History Main / ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines

* Those Babylon Rouges of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' certainly have a nice airship.

* The Bat from ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' deserves special mention - looking for all the world like the hollowed Tumbler body, and ''still'' it can fly.
* ''[[Creator/KarelZeman The Fabulous World of Jules Verne]]'' [original title ''Vynález zkázy''] (1958) is full of these - and almost every other steampunk device or vehicle you could imagine.

In more fantasy-oriented works, SkyPirates may make use of their magnificent flying machines to plough [[TheSkyIsAnOcean the ocean of air]] in their search for prey. {{Floating Continent}}s and a WorldInTheSky may or may not be involved. Please don't try to take this trope ''too'' far into the realm of fantasy, though. Letting flight be entirely explained by ''magic'', for example, would not have the same feel or meaning for the story. A flying ship kept airborne by a wizard's spell would ''not'' count as an example of this trope (though a flying ship that [[MagiTek uses magic to drive a hundred tiny propellers]] very well might).

* It may have an inordinate number of wings. Which may [[HandWave flap]]. And may be far too small [[WingsDoNothing to be what's really keeping it aloft]].
* It may also have ''lots'' of propellers. Which may be corkscrew-shaped.
* It will be a clear example of BambooTechnology. Or, sometimes, MagiTek.
* It will have an open, fragile-looking frame, possibly with thin canvas wings and lots of machinery visible inside. Or its hull may be incredibly heavy-looking, totally un-aerodynamic, and studded with rivets.[[note]]Although, as it so happens, rivets are ''still'' the main way of fastening aircraft together, even today - screws and bolts stick out more than rivets do and tend to unscrew over time, and the aluminium alloys used to build almost all aircraft are quite difficult to weld, and much harder still to weld with the degree of perfection required for an aircraft.[[/note]]

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', engineers can craft a Flying Machine (actually called that) that fits this trope perfectly. It looks like an old plane with tiny wings and a helicopter-like propeller on the top, belches smoke, and seems to barely stay airborne. If you idle in air with it, its engine will occasionally turn off for a second or so, causing it to fall a few feet before it turns back on.

* ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'' has Leonard of Quirm's Flapping-Wing-Flying-Device (pedal-powered ornithopter). A model briefly appears in ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', but in the game he's built a full-size version. [[spoiler: Which Lewton flies in the final battle with Nylonathotep]].

** The original ''GURPS Steampunk'' supplement featured a few instances, statted out for the Third Edition of the game. They were re-statted for the Fourth Edition in ''GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances.'' The assumption is that such things will often be appropriate features for steampunk settings.
** ''GURPS Vehicles: Transports of Fantasy'' also has game details for a few flying machines that demonstrate the trope, not least the Gnomish Aircar and the Dwarven Steam Airship.

** The original ''GURPS Steampunk'' supplement featured a few instances, statted out for the Third Edition of the game. They were re-statted for the Fourth Edition in ''GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances.''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Space 1889}}'' averted and played straight. Liftwood ships do not have wings, balloons or more than one propeller. They look and to a large extent function like ships. (Though the novel “A Prince of Mars” by Frank Chadwick describes the liftwood ships as less similar to regular ships than the role-playing game.) Even the early attempts at flight that historically looked like this are unlikely to occur in Space 1889 since liftwood has allowed practical flying ships. In the core book, however, there is a list of inventions that the player characters can make including flying machines. Many of them have illustrations that looks a lot like this.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The metallic Deffkopta model. The plastic models, however, are more subdued, just looking like a bike modded into a helicopter. This works because it is made by Orks; they're idiots with telekinetic powers, so [[AchievementsInIgnorance if they believe something will work, it does]].

** And ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' goes big with these, adding an entire faction of dwarves riding these and living in giant, flying cities. Even the most basic of armies is mostly composed of heavily-armed airships.
* The Ornithopters ("Thopters" for short) from ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''.
* Whenever the generic ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' line tackles more or less {{Steampunk}} themes, it naturally tends to involve the odd eccentric flying contraption. For example:

* In ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' the H'Slit tribes of Venus make sail-ships, gliders and sail-planes out of wood, bone and incredibly carved stone fittings. The largest are capable of up to a dozen Venusians. It is likely these contraptions only fly due to the immense heat rising from Venus's depths.

* The metallic Deffkopta model in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Plastic models however are more subdued, just looking like a bike modded into a helicopter. This works because it is made by Orks; they're idiots with telekinetic powers, so [[AchievementsInIgnorance if they believe something will work, it does]].
** In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'', the Dwarfs have steam-powered "Gyrocopters", while the Dogs of War have the Birdmen of Catrazza, canvas-{{winged human|oid}}s using da Vinci-esque pedal-powered flight suits.

* ''The Fabulous World of Jules Verne'' [original title ''Vynález zkázy''] (1958) is full of these - and almost every other steampunk device or vehicle you could imagine.

* The Ornithopters ("Thopters" for short) from ''MagicTheGathering''.

** Modified into a dive-bomber variant in ''Revelations''. The firebombs actually set fire to the ground, which means you can finally provide your own means of lift.

* It will have an open, fragile-looking frame, possibly with thin canvas wings and lots of machinery visible inside. Or its hull may be incredibly heavy-looking, totally un-aerodynamic, and studded with rivets.

** One thing that indisputably puts the Wright brothers in a place in history is that they were eventually able to refine their concept into the world first ''practical'' heavier than aircraft. The Wright Flyer III achieved nearly forty minutes of flight on its first test, enough for it to be indisputably useful in a reconnaissance role.

** One thing that indisputably puts the wright brothers in a place in history is that they were eventually able to refine their concept into the world first ''practical'' heavier than aircraft. The Wright Flyer III achieved nearly forty minutes of flight on its first test, enough for it to be indisputably useful in a reconnaissance role.

* HomestarRunner's 1936 counterpart had one before [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sneakvideo.html the Sneak knocked him out of it]]. We never get to see what it looked like. Sir Strong Bad is also briefly seen piloting a Wright Flyer.

** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E22TestingTesting123 Testing Testing 1, 2, 3", Twilight narrowly avoids hitting a panicked Cherry Berry flying a hoof-powered helicopter.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'', set in the XIX century with mad science, naturally uses this aesthetic for all of its aircraft.

* The VSF miniatures game Aeronef by Wessex Games is set in an alternate universe where powered dirigible airships, nicknamed "'digs", are invented in 1852, and a powered anti-gravity system is developed in 1884, resulting in the construction of the titular Aeronefs, often shortened to "'nefs". Later developments include the discovery of negative-gravity particles that are passively generated from "R-Matter", a substance found in meteorites, usually in rainforests or polar regions. 'Nefs and 'Digs come in a variety of types, mostly military, ranging from small Patrol 'Nef to Battleships, as well as Carriers and specialist bombers. The style of miniatures is heavily inspired by the pre-dreadnought era from the mid-1870s to around the early 1910s, combining ship-like designs with aerial features such as control surfaces and more "conventional" gas-bag dirigible airships, albeit with a bit [[More Dakka]].

** Also parodied via a short sight-gag in another episode. The ''Da Vinci Airport'' [[note]]perhaps meant to be the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci-Fiumicino_Airport Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport]]'' near Rome -- [[/note]] in UsefulNotes/{{Italy}} seems to be host to a lot of flying machines designed by the man it is named after.

** And [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040526 lifegliders]]. Can't forget lifegliders. If the survival equipment looks like [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction offspring of a bat and a blimp]], this tells something about the world.

* A regular fixture in ''Webcomic/{{Wondermark}}'', such as [[http://wondermark.com/550 "In Which Salvation is Summoned"]].

** Also parodied via a short sight-gag in another episode. The ''Da Vinci Airport'' [[note]]perhaps meant to be the ''Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport'' near Rome -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci-Fiumicino_Airport[[/note]] in UsefulNotes/{{Italy}} seems to be host to a lot of flying machines designed by the man it is named after.

* The Barnstormer from ''VideoGame/TotalAnnihilationKingdoms'', which resembles a three-way cross between the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer Wright Flyer]], a helicopter, and a bat.

* Whenever the generic ''TabletopGame/GURPS'' line tackles more or less {{Steampunk}} themes, it naturally tends to involve the odd eccentric flying contraption. For example:

* In the [[{{Steampunk}} steampunk]] [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome Roman Empire]] that dominates the Roma Aeterna timeline in ''TabletopGame/GURPSAlternateEarths'', the only native heavier-than-air flyer is the ''jactavolans'', an incredibly dangerous melding of Roman glider and Chinese rocket technology used for scouting and courier purposes. In game terms, you have to roll Piloting checks on takeoff (to see if the rockets explode) ''and'' landing (to see if you crash). All ''jactavolans'' pilots are state-owned slaves who receive both their freedom and Roman citizenship if they survive a five-year term of service.

* Gregor's steampunk balloon-ship in ''Film/Waterworld''.