Shutterstock/Soos Jozsef
Why, generally speaking, do large military planes have wings on the top of the fuselage, but on large commercial planes they are on the bottom?
Eric Grandfield
Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, UK
Large military aircraft are usually designed to carry bulky cargo, so the fuselage needs to be as low to the ground as possible for quick and efficient loading, usually via the rear fuselage but sometimes via the front. From time to time, their operations need to be on rougher terrain, so undercarriages need to be as short as possible and attached to the fuselage. Top-mounted wings allow these.
In general,…
