Nearly all modern transport aircraft are designed with a plug-system fuselage, allowing longer and shorter variants to be built by adding or removing plugs.
In addition, the plug system simplifies construction, as large sections of the aircraft can be assembled from modular parts.
What was the first aircraft to employ this system?
And what was the reason for adopting it in the first place:
- to make possible the construction of variants
- to enjoy efficiencies and economies of design and manufacture
- both of the above?