Free Airplane & Aviation Pictures: 133 Photos

133 free aviation and airplane pictures from the BigFoto library, many of them taken at and around Zurich Airport: airliners climbing into a blue sky and coming in to land, Swissair jets from the DC-3 to the MD-11, terminals, check-in halls and departure boards, cockpits full of instruments, jet engines in the hangar, light aircraft on grass airfields, gliders, Rega rescue helicopters in the snow, the Patrouille Suisse flying in formation, firefighting aircraft, hot air balloons and a Zeppelin.

Use them for travel and airline articles, posters, slides and social media. The planes against a clear blue sky leave plenty of room for text.

How to download: click a photo to see it large, then use Download. The originals are about 1200 × 800 pixels: right for blog posts, slides, social media, school projects and video call backgrounds.

Airliners in flight

Jets climbing out, coming in to land and passing overhead.

Airliners on the ground

Planes at the gate, on the runway and on display, from Swissair’s DC-3 and Constellation to an A380.

Airports and terminals

Check-in halls, departure boards, passengers boarding, baggage and buses on the apron, runways and the radar.

Cockpits, engines and wheels

Instrument panels of airliners and light aircraft, a pilot at work, jet engines in the hangar and the landing gear.

Light aircraft and gliders

Small planes on grass airfields, aerobatic planes, a Piper Arrow, gliders and the view from the window.

Helicopters and rescue

Rega air rescue helicopters on a snowy airfield, a helicopter carrying a load, one with a water bucket and one with a TV camera.

Air shows and the Patrouille Suisse

The Swiss Air Force display team flying in formation and drawing smoke trails over the hills.

Hot air balloons and airships

Balloons in every colour and shape, one like a yellow chick, and a Zeppelin over the lake.

Old aircraft

A red biplane, vintage propeller planes in a museum and old jets on display.

Firefighting and a crash site

Firefighting aircraft over the sea and the roofs, an airport fire engine, and the wreck of a small plane in an orchard.

About aviation

In 1899 the Wright brothers constructed and launched a series of gliders to test the manoeuvrability of a manned aircraft. Then on December 17, 1903, powered flight was first achieved when over the course of the day both Orville and Wilbur piloted successful flights, the longest lasting 59 seconds and covering over 850 feet. Around the same time the Frenchman, Louis Bleriot, was experimenting with powered flight and in 1909 he won a £1,000 prize offered by a newspaper for the first powered aircraft to make a crossing from France to England. The first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight followed in 1927, when Charles Lindbergh made the crossing from New York to Paris in the legendary ‘Spirit of St. Louis.

The First World War gave aviation technology a boost: at the start France, for example, had only 140 aircraft, and only four years later she had 4,500. In 1914 airplanes were regarded as useful only for reconnaissance; by the end of the war Britain had the Handley-Page bomber capable of carrying a 900 kg bomb load and Germany had the Fokker D VII, widely considered the best fighter of the era. The first operational jet fighter was the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, but Germany did not have it ready for use until 1944. One significant development of the Second World War was the use of aircraft carriers, especially in the war in the Pacific Ocean: at the start of the war Japan had 10 carriers and America had 7. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought America into the war, was carried out by fighters, bombers and torpedo planes launched from six aircraft carriers.

Experiments with supersonic flight were made during World War 2, but the first plane recorded as flying faster than the speed of sound was the American Bell X-1 rocket plane in 1947. Most modern fighter aircraft are supersonic, but there are no supersonic passenger airplanes in service since the retirement of the Anglo-French Concorde in 2003. Today, as technology has evolved, the war airplanes are absolutely stunning and geek.hr website has made a list of the ten deadliest fighter jets in the world.

The first scheduled service between the USA and Europe opened in 1939 with the Boeing 314 Flying Boat, and the first jet passenger service across the Atlantic followed in 1958 when Pan American used the Boeing 707 on the New York to Paris run. The “jumbo jet” era started in 1970 with the Boeing 747, two and a half times the size of the 707, with its recognisable two-deck hump shape. Later versions of the Boeing 747 jumbo can carry 524 passengers. The first passenger airliner to be built of composite materials with a view to reducing weight and fuel consumption is the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This wide-bodied, twin-engined jet carries 290 passengers with a range of over 15,000 km.

Air travel is now a huge industry, employing thousands of people as flight crew, ground crew, air traffic controllers and passenger and freight handlers. As well as passenger airlines and military aircraft, there are countless private planes, and commercial and military helicopters. One of the more recent developments in aviation warfare is the use of unmanned “drones” to destroy enemy installations and kill targeted people using rockets, without risking pilots. One of the earliest forms of manned flight, the lighter-than-air balloon is still popular for leisure flights and world record attempts, and un-powered fixed wing gliding and paragliding are hobbies enjoyed by people all over the world. Low-powered, low cost “micro-lights” have brought flying within the budget of many ordinary people. Certainly aviation has come a very long way from Ancient Greek attempts to imitate birds or early Chinese manned-kite flights from the top of towers! And we haven’t even mentioned space flight…

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Questions about these aviation photos

Can I use these aviation pictures for free?

Yes, for personal and commercial projects. All we ask is a link back to BigFoto.com; the box at the top of the page has a credit link you can copy.

Can I use photos that show airline names and logos?

For articles, blogs and school work, yes. Airline names and logos are trademarks, so for adverts and products choose a photo where no airline can be recognised, such as the planes far overhead, the cockpits or the balloons.