# What is the most famous aircraft in aviation history?

> Some aircraft are remembered for what they did, some for who flew them, and one for never being found. Rank the airframes the public actually knows by name.

*By YPB Team · Published August 31, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-most-famous-aircraft-in-aviation-history*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Wright Flyer** — score 1000/1000
   Flew four times on 17 December 1903 and made every other entry on this list possible.
2. **Spirit of St. Louis** — score 493/1000
   Carried Lindbergh from New York to Paris in 1927 with no forward windscreen.
3. **Supermarine Spitfire** — score 403/1000
   The elliptical wing that became the shorthand for the Battle of Britain.
4. **Bell X-1** — score 403/1000
   The bullet-shaped rocket plane in which Chuck Yeager passed Mach 1 in 1947.
5. **Boeing 747** — score 349/1000
   The hump that made intercontinental flying affordable from 1970.
6. **Enola Gay** — score 288/1000
   The B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on 6 August 1945.
7. **Concorde** — score 288/1000
   Flew passengers at twice the speed of sound from 1976 until 2003.
8. **Lockheed Model 10 Electra** — score 134/1000
   Bought for Amelia Earhart by Purdue benefactors, and missing since 2 July 1937.
9. **SR-71 Blackbird** — score 37/1000
   Still holds the official air-breathing speed record it set in 1976.
10. **Douglas DC-3** — score 37/1000
   Made scheduled airline travel profitable and is still flying eighty years on.

Tags: tech, all-time, aviation, aircraft