Biplane

Double Decker is the name for an aircraft that has two staggered vertically arranged wings.

The main advantage over a monoplane is that the two wings braced against one another ( with stems for holding compressive and tensile forces ) and can be braced ( with - often profiled - wires to absorb tensile forces ) and thus form a structural unit with the same weight is stronger than a single cantilever wing.

The greater stability also allows the use of thinner airfoils, which reduces air resistance. This advantage, however, zunichtegemacht by the mutual influence of the air flow both single wing, so that individual wings are aerodynamically superior to most. Also strutting and bracing create additional air resistance, so that you completely went to monoplanes the construction of high -performance aircraft in the 1930s.

With the same wing area and depth of a biplane needs only half the wingspan of a monoplane, which mainly benefits the roll rate. This is because the wing mass is closer by shorter wingspan on gravity, which gives the aircraft a lower moment of inertia. The smaller range is also an advantage in the handling of the aircraft on the ground and its housing.

Many early aircraft, including the first successful powered aircraft by the Wright brothers were biplanes. Especially in the First World War aircraft with three ( or even more) were superimposed built wing, which basically had the same advantages and disadvantages as biplane.

With few exceptions, such as the PZL M-15 Belphegor ( Turbojetantrieb ) and the Antonov An -3 ( turboprop engines ) Double Decker be standard driven by piston engines.

The fastest biplane is found mentioned in the " National Championship Air Races", and " Reno Air Races". Biplane types Pitts Special, Starduster, Knight Twister, Mong and Smith Minplane reach here speeds of up to 370 km / h

Sesquiplane

A special design of the biplane is the sesquiplane (English sesquiplane ). This term is applied to:

The characteristics 2 and 3 often occur together. The main reason for the construction of a half -deckers of types 1 to 3 should probably have been the down much better view.