Invisible Plane

Invisible plane
Wonder Woman's invisible plane, clearly visible; art by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano; Design in this illustration closely resembles the Gloster Javelin.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942)
In story information
Type	Vehicle
Element of stories featuring	Wonder Woman

The Invisible Plane (sometimes referred to as the Invisible Jetplane, Invisible Jet, and The Invisible Robot Plane) is the fictional DC Comics superheroine Wonder Woman's venerable, though now seldom-used, mode of transport. It first appeared in Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942). Created by William Moulton Marston as another allegory for his Wonder Woman comics, the invisible plane represented the "invisible" feminine compliance that allowed women of the Depression Era to enter and survive in the hostile male dominated work place with less resistance from that hostility. To demonstrate this, it was allegorized that the Invisible Plane would be undetected while moving quietly at super sonic speeds so that it would not be shot down by the guns of Man's World. The idea was avoidance of conflict rather than meeting hostility head on.

The Pre-Crisis version of the invisible plane was a necessity because before the Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrote Wonder Woman's history—along with the histories of many other heroes—Wonder Woman simply could not fly. She grew increasingly powerful through the Silver Age of comic books and beyond, acquiring the power to ride wind currents thus allowing her to imitate flight over short distance. This had limitations, however; for example, if there was no wind and the air was completely still she would be trapped on the ground or if dropped from a distance that she would helplessly fall out of control to the ground. Though this meant that she would rely on the invisible plane less frequently, she always had need of it.

The Invisible Plane was a creation of Diana's during her younger years on Paradise Island. She created it to be an improvement on her mother's planes which would be shot down in Man's World. The result of her innovation was an invisible plane that could fly at terrific speeds silently and not be detected by hostile forces, thus avoiding unpleasant conflict. Initially, it was portrayed as being transparent.

The Invisible Plane appeared in the very first comic stories, including All-Star Comics #8, where it is shown as being able to fly at over 2000 miles per hour (MPH) and to send out rainbow rays that penetrate the mist around Paradise Island, as well as landing stealthily and having a built-in radio. Wonder Woman is seen storing the plane at an abandoned farm near Washington, D.C., in the barn; she goes there as Lt. Prince and changes clothes in some of the earliest tales. Though never explicitly stated, the Plane is presumably stored there when not in use for the rest of the Pre-Crisis era. In a story made shortly after, it flies at 40 miles a second.