The book is devoted to the history of the development of the aircraft, from the birth of the main ideas in the middle of the last century to the current state. The history of the development of the aircraft is conditionally divided into five characteristic stages: aircraft with rough aerodynamic characteristics, military aviation, postal and passenger aviation, subsonic aircraft with gas turbine engines and supersonic aircraft. Particular attention is paid to the role of the activities of designers and scientists who had to find ways to improve the technical performance of aircraft. For scientists involved in aircraft design.