Assembling an Aeroplane

Write the parts of the aeroplane in the right places on the picture.

Tail plane Aileron Engine Propeller Main plane (wing)

Rudder Elevator Fuselage Undercarriage Tail fin

Talk to your friends. Do you know what the different parts of the aeroplane are for?

Upstairs in AirSpace you will find a range of interactive displays which tell you about how aircraft work. Spend some time exploring the displays and see if you can answer these questions:

What four forces act on an aircraft when it is flying?

1.

2.

3.

4.

Why is the shape of an aeroplane’s wing important?

Do you think you would be a good pilot? Why / why not?

Draw your favourite aeroplane from the AirSpace hangar. Label as many parts of the aeroplane as you can.

Assembling an Aeroplane:

Teachers’ notes and answer sheet

Using the trail

  • As the site is so large, we have concentrated this trail on the AirSpace hangar. There are plenty of aeroplanes to look at and talk about in other hangars as well.
  • If you would like to visit other hangars or cover topics outside your talk, please feel free to browse our other sessions and trails.
  • You are welcome to use images and ideas from these trails to create your own trail – please keep copyright numbers with images where appropriate.

Answers to the trail

Most of the questions are open-ended, so any reasonable answer will do.

The four forces are lift, drag, thrust and gravity.

The shape of an aeroplane’s wing is important because it creates lift for the aeroplane.

Parts of an aeroplane

  • The fuselage (from a French word for spindle) is the long main section of the aeroplane. Apart from supporting everything else, it is the load carrying part for the passengers, cargo or weapons and of course the pilot.
  • The wing or mainplane is attached to the fuselage in two symmetrical halves. Technically a monoplane has only one wing and a biplane two, although most people will talk about an aeroplane’s “wings”. The wing provides upward force or lift, while ailerons (moveable surfaces) on the wing are used to control side-to-side movement or “roll”.
  • The tailplane or horizontal stabiliser is like a small wing at the back of the plane. The elevators (more moveable surfaces) on the tailplane allow the pilot to control the up and down movement or “pitch” of the aeroplane.
  • The tailfin or vertical stabiliser sticks up vertically from the tail of the aeroplane. The rudder on the fin allows the pilot to control the left and right movement or “yaw”.
  • The undercarriage supports the aeroplane when it is on the ground and usually has wheels and springs attached.

Aeroplane Engines

The engine provides thrust to push the aeroplane forward, which in turn provides lift from the wing. You will see two main types of engine at Duxford: piston engines with airscrew propellers and gas turbines with jet propellers.

A piston engine is similar to that used in most road vehicles, but in an aeroplane it drives the airscrew. An airscrew is the set of twisted blades which push the air back as it spins, thrusting the aeroplane forward.

A gas turbine engine is a tube through which air is forced to create thrust. The air is sucked in at the front, squeezed into a small space, mixed with fuel and ignited to make it expand and blown out of the narrow jet pipe at the rear.

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Key Stage 2: Assembling an Aeroplane