Undoubtedly, Carl Barks made frequent use of reference books, such as his beloved National Geographic magazines, when portraying the many different aeroplanes used in his Disney comic book stories. Being the perfectionist he was it was important for him to render the machines as accurately as possible, of course within the normal graphic limitations of the media, and he chose a wide range of diverse plane types suitable for the individual scenes and missions. All the planes in Barks' stories are based on specific means of transport from our world, and this page attempts to 'decode' some of them and make a comparison between the real planes and Barks' renderings. You should be aware that Barks did not necessarily copy the planes to a T, as he exercised his right to render the images as he saw fit. Also, it is only natural that he never used a specific plane name in his stories in order not to mix our world into the duck universe world, but most of the time it is rather obvious which planes he copied.
The collection presented below (arranged in no special order) is by no means complete. The focus has been on displaying the more unusual or interesting types instead of, say, tedious renderings of the many common planes the ducks have used as simple transportation when travelling abroad.

You are not served with any technical information of the real planes such as engine data, number of seats, or airspeed, because detailed information on the planes are rather irrelevant in connection with the stories. You are only presented to the assumed, approximate plane types and their names in order for enthusiasts to easily seek further information if they so wish. If you should happen to disagree with some of the asserted deductions - or if you have additional relevant information - you are welcome to contact this website.

Disclaimer: You should be aware that a number of the photos may depict later models as not all exact models from the time have been found for use on this page (the correct photos, on the other hand, are quite old and not exactly in mint condition). This will also mean inconsistencies as to the precise number of windows, exact shapes of tail rudders, accurate renderings of undercarriages, and so on.

WDCS133 'Truant Officer Troubles'       Douglas C-54 Skymaster

WDCS156 'Master Rainmaker'       Fairchild PT-19

U$44 Crown of the Mayas       Curtiss C-46 Commando

FC0159 Adventure Down Under       Beechcraft Bonanza

U$59 North of the Yukon       de Havilland DHC-Otter

FC0263 Trail of the Unicorn       de Havilland DH 98 Mosquito

U$31 Two Way Luck       McDonnell 119/120

U$52 The Great Wig Mystery       Ilyusjin IL-14

WDCS242 Balloonatics       F-86F Sabre

FC0062 Frozen Gold       Northrop Delta

WDCS246 Lost Frontier       Cessna 180 Skywagon

WDCS240 The Fraidy Falcon       Sopwith Camel

U$06 'Tralla La'       Boeing 307 Stratoliner

U$61 So Far and No Safari       Dassault Mirage IIICZ

FC0147 Volcano Valley       Focke Wulf 200 Condor

U$39 A Spicy Tale       de Havilland Comet 4B

U$36 Money Bag Goat       Cessna 210 Centurion

U$18 Land of the Pygmy Indians       Lockheed Vega

WDCS229 The Good Deeds       Ryan PT-22 Recruit

U$05 'Atlantis'       Boeing B-50 Superfortress

WDCS194 'The Smokewriter'       Druine D31 Turbulent

EXCEPTIONS

In a few instances Barks deviated from drawing plausible real planes and chose to go with planes that looked real at a glance but were just drawn from memory. He decided not to copy material which - probably without him even knowing it - brought him into trouble by rendering faulty planes. Another reason could have been that he purposely abstained from his relatively precise renderings in order to obtain a dramatic effect. Below are shown two graphic examples:

FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo       U$62 Queen of the Wild Dog Pack In FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo Barks dreamt up his own type of plane in order to let Scrooge impress the onlookers at the African airport. The machine has 8 engines spaced out on the wings, which in itself is an achievement, because only one plane in the world had so many engines at the time. It was the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, and they are attached in pairs under the wings. Furthermore, the Boeing plane's wings are aligned with the top of the plane's body and not the bottom. In U$62 Queen of the Wild Dog Pack Barks drew another plane that has never existed in real life. The most obvious deviations are the prolonged sneering duck beak and the 'howling' jet engine inlet. For a common business jet the engines are also rendered improperly. If they are attached to the wings there should be 4 engines, otherwise there should be 2 or 3 sitting at the back of the body. Also, the vertical stabilizer fins are disputable, as they should be either sitting on top of the tail rudder or on the body of the plane. Presumably, Barks just intended to display an aggressive looking plane of his own invention. If he had consulted his magazines he could have chosen several correct examples such as McDonnell or Dassault.