Top 10 Most Notable-Looking Post-War Aircraft

As the name suggests, this transport aircraft actually resembles a Beluga whale. And if that's not strange enough, its bulging head opens up to accept cargo. The first flight of the Beluga -- a highly modified A300-600 -- took place in 1994. Primarily built to ferry large fuselage and wing sections from Airbus factories through out Europe to the company's final assembly lines in Toulouse and Hamburg, the Beluga has also often been chartered for outsize loads. It has carried entire helicopters and space station components, among other oversized items. The "ST" stands for "Super Transporter." Airbus built five Belugas in all.

This much-shorter version of the standard 747 promised longer range than the original but had fewer passenger seats. The "SP" stood for "Special Performance." Pan American World Airways received the first 747SP on March 5, 1976. Only 45 were built, because soon after the 747SP was developed Boeing began work on a standard-fuselage 747 version with just as much range. Only 17 747SPs are currently active. Several are VVIP aircraft operated for heads and royal families of Gulf states in the Middle East.

Despite its strange shape, this aircraft was a pioneer in stealth technology. There was only one Tacit Blue produced, and it is now housed at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The aircraft first flew in 1982 and made a total of 135 flights before it was retired in 1985.

Unlike the sleek 787 Dreamliner, this freight aircraft has a chubby frame. Boeing designed it specifically to carry large Dreamliner wings and fuselage sections from its manufacturing partners around the world to the 787 final assembly line at Everett, Wash. The "LCF" in the designation stands for "Large Cargo Freighter." Specially converted in Taiwan from second-hand Boeing 747-400 passenger aircraft, Dreamlifters are unlikely ever to see volume production: Boeing is planning to have six built. Evergreen International Airlines of McMinnville, Ore. is operating them on Boeing's behalf.

This huge flying boat was flown only once, just after it was completed in 1947, even though it was designed to carry more than 700 people. Howard Hughes himself was at the controls for the only flight of the "Spruce Goose." By far the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built up until that time (a distinction it retained for many years afterwards), the Spruce Goose was mainly made of wood. Its wingspan exceeds the length of a football field. The aircraft is now housed at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Ore.

The gorgeous Vickers VC-10, with its four rear engines, was first delivered to British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1964,. Three years later, it entered service with the Royal Air Force and the VC-10 still serves with the RAF. However, even though the British government reputedly leaked a carefully altered set of VC-10 blueprints to the U.S.S.R., from which the Soviets then developed the unwieldy Ilyushin Il-62, the U.S.S.R. had the last laugh -- many more Il-62s were built than VC-10s. Despite the VC-10's strong appeal to transatlantic passengers during its time in BOAC service, very few VC-10s were sold to other airlines.

This aircraft is still in the initial production stage, but Boeing has received customer orders for well over 600 already. At least 50 percent of the airframe is made from advanced composite plastics. Many in the airline industry believe the 787 will be the most revolutionary aircraft to enter airline service since the Concorde -- not because it is fast, but because it will be quiet, fuel-efficient and will offer much a more comfortable cabin-interior environment than previous jets.

Initially produced for Pan American World Airways (Pan Am), the Boeing 707 entered service in 1958. Many hundreds were built for civilian use and hundreds more similar aircraft were ordered by the U.S. Air Force and other air forces. Production of the civil version ended in the early 1980s. Although civil 707s originally primarily carried passengers, almost all of the remaining examples have been converted for cargo use. However, John Travolta owns and flies his own VIP 707, an older 707 model originally operated by Australia's Qantas. Travolta has kept the aircraft in its original Qantas color scheme.

The Constellation became part of The Trans World Airline's (later Trans World Airlines') fleet in 1945. Soon after, it rose in popularity, despite a spate of crashes, and the military version served as the presidential aircraft for President Eisenhower. Many Constellations were built and, like the modern 737, longer and longer versions were developed. This development effort culminated in the L.1649 Starliner. The "Connie," as Lockheed's distinctive transport was known, remains one of the most-loved airliner designs of all time.

The sleek supersonic Concorde started carrying passengers in early 1976 on British Airways and Air France flights. After nearly 30 years of operation, the Concorde made its last flight on October 24, 2003. But fewer than 15 ever entered airline service, as U.S. airlines refused to order the aircraft, citing its small passenger cabin, relatively poor range and high noise levels. Many European aviation manufacturing executives felt that the real reason U.S. airlines didn't order the Concorde was because the U.S. government didn't want them to. To this day the Concorde remains history's only truly successful supersonic airliner. The similar-looking Tupolev Tu-144 that was rushed into service by the U.S.S.R. on December 26, 1975 performed only 55 scheduled passenger flights before it had to make a fatal crash-landing. After that the Tu-144 was only used for mail flights, but made only 47 such flights before the type was withdrawn from scheduled service.