Since it first flew in the mid-1950s, the Cessna 172 Skyhawk has become the world's most-produced aircraft with at least 44,000 rolling off the production line. A common sight in skies all over the world, the Cessna 172 made international headlines during the Cold War when German teenage pilot Mathias Rust conducted an unauthorized flight from Helsinki to Moscow, evading Soviet air defences, and famously landing in Red Square. The aircraft remains in production today.
The Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik is the second most produced aircraft in history with 36,183 built during the Second World War. The armoured ground attack plane played a crucial role on the Eastern Front and when a factory producing it fell behind on its deliveries, Joseph Stalin warned the facility's manager that the IL2s were "as essential to the Red Army as air and bread".
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, one of the IL2's chief foes during the war, comes third on the production list with 34,852 planes built. That total includes the Avia S-199 produced in Czechoslovakia and the Hispano Aviación HA-1109 and HA-1112 derivates that were built in Spain until 1958. This infographic provides an overview of the top-10 most produced aircraft of all time using figures reported by the Daily Telegraph.
