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From the Wright Flyer in 1903 to SpaceShipOne just a century later, airplane
design has tended to advance by leaps and bounds. This progress has often
resulted from government funding, as with the development of the world's first
jet fighter and the first stealth aircraft. But on many occasions innovations
in the commercial sector have been just as significant—witness the advent
of supersonic jet travel made possible by Concorde. Here, take a look at one
aviation historian's* list of each decade's most revolutionary
plane. To launch the slide show, click on the image at left.—Peter Tyson
*Thanks to Tom Crouch of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.,
who offered the list of aircraft described in this feature while humbly
acknowledging that others might differ with his choices.
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