Fighter planes were not specifically designed but evolved during the early years of the First World War. Pilots began fitting machine guns to their reconnaissance planes and started attacking one another. So began the era of the `Dog Fight' whereby each pilot would try to out-fly his opponent, firing on him at every opportune moment. Simple bombs were also carried aloft to be dropped on enemy ground forces.
During the 1920's the biplanes remained the basic fighter type with a forward mounted machine gun which fired in synchronisation with the propeller.
After the Second World War, the single most important invention in aircraft propulsion was the introduction of the jet engine which would revolutionize fighter plane design.
As technology increased so the search for extra speed, climb and ceiling forced the cost of jet fighters upwards, with today's fighters costing upwards of 10 million dollars. In the early 1950's and 1960's `air to air' missiles were used in favour of cannon but measures could be taken to avoid missiles. Known as ECMs (Electronic Counter Measures), flares are fired to distract heat-seeking missiles which `home in' on the heat of the jet's engine or `chaff' is used to interfere with radar guided missiles, `chaff' being thousands of small pieces of foil which disrupt radar beams from the missile.
As the cost of planes escalated, new designs were used to give the planes multiple roles and the swing wing aircraft appeared. With wings swept back the plane can travel at maximum speed and when in the forward position the wings give maximum lift which is ideal for takeoff and landing. Many modern fighters have twin engines and carry a pilot and a second crewman who controls navigation and monitors the weapon aiming equipment, leaving the pilot to concentrate his entire attention on flying the plane.
