The Dunne biplanes were the first successful flying wings. The wings featured sweep as well as wash-out. This type of aircraft showed such inherent stability that the pilot could easily fly hands off.

The tailless designs produced by Lt., later Major, John W.Dunne for the British War Office between 1906 and 1913 are frequently cited as being the first flyable tailless aircraft to emerge. All were characterised by carrying a pronounced degree of sweep-back to their wings. Dunne's efforts, it should be noted, were aimed solely at producing a safer flying machine, endowed with the highest degree of inherent stability possible and some of Dunne's ingenuity in this area foreshadowed the primitive auto-pilots of the 1930s. Here, the Dunne D.8 of 1910, powered by a 50hp Green engine, is being demonstrated to no less a personage than Wilbur Wright, accompanied by Griffith Brewer, during their visit to Eastchurch on 20 December 1910.