1. Screw that!
A Boeing 747 has three million rivets, each of which has to be checked by the B.a. maintenance team.

2. My plane’s bigger than your plane!
The Boeing 777 is the world’s largest twin-engine jet. It began passenger service in 1995.

3. Faster pussycat!
Of the conventional passenger carriers, the Boeing 707 is the fastest, with a cruising speed of 607mph. In 5th place is the 777 at 555mph, whilst the 747 is one place below at 552mph.

4. Pulp faction
John Travolta has his own jumbo jet. He’s also qualified to fly it.

5. I know it’s up there, but don’t ask me how
There are four basic forces which govern aeroplane flight: gravity, lift, drag, and thrust. Gravity keeps us all glued to the ground. Lift counteracts gravity. Drag is the air in front of an airplane, which tries to stop it going forward. Thrust, provided by the engines, is what pushes the drag aside and gets the old bird going forwards.

6. How d’you steer this thing?
An airplane has three basic movements at its disposal: pitch, roll, and yaw. Pitch is a movement of the nose up or down, Roll is obviously a roll to the left or right, and, Yaw is a horizontal turn to the left or right. Confused?!

7. ‘Ere, that bird ain’t real!
In around 400B.C., the Greek scholar Archytas built a wooden pigeon that moved through the air.

8. Mr smarty pants
Top Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci was making doodles of flying machines over 500 years ago. (He also made the first prototype sketches for a helicopter, a parachute, and Dr Who’s Tardis).

9. Two blokes fly a plane
It was 1903, and their names were Orville and Wilbur Wright.

10. Rocket man
Charles Yeager made the world’s first supersonic flight in 1947 in a Bell X-1 rocket plane.