Over the years, the aircraft design course at Cranfield has evolved into the postgraduate master's programme in aerospace vehicle design that we have today. One of the unique features of the course is the extensive group design project, which has played a fundamental part in aircraft design education right from 1948 up to the current day. The success of the course, and the student experience, depends on the success of the group design project. The philosophy of the role of the group design project in the teaching of aircraft design is discussed in detail in this paper. Examples are presented of recent subject aircraft along with some novel features of these designs.
