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In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft with its engine mounted with the propeller in front, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. This is the usual configuration; the pusher configuration places the airscrew behind, and "pushes" the aircraft forward. Through common usage, the word "propeller" has come to mean any airscrew, whether it pulls or pushes the aircraft.
In the early years of powered aviation both tractor and pusher designs were common.[citation needed] 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 stated otherwise.