A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft, typically called an airplane, aeroplane or plane, is an aircraft capable of flight using forward motion that generates lift as the wing moves through the air. Planes include jet engine and propeller driven vehicles propelled forward by thrust, as well as unpowered aircraft . Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from ornithopters with two main wings A wing is a surface used to produce lift for flight through the atmosphere - or occasionally through another gaseous or fluid substance. Another word for an artificial wing is an airfoil, and airfoils always have a distinctive cross-sectional shape. The Wright brothers' The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two Americans who are generally credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. In the two years afterward, the brothers developed Wright Flyer The Wright Flyer was the first powered aircraft designed and built by the Wright brothers. They flew it four times on December 17, 1903 near the Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation Many cultures have built devices that travel through the air, from the earliest projectiles such as stones and spears., the boomerang in Australia, the hot air Kongming lantern, and kites. There are early legends of human flight such as the story of Icarus, and Jamshid in Persian myth , and later, somewhat more credible claims of short-distance. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft wing. Improved structural techniques and materials and the need for greater speed made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.
The term is also occasionally used in biology Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy, to describe the wings A wing is a surface used to produce lift for flight through the atmosphere - or occasionally through another gaseous or fluid substance. Another word for an artificial wing is an airfoil, and airfoils always have a distinctive cross-sectional shape of some flying animals A number of animals have evolved aerial locomotion, either by powered flight or by gliding. Flying and gliding animals have evolved separately many times, without any single ancestor. Flight has evolved at least four times, in the insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats. Gliding has evolved on many more occasions. Usually the development is to aid.
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Aviation
Overview
In a biplane aircraft, two wings are placed one above the other. Both provide a portion of the lift, although they are not able to produce twice as much lift as a single wing of similar size and shape In aviation, a planform is the shape and layout of a fixed-wing aircraft's fuselage and wing. Of all the myriad planforms used, they can typically be grouped into those used for low-speed flight, found on general aviation aircraft, and those used for high-speed flight, found on many military aircraft and airliners because the upper and the lower are working on nearly the same portion of the atmosphere. For example, in a wing of aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements, such as the length and diameter of a rod. The aspect 6, and a wing separation distance of one chord In aeronautics, chord refers to the imaginary straight line joining the trailing edge and the center of curvature of the leading edge of the cross-section of an airfoil. The chord length is the distance between the trailing edge and the point on the leading edge where the chord intersects the leading edge length, the biplane configuration can produce about 20 percent more lift than a single wing of the same planform.[1]
In the biplane configuration, the lower wing is often attached to the fuselage The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull. The fuselage also serves to position control and, while the upper wing is raised above the fuselage with an arrangement of cabane struts The cabane struts of a biplane aircraft support the upper wing over the fuselage and work in conjunction with other wing components such as spars and flying wires to transmit flight loads, although other combinations have occurred. Almost all biplanes also have a third horizontal surface, the tailplane A tailplane, also known as horizontal stabilizer , is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplanes. However, not all fixed-wing aircraft have tailplanes, such as those configured with canards (where the &, to control the pitch, or angle of attack Angle of attack is a term used in fluid dynamics to describe the angle between a reference line on a lifting body (often the chord line of an airfoil) and the vector representing the relative motion between the lifting body and the fluid through which it is moving. Angle of attack is the angle between the lifting body's reference line and the of the aircraft (although there have been a few exceptions). Either or both of the main wings can support flaps or ailerons Ailerons are hinged control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll. The two ailerons are typically interconnected so that one goes down when the other goes up: the downgoing aileron increases the lift on its wing while the upgoing aileron reduces the lift to assist lateral rotation and speed control; usually the ailerons are mounted on the upper wing, and flaps (if used) on the lower wing. Often there is bracing between the upper and lower wings, in the form of wires (tension members) and slender interplane struts An interplane strut is an aircraft airframe component designed to transmit lift and landing loads between wing panels on biplanes and other aircraft with multi-wing designs. They also maintain the correct angle of incidence for the connected wing panels and are often braced with wires. Very early aircraft used interplane struts made from bamboo, (compression members) positioned symmetrically on either side of the fuselage.
Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 was a French biplane fighter aircraft of World War I, manufactured by the Nieuport companyVariations on the biplane include the sesquiplane, where one wing (usually the lower) is significantly smaller than the other, either in span, chord, or both. Sometimes the lower wing is only large enough to support the bracing struts for the upper wing. The name means "one-and-a-half wings." This significantly reduces interference drag Parasitic drag is drag caused by moving a solid object through a fluid medium (in the case of aerodynamics, more specifically, a gaseous medium). Parasitic drag is made up of many components, the most prominent being form drag. Skin friction and interference drag are also major components of parasitic drag while retaining the structural advantages of a biplane.
Easily the best known examples of a sesquiplane are an entire series of Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company famous for racers before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars single and two-seat military aircraft of World War I, from the Nieuport 10 of 1915 through to the Nieuport 27 The Nieuport 27 was a French biplane fighter aircraft during World War I designed by Gustave Delage. The model 27 was the last of the line of Nieuport "V-strut" single seat fighters stemming from the Bébé of early 1916 of 1917, though it was a common layout throughout the 1920s and 30s, until superseded by structural improvements that made monoplanes more efficient.
Biplanes should not be confused with tandem wing, which is an aircraft with one wing in front of the other (e.g. a wing in the nose and a wing in the tail). This is not usually considered a biplane, as the two wings are not one above the other. Aerodynamic research by NASA found that it was necessary for the two wings to be different in either chord or span otherwise longitudinal oscillation would occur. Unlike the sesquiplane layout, the tandem wing has not found much favor, in particular as it still suffers from higher tip vortex drag In aerodynamics, lift-induced drag, induced drag, vortex drag, or sometimes drag due to lift, is a drag force that occurs whenever a moving object redirects the airflow coming at it. This drag force occurs in airplanes due to wings or a lifting body redirecting air to cause lift and also in cars with airfoil wings that redirect air to cause a than an equivalent monoplane.
Advantages and disadvantages
Rutan Quickie tandem wing biplane Biplane hang glider under tow. Philadelphia, USA, 1920s. The Handley Page H.P.42, a large biplane airliner of the 1930s. Antonov An-2 The Antonov An-2 (Russian nickname: кукуру́зник kukuruznik - a kolkhoz maize worker ) also nicknamed "Annushka"; is a single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed in the USSR from 1946. (USAF/DoD reporting name Type 22,, NATO reporting name Colt) biplane. This post-WWII design is the largest single-engine biplane ever made, one of the most produced aircraft of all time, and the longest produced aircraft ever (since 1947; currently produced in China) along with Beechcraft BonanzaAircraft built with two main wings (or three in a triplane A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically-stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they may occasionally be) can usually lift up to 20 percent more than can a similarly sized monoplane A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft of similar wingspan The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about 60 metres (197 ft); and a Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans) caught in 1965 had a wingspan of 3.63 metres (11 ft 11 in), the official record for a living bird. Biplanes will therefore typically have a lower wingspan than a similar monoplane, which tends to afford greater maneuverability Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in normal flight. Aerobatics are performed in airplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment and sport. Some helicopters, such as the MBB Bo 105, are capable of limited aerobatic maneuvers. The struts and wire bracing of a typical biplane form a box girder that permits a light but very strong wing structure.
On the other hand there are many disadvantages to the configuration. Each wing negatively interferes with the aerodynamics of the other. For a given wing area the biplane produces more drag In fluid dynamics, drag refers to forces that oppose the relative motion of an object through a fluid (a liquid or gas). Drag forces act in a direction opposite to the oncoming flow velocity. Unlike other resistive forces such as dry friction, which is nearly independent of velocity, drag forces depend on velocity and less lift A fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a surface force on it. Lift is defined to be the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the drag force, which is defined to be the component of the surface force parallel to the flow direction than a monoplane.
Stagger
Many biplanes were designed with the wings positioned directly "one-above-the-other," as was first done with the Wright's 1903 Flyer I. However, moving one wing forward relative to the other can help increase lift and reduce drag, though it distorts the box girder effect of the wing and reduces the structural benefits of the biplane layout. Many other biplanes were designed with the upper wing positioned with its leading edge ahead of the lower wing, in a "positive stagger" format. Less common are biplanes with the lower wing's leading edge ahead of the upper wing, called "negative stagger". Examples include the Airco DH.5, Sopwith Dolphin, and the Beechcraft Staggerwing.
Forward stagger was more common because it improves both downward visibility and ease of cockpit access for open cockpit biplanes.
In ultralight aircraft
Larry Mauro created the Easy Riser biplane ultralight During the late 1970s and early 1980s, many people sought to fly affordably. As a result, many aviation authorities set up definitions of lightweight, slow-flying aeroplanes that could be subject to minimum regulation. The resulting aeroplanes are commonly called ultralight or microlight, although the weight and speed limits differ from country to. Mauro also made a version powered with solar cells driving an electric motor for successful flight. Mauro's Easy Riser was used by the man who became known as "Father Goose," Bill Lishman.[2]
History
Early designers considered both monoplane and biplane designs. However, the weakness of the materials and design techniques available required these designers to place great effort into making wings capable of withstanding the required loads. A biplane (having the characteristics of a box girder) can be made lighter for a given strength requirement, and was therefore a more common choice.
Most successful early aircraft were biplanes, in spite of considerable early experimentation with monoplanes, triplanes A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically-stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they may occasionally be and even a quadraplanes. During the period (~1914 to 1925) almost all aircraft were biplanes.
Early monoplanes and biplanes were often externally braced, having struts and/or bracing wires. These elements gave added strength without excess weight, but they did add unwanted aerodynamic drag.
The long-term answer to the problem was a cantilever A cantilever is a beam supported on only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and shear stress. Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs monoplane wing – having sufficient stiffness to dispense with external bracing. Such wings were already being developed by several designers, including Hugo Junkers Hugo Junkers was an innovative German engineer, as his many patents in varied areas (gas engines, aeroplanes) show. In 1915, he pioneered the first great change in aviation materials and design technology, away from wood and fabric materials braced by wire rigging, towards all-metal, cantilever-winged monoplane aircraft that had little to no, as his work during 1915 resulted in the pioneering Junkers J 1, the world's first practical all-metal aircraft of any type. Cantilever monoplane wings were becoming the norm for most applications by the early nineteen thirties; the era of the biplane was almost over.
Modern biplane designs now exist only in specialist niche roles and markets such as aerobatics Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in normal flight. Aerobatics are performed in airplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment and sport. Some helicopters, such as the MBB Bo 105, are capable of limited aerobatic maneuvers and agricultural aircraft.
The vast majority of biplane designs have been fitted with reciprocating engines A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common features of all types. The main types are: the internal combustion engine, used extensively in motor vehicles; the steam engine, the mainstay of the of comparatively low power; exceptions include the Antonov An-3 The Antonov An-3 is a Soviet/Ukrainian agricultural aircraft. It is essentially a turboprop-powered development of the An-2 designed to upgrade or replace it. The first example flew as early as May 13, 1980, but because of a lack of official interest in the project, work proceeded very slowly - flight testing was not complete until 1991. It is one and WSK-Mielec M-15 Belphegor, fitted with turboprop Turboprop engines are a type of aircraft powerplant that use a gas turbine to drive a propeller. The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller. The engine's exhaust gases contain little energy compared to a jet engine and play a minor role in the propulsion of the and turbofan A turbofan is a type of aircraft jet engine based around a gas turbine engine . Turbofans provide thrust using a combination of a ducted fan and a jet exhaust nozzle. Part of the airstream from the ducted fan passes through the core, providing oxygen to burn fuel to create power. However, the rest of the air flow bypasses the engine core and mixes engines, respectively. Some older biplane designs, such as the Grumman Ag Cat and the aforementioned An-2 (in the form of the An-3) are available in upgraded versions with turboprop engines.
Famous biplanes include the Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel was a British World War I single-seat fighter biplane. Introduced on the Western Front in 1917, the Camel F.1 shot down 1,294 enemy aircraft during its combat service. It had a combination of a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns, Antonov An-2 The Antonov An-2 (Russian nickname: кукуру́зник kukuruznik - a kolkhoz maize worker ) also nicknamed "Annushka"; is a single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed in the USSR from 1946. (USAF/DoD reporting name Type 22,, NATO reporting name Colt), Beechcraft Staggerwing, Boeing Stearman The Stearman Model 75 is a biplane, of which at least 9,783 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s as a military trainer aircraft. Stearman became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known as the Stearman, Boeing Stearman or Kaydet, it served as a Primary trainer for the USAAF, as a basic trainer for the USN (as the NS &, Bristol Bulldog The Bristol Bulldog was a British Royal Air Force single-seat biplane fighter designed during the 1920s by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, with over 400 Bulldogs produced, that arguably became the most famous aircraft during the RAF's inter-war period, Curtiss JN-4 The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" is a series of biplane aircraft built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. The Curtiss JN series was produced as a training aircraft for the U.S. Army although the "Jenny" became the "backbone of American post-war aviation.", de Havilland Tiger Moth, Fairey Swordfish, Pitts Special and the Wright Flyer The Wright Flyer was the first powered aircraft designed and built by the Wright brothers. They flew it four times on December 17, 1903 near the Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S. The Stearman is particularly associated with stunt flying with wing-walkers. Famous sesquiplanes include the Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 was a French biplane fighter aircraft of World War I, manufactured by the Nieuport company and Albatros D.III.
A few biplanes are still made today, typically for nostalgia or aerobatics. Examples include the Pitts Special and the Waco.
In avian evolution
It has been suggested the feathered dinosaur Microraptor glided, and perhaps even flew, on four wings, which were held in a biplane-like arrangement. This was made possible by the presence of flight feathers on both the forelimbs and hindlimbs of Microraptor, and it has been suggested the earliest flying ancestors of birds may have possessed this morphology, with the monoplane arrangement of modern birds evolving later.[3]
See also
- Monoplane A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft
- Triplane A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically-stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they may occasionally be
- Tandem wing
References
- ^ Airplane Aerodynamics, Dommasch and Lomb, 1961 ed.
- ^ Larry Mauro and Bill Lishman
- ^ Chatterjee S, Templin RJ (30 January 2007). "Biplane wing planform and flight performance of the feathered dinosaur Microraptor gui". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104 (5): 1576–80. doi A digital object identifier is a character string used to uniquely identify an electronic document or other object. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found. The DOI for a document is permanent, whereas its location and other metadata:10.1073/pnas.0609975104. PMID A PMID is a unique number assigned to each PubMed citation of life sciences and biomedical scientific journal articles. The related Pubmed Central archive may additionally assign a separate number, a PMCID (PubMed Central Identifier), normally written with a PMC prefix 17242354.
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Barnstorming Adventures San Diego Biplane Rides Information In helmet and goggles two sit side by side in the front cockpit of our meticulously restored 1920 s biplanes while the pilot flies from the rear It s real flying flying like it used to be
Tim Trampedach
Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:01:46 GM
The new FarmVille . Biplane. grows all your crops instantaneously by applying an eco-friendly mix from the air! The . Biplane. can be purchased from the Vehicles Tab in the Market for 3000 coins and is unlocked at level 12. ...
Q. some d1ckhead in our town got a new loud biplane, and this damned thing is always buzzing around in the sky! it's driving me nuts! is there any kind of law on this sort of thing?
Asked by unknown - Tue Jun 17 19:21:54 2008 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments
