"Dean A. Markley" wrote:

dott.Piergiorgio wrote:
Ed Rasimus ha scritto:

And, don't even get started on the one engine versus two engine
aircraft business. Single engine fighters have been doing quite nicely
for decades....ooops, make that more than a century.

More a century, yes, for *aircrafts* ; for *fighters* I guess we're
still 5-7 years prior of a century of Fighters.... (depend on one's
interpretation of what bird was the first Fighter...)

Best regards from Italy,
Dott. Piergiorgio.

So what was the first "true" fighter plane? I am not even going to
attempt to set limits on this. Let's just let 'er rip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_F.B.5

" It was the first aircraft purpose-built for air-to-air combat to see
service, making it the world's first operational fighter aircraft."
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi....5._Gunbus.jpg

Graham