Wings was an educational television program aired on the Discovery Channel. The first run was narrated by Luke Swann, an Australian. Later an American narrator re dubbed the narrative.
Episodes were one hour long, minus commercials. Each episode consisted of a documentary about one airplane model or closely related series of models, typically an American airplane or helicopter built in large numbers and relevant to aviation history or to the abilities of the American armed forces. For example, some aircraft discussed in Wings episodes have included the DC-3, B-25, P-51, F-84, 707/KC-135, M/K/C-130, F-4, T-38/F-5/F-20, UH-1, A-4, A-12/SR-71, Harrier, F-14 Tomcat, Boeing 747/VC-25/E-4, F-15, and YF-17/FA-18, to name a few. A few non-American planes, such as the Concorde, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, and the Supermarine Spitfire were profiled as well. They were usually referred to as the "Great Planes". Other episodes would focus on the history or operations of a particular foreign air force, such as the Israeli Air Force, a foreign aviation company or design bureau such as France's Dassault or Russia's Mikoyan, or the aircraft of a particular conflict such as the Korean War or the Afghan-Soviet War. There also were special episode series (titled Wings of the Luftwaffe and Wings of the Red Star) that respectively focused on either Luftwaffe aircraft of World War II, or World War II-era and later Soviet Air Force aircraft. For examples, specific episodes covered the Ju-87 Stuka, the Ju-52 transport and the FW-190 for the "Luftwaffe" series; and famous and little-known Soviet aircraft such as the MiG-15, Tu-144 and early Soviet helicopters for the "Red Star" series, all of which were narrated by Peter Ustinov.
Some episodes were later rebroadcast under the labels Sea Wings or Weekday Wings
Some series of episodes, often six or eight at a time, would focus on a subset of airplane designs. Examples includes German military aircraft of World War 2, VTOL aircraft, or the "Strange Planes" series.
The VTOL episodes each featured a category of vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft such as those that used thrust vectoring, ducted fans, tilt-rotors, etc. The "Strange Planes" series episodes each talked about a handful of aircraft in categories like "Giants", "Drones", "Strange Shapes", "Circles in the Sky", "Lifting Bodies", "Flying Wings", etc.
For a few years the Aluminum Metal Toys, or AMT, modeling company issued a series of plastic scale model airplanes entitled the "Wings" series. The series also formed the backbone for the former Discovery Wings channels in the United States and United Kingdom, which were later rebranded to the Military Channel and Discovery Turbo, respectively.