Tractor Configuration

An aircraft constructed with a tractor configuration has the engine mounted with the propeller facing forward, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air, as opposed to the pusher configuration, in which the propeller faces backward and "pushes" the aircraft through the air.

In the early years of powered aviation both tractor and pusher designs were common. However, by the midpoint of the First World War, interest in pushers declined and the tractor configuration dominated. Today, propeller-driven aircraft are assumed to be tractors unless it is stated otherwise.