Triplane

In aviation triplane is ( rarely triple-decker ), the name for an airplane that has three superimposed wings. Some of the aircraft used in World War I were triplane.

The advantage over a monoplane or biplane same wingspan is that a three-decker has more lift-generating airfoil surface. The rate of climb and maneuverability benefit. Alternatively, the span of the wing would have to be correspondingly increased, to which a higher stability of the airfoil structure is required. The small span of a three-decker, however, allowed due to the lower moment of inertia about the longitudinal axis faster rollers so that it can be highly manoeuvrable.

However, the three wings influence each other in such a way that the air resistance with increasing speed increases greatly, so no high speed is achieved. The progress in aircraft with ever higher speeds made ​​triplane therefore increasingly unattractive. After the end of hostilities in 1918 no more three-deckers were produced in series.

The most famous triple-deck design was that of Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, flown Fokker Dr.I that had the British Sopwith Triplane as a model.