circus' Baron von Richthofen. Sopwith also built a tri-plane model.
Aerial battles between fighter aircraft for air superiority played an important role in the outcome of World War II. German Messerschmitts' and Focke-Wulfs' defeat by British Spitfires in the Battle of Britian precluded a German invasion of England. The Spitfire's V-12 Rolls Royce Merlin engine was later modified and used in the American P-41 Mustang, giving it a top speed of 443 miles-per-hour. In the Pacific theater, the Japanese Mitsubishi Zero achieved early dominance over American Curtiss P-40 Warhawks.
The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet was a unique type of fighter aircraft propelled by a rocket engine. It was deployed by the German Luftwaffe in 1944 and 1945. It was the only mass-produced rocket fighter and the fastest fighter plane of the war. The rocket engine launched the plane for 7.5 minutes of powered flight. It engaged high-level Allied bombers, then glided to the ground using the same underlying principles as the Space Shuttle.
The first fully operational jet fighter was the Messerschmitt Me 262, introduced by the German air force late in World War II. By the Korean war, aviation technology was dominated by the F-86 Sabre and the Russian MiG 15. The Vietnam War saw MiG 21's facing off against American F-4 Phantoms. The F-16 Falcon was employed throughout the 1970s and 1980s until its replacement by the F-18 Hornet. The F-22 Raptor is the latest incarnation of the American fighter jet.
