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A triplane is a
fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...
equipped with three vertically stacked wing planes.
Tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, 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 gyropla ...
s and canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are.


Design principles

The triplane arrangement may be compared with the
biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
in a number of ways. A triplane arrangement has a narrower wing chord than a biplane of similar span and area. This gives each wing-plane a slender appearance with higher aspect ratio, making it more efficient and giving increased lift. This potentially offers a faster rate of climb and tighter turning radius, both of which are important in a fighter. The
Sopwith Triplane The Sopwith Triplane was a British single seat fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiori ...
was a successful example, having the same wing span as the equivalent biplane, the
Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying character ...
. Alternatively, a triplane has reduced span compared to a biplane of given wing area and aspect ratio, leading to a more compact and lightweight structure. This potentially offers better maneuverability for a fighter, and higher load-capacity with more practical ground handling for a large aircraft type. The famous
Fokker Dr.I The Fokker Dr.I (''Dreidecker'', "triplane" in German), often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as the ...
triplane offered a balance between the two approaches, having moderately shorter span and moderately higher aspect ratio than the equivalent biplane, the
Fokker D.VI The Fokker D.VI was a German fighter aircraft built in limited numbers at the end of World War I. The D.VI served in the German and Austro-Hungarian air services. Design and development In late 1917, Fokker-Flugzeugwerke built two small biplane ...
. Yet a third comparison may be made between a biplane and triplane having the same wing plan: the triplane's third wing provides increased wing area, giving much-increased lift. The extra weight is partially offset by the increased depth of the overall structure, allowing a more efficient construction. The Caproni Ca.4 and Levy-Besson families of large, multi-engined triplanes both had some success with this approach. These advantages are offset to a greater or lesser extent in any given design by the extra weight and drag of the structural bracing and by the loss of lift resulting from aerodynamic interference between the wings in any stacked configuration. The multiplane idea was taken a step further by the
quadruplane In aviation, a multiplane is a fixed-wing aircraft-configuration featuring multiple wing planes. The wing planes may be stacked one above another, or one behind another, or both in combination. Types having a small number of planes have specific nam ...
. No examples were successful, and as biplane design advanced, it became clear that the disadvantages of the triplane and quadruplane outweighed their advantages. In a practical landplane design, the lower set of wings are typically set approximately level with the underside of the aircraft's
fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
, the middle set level with the top of the fuselage, and the top set supported above the fuselage on cabane struts. In a practical
flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
, even the lowest wing must be placed well above the waterline of the hull, creating a tall structure overall.


History

The first heavier-than-air craft to carry a person in free flight was a triplane, as far back as 1848 and long before the advent of powered flight. One of the few Danish designs to fly, in 1907, and the first powered type to fly in Germany, was also a triplane. However the triplane has seldom proved a practical solution and few types have ever entered production. The majority of triplane designs emerged during a narrow period from 1908 to 1923. Besides the famous fighting triplanes of the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, several larger types became successful bombers, airliners and maritime patrol aircraft, sometimes as different variants of the same basic design, both during and immediately after the war. The last triplane design, a private homebuild, was introduced shortly before the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.


Pioneer years

The first heavier-than-air machine to carry a human on a free, untethered flight was a triplane glider constructed by
George Cayley Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet (27 December 1773 – 15 December 1857) was an English engineer, inventor, and aviator. He is one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him to be the first true scientific aeri ...
and flown in 1848. It was modern in form, having three stacked wings above the fuselage and a separate stabilising tail with both fin and tailplane. The wings were of typical Cayley kite-like planform having a low aspect ratio. The craft was not large enough to carry an adult so a local boy was chosen as the passenger, but his name is not known. Between 1907 and 1911 a number of pioneers experimented with triplanes, some capable of flight and others not. None proved outstanding, although the series produced by A.V. Roe had some success and sold in small numbers. In 1907 the Danish pioneer
Jacob Ellehammer Jacob Christian Hansen-Ellehammer (14 June 1871 – 20 May 1946) was a Danish watchmaker and inventor born in Bakkebølle, Denmark. He is remembered chiefly for his contributions to powered flight. Following the end of his apprenticeship as a ...
flew a powered
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 occasionally are. Design principles The triplane arrangement m ...
and would later receive a prize for flying it in Germany. The French Bousson-Borgnis canard triplane of 1908 was a failure. The Goupy No.1, designed in 1908 by Ambroise Goupy and built by
Voisin Voisin (French for "neighbour") may refer to: Companies *Avions Voisin, the French automobile company :*Voisin Laboratoire, a car manufactured by Avions Voisin *Voisin (aircraft), the French aircraft manufacturer * Voisin, a Lyon-based chocolat ...
, was more successful. A few weeks after the Goupy No.1 flew, Hans Grade's triplane became the first German-built aeroplane to fly. In the same year Farman modified his original Voisin machine to triplane configuration, and Dorand constructed a military triplane. In 1909 the American Morris Bokor constructed his own canard triplane and the Frenchman Alfred Groos constructed a triplane which failed to fly. Through 1909 and 1910 the British aviation pioneer A.V. Roe built a series of four experimental triplanes—types I, II, III and IV—and selling a small number of his Type II and III designs, before abandoning the triplane.
Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...
was experimenting with an "octahedral" wing design and in 1910 built a triplane example, the Oionus I, which failed to fly. In 1911 the Belgian César Battaille constructed a triplane capable of short flights or hops, and the Russian Rodjestveisky also constructed a triplane.


Fighter triplanes

During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, some aircraft manufacturers turned to the triplane configuration for
fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
. In practice these triplanes generally offered inferior performance to the equivalent biplane and, despite a brief vogue around 1917, only four types saw limited production.
Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...
built a series of triplane prototypes between 1915 and 1917, featuring a top wing heavily staggered backwards to improve the pilot's view and a characteristic triangular strut arrangement bracing the three wings. The design resulted in poor handling and was eventually dropped. Sopwith developed three different triplane designs in 1916. One, known simply as the
Sopwith Triplane The Sopwith Triplane was a British single seat fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiori ...
, went into production and became the first military triplane to see operational service. It had equal-span wings of high aspect ratio, mounted on a fuselage very similar to that of the preceding Pup biplane, and braced by one sturdy strut on each side with minimal wire bracing. The type was ordered by both the
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and
RNAS The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...
, but the RFC traded theirs for another type and the Sopwith saw service only with the RNAS, where it served with success. The Sopwith type's performance advantage and early successes over the
Albatros D.III The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service ('' Luftstreitkräfte'') during World War I. A modified licence model was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service ( ''Luftfahrtruppen''). ...
spurred military interest in the design, especially in Germany and Austria-Hungary. A flurry of fighter prototypes were produced through 1917 and 1918, sometimes reluctantly while under pressure from the military. Examples were produced by Albatros,
Aviatik Automobil und Aviatik AG was a German aircraft manufacturer during World War I. The company was established at Mülhausen (today in France) in 1909 and soon became one of the country's leading producers of aircraft. It relocated to Freiburg in ...
, Brandenburg, DFW, Euler, Fokker, Friedrichshafen,
LFG Roland Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft, also referred to as LFG, was a German aircraft manufacturer during World War I. They are best known for their various "Roland" designs, notably the Roland C.II ''Walfisch'' (whale), Roland D.II ''haifisch'' (Shark) and ...
, Lloyd, Lohner, Oeffag, Pfalz, Sablating, Schütte-Lanz, Siemens-Schuckert, W.K.F, in Britain by Austin and in the US by Curtiss. Only two companies, Fokker and Curtiss, would see any of their designs into production. Fokker's V.4 prototype of 1917 (identified by some as the V.3) had unusual cantilevered wings without bracing, the uppermost wing being attached only by cabane struts to the fuselage. The wings vibrated excessively in flight and the next prototype, the V.5, featured a single interplane strut on each side, similar to the Sopwith but with no wires called
shrouds Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to '' burial sheets'', mound shroud, grave clothes, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous S ...
. This became the prototype of the famous
Fokker Dr.I The Fokker Dr.I (''Dreidecker'', "triplane" in German), often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as the ...
triplane of 1917, which would become immortalised as the aircraft most closely identified in popular culture with
Manfred von Richthofen Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (; 2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918), known in English as Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of ...
, the "Red Baron". Although it had a good rate of climb and was highly manoeuvrable, it was not particularly fast. Following the break-up of two examples in the air, the type was withdrawn from service for strengthening, and by the time it was re-introduced, it was no longer at the forefront of performance. Meanwhile, in the US, the Curtiss company produced many triplane designs between 1916 and 1918. Of these, several fighters and related types entered production, notably the Model L trainer (of which three examples were constructed as floatplanes) and the
Model S The Tesla Model S is a battery-powered liftback car serving as the flagship model of Tesla, Inc. The Model S features a dual-motor, all-wheel drive layout, although earlier versions of the Model S featured a rear-motor and rear-wheel drive l ...
and Model 18-T fighters. The Curtiss GS-1 prototype of 1918 was unusual in being a floatplane scout from the outset. The performance of the fighting triplanes was soon overtaken by improved
biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
fighters. However, as late as 1919 three prototype Sopwith Snarks were flown, and in 1920 and 1921 the heavily armoured
Boeing GA-1 The Boeing GA-1 (company designation Model 10) was an armored triplane. Designed in 1919, it was powered by a pair of modified Liberty engines driving pusher propellers. The first of the Engineering Division's heavily armored GAX series (groun ...
and GA-2 ground-attack triplanes proved too heavy to be useful.


Zeppelin killers

A few British designers pursued the triplane configuration in the anti-
Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
role. From 1915,
Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...
developed the F.K.5 and F.K.6 prototypes. These were large three-seat types with twin engines and the middle wing of noticeably longer span than the others. Then in 1917 Blackburn produced their single-seat triplane. It was something of a throwback, featuring a pusher propeller and boom-mounted empennage in the manner of an earlier era. The arrangement was intended to allow fitting of an upwards-firing 2-pounder recoilless gun in the forward fuselage. Neither type progressed beyond the prototype stage.


Bombers, transports and patrol

The French began experimenting with bomber designs in 1915. The Morane-Saulnier TRK and
Voisin Triplane The Voisin Triplanes were large experimental aircraft, experimental bombers built by Voisin (aircraft), Voisin in 1915 and 1916. After unsuccessful trials of the 1915 prototype a modified version with more powerful engines was built in 1916, as ...
prototypes of 1915 and 1916 were not successful. The Voisin design was unusual in having a subsidiary tail boom above the fuselage, helping to support the
empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third e ...
. French triplanes had more success in the long-range maritime role. Labourdette-Halbronn produced a twin-hulled triplane torpedo bomber prototype, the H.T.1, in 1918 and two prototypes of a modified H.T.2 version in 1919. Besson designed several triplane flying boats between ca. 1917 and 1919, initially in partnership with Levy. The Levy-Besson Alerte of 1917 featured a central wing of greater span than the others and many examples were used for ASW and patrol duties. Their last such design, the 1919 Levy-Besson High Seas had the top wing extended to the same span as the central wing and was also ordered into production, although the run was cancelled after relatively few had been delivered. Besson split from Levy and created his own Besson LB maritime patrol flying boat in the same year, and also the Besson Hydravion école which he exhibited at the Paris 1919 Air Show. He later developed a number of smaller designs for other roles, including Besson H-6 mail plane flown in 1921. The Italian Caproni Ca.4 of 1917 was another successful design and entered service with the Italian air force as a heavy
bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...
in 1918. Many further variants were produced, both during and after the war. Caproni later re-numbered many of these variants as new types, including the Ca.48
airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...
. In Italy's first
commercial aviation Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for remuneration or hire, as opposed to private aviation. Definition Commercial aviation is not a rigorously defined category. All commercial air transport and ae ...
disaster and one of the earliest – and, at the time, deadliest – airliner accidents, a Ca.48
crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...
while flying over
Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, on August 2, 1919, killing everyone on board (between 14 and 17 people). The unsuccessful Caproni Ca.60 prototype transatlantic seaplane had three sets of triplane wings taken from the Ca.4, making nine wings in all, and is generally classified as a multiplane. Among the many large seaplane designs produced in the US by Curtiss between 1916 and 1918, several were triplanes, however none entered production, including the Wanamaker Triplane prototype. Britain, too, gained its first triplane bomber in 1917 with the single-engined Sopwith Rhino. It was not a success and the
Sopwith Cobham The Sopwith Cobham was a British twin-engined triplane bomber aircraft designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War. The only twin-engined aircraft built by Sopwith, the Cobham did not fly until after the end o ...
, the only twin-engined type that Sopwith ever produced, fared little better two years later. From 1918, the British company Bristol developed a series of heavy triplanes which, like the Caproni design, appeared in different variants aimed at different roles. The first was the
Bristol Braemar The Bristol Braemar was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed at the end of the First World War for the Royal Air Force. Only two prototypes were constructed. Development The prototype Braemar was developed in response to the establishment ...
bomber, flying in 1918 with the Mk II version in 1919. The
Bristol Pullman The Bristol Pullman was a British prototype passenger aircraft developed from the Braemar triplane heavy bomber. Design and development The Pullman was developed as a 14-passenger variant of the Braemar bomber. The third prototype Braemar was ...
14-seat transport variant flew in 1920. This was followed by two examples of a new, larger design for a military freighter known as the
Bristol Tramp The Bristol Tramp was a British steam-powered passenger and airmail transport aircraft designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was built but never flew. Development The Tramp was a development of Bristol's earlier Pullman passenger airc ...
. The
Tarrant Tabor The Tarrant Tabor was a British triplane bomber designed towards the end of the First World War and was briefly the world's largest aircraft. It crashed, with fatalities, on its first flight. Development The Tabor was the first and only aircraft ...
, another and much larger British bomber, was built with three wings to carry the six engines required—four more-powerful engines being unavailable. The power imbalance due to the high mounting caused the Tabor to crash on its maiden flight in 1919. Its designer Walter Barling went on to design the similar-sized American
Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1 The Wittemann-Lewis NBL-1 "Barling Bomber"''Report on Official Performance Test of Barling Bomber, NLB-1, P-303, Light Load Configuration'', 14 April 1926. was an experimental long-range, heavy bomber built for the United States Army Air Service i ...
triplane, known as the "Barling Bomber", which first flew in 1923. On a smaller scale, the Avro 547 airliner was a modified
Avro 504 The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...
with an extra wing. Two were built, of which the first flew in 1920. It was sold to Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services but proved unsuited to the tough conditions in the Australian Outback. Britain's only triplane contribution to the maritime arena was the
Felixstowe Fury The Felixstowe F.4 Fury ( serial ''N123''), also known as the Porte Super-Baby, was a large British, five-engined triplane flying-boat designed by John Cyril Porte at the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe, inspired by the Wanamaker Tr ...
prototype of 1918, also known as the Porte Super-Baby. Almost as late as the Barling Bomber, in 1922 the Japanese flew the
Mitsubishi 1MT The Mitsubishi 1MT was a Japanese single-seat triplane torpedo bomber built by Mitsubishi for the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. Designed by the former Sopwith designer Herbert Smith it was intended for use aboard the Japanese aircraft car ...
torpedo bomber. It entered production as the Navy Type 10.


The racing triplanes

After
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, several examples of the Curtiss 18-T were used for racing. An 18T-2 nearly won the Curtiss Marine Trophy Race in 1922 (limited to U.S. Navy pilots), but
pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
Sandy Sanderson ran out of fuel just before the finish line. In 1921 the "Cactus Kitten" racing triplane was created by modifying the "Texas Wildcat 2" biplane (which in turn was a modification of the monoplane "Texas Wildcat" monoplane), thus becoming the only design in history to have gone from monoplane to biplane to triplane configuration. Also referred to as the Curtiss-Cox racer, being designed and sponsored by Cox from Texas and powered by a Curtiss C-12 engine, the Cactus Kitten had a wingspan of . In the 1922 Pulitzer race it came 2nd behind a Curtiss biplane. In its triplane configuration it surpassed its monoplane and biplane antecedents in handling and speed and, for a brief period in 1922, the triplane was once again being noticed with the Kitten being touted as the world's fastest plane and being capable of surpassing 200 miles per hour. The same year it was donated to the Navy and used as a trainer for the 1922 Pulitzer race, fame having proven very fleeting. In 1927 a
Catron & Fisk CF-10 The Catron & Fisk CF-10 aka International CF-10 was a triplane airliner developed by the Catron & Fisk Airplane and Engine Co. in the early 1920s. One example of the type was converted for use in the Dole Air Derby endurance race of 1927. Dev ...
twin-engined 22-seat airliner was modified with additional fuel tanks and updated engines and named the ''Pride of Los Angeles''. The intention was to enter the
Dole Air race The Dole Air Race, also known as the Dole Derby, was a deadly air race across the Pacific Ocean from Oakland, California to Honolulu in the Territory of Hawaii held in August 1927. There were eighteen official and unofficial entrants; fifteen of ...
, but an in-flight incident caused the aircraft to crash before the race started.


Private aviation

Some triplanes have been developed for private use. Perhaps the most unusual was the 1917
Curtiss Autoplane The Curtiss Autoplane, invented by Glenn Curtiss in 1917, is widely considered the first attempt to build a roadable aircraft. Although the vehicle was capable of lifting off the ground, it never achieved full flight. Development and design The ...
, a triplane flying car. The same year, the more conventional Curtiss-Judson Triplane, a one-off and slightly enlarged triplane variant of the
Curtiss Model F The Curtiss Models F made up a family of early flying boats developed in the United States in the years leading up to World War I. Widely produced, Model Fs saw service with the United States Navy under the designations C-2 through C-5, later r ...
, was sold for private use. After the war, in France the
Besson H-3 __NOTOC__ The Besson H-3 was a French civil touring triplane flying boat designed by the Marcel Besson company of Boulogne. One aircraft was built and the type did not enter production. Design and development The H-3 was designed as a civil tour ...
private tourer flew in 1921. And in 1923 the German hang-glider enthusiast Hans Richter flew a triplane variant. Following the craze for the homebuilt tandem-wing Mignet Pou du Ciel (Flying Flea), a triplane variant, the
American Flea The American Flea Ship (Flea Triplane) is a homebuilt triplane design of the early 1930s. It is one of the first examples of a female-designed-and-built aircraft. One example is displayed at the Wings of a Dream Museum. Development The American ...
, was produced in America around 1939. In this variant the top wings were fixed and the bottom wing acted as all-flying ailerons. In 1975 a triplane glider, titled BrO-18 „Boružė“ ( lith. ''Ladybird'') was built in then-Soviet occupied Lithuania by Bronius Oškinis. The aircraft having a wingspan of 4.9 meter, also earned the title of world's smallest glider at that time. Similar configuration was used in hydro-glider BrO-17V „Antelė“ (Lith. ''Duckling'').


Tandem triplanes

A tandem triplane has two sets of triplane wings, fore and aft. Few have been made. The Dufaux triplane of 1908 was Switzerland's first native aircraft design, configured as a tandem triplane with a smaller biplane horizontal stabiliser. The 1909
Roe I Triplane The Roe I Triplane (often later referred to as the Avro Triplane) was an early aircraft designed and built by A.V. Roe which was the first all-British aircraft to fly.Jackson 1990 p.6 (Roe's previous biplane had a French engine). Backgrou ...
has also been described as a tandem triplane due to its relatively large triplane aft plane. The Fokker V.8 of 1917 was another tandem design although not a true tandem triplane, having a triplane fore wing, biplane rear wing and monoplane tail stabiliser. In 1921, the Italian
Gianni Caproni Giovanni Battista Caproni, 1st Count of Taliedo (July 3, 1886 – October 27, 1957), known as "Gianni" Caproni, was an Italian aeronautical engineer, civil engineer, electrical engineer, and aircraft designer who founded the Caproni aircraft-ma ...
mated three stacks of triplane wings from his Ca.4 series to a single fuselage in a tandem triple triplane arrangement, to create the Caproni Ca.60 ''Noviplano'' prototype
transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...
airliner. It proved unstable and crashed on its second flight. A further example was under construction in Kansas City, Kansas, as late as 1922.''Popular mechanics'', August 1922, p. 175. Recently, the term "tandem triplane" has been used for some new monoplane types that have active " canard" foreplane surfaces in addition to conventional wings and horizontal tailplane. A configuration having three comparable lifting surfaces in tandem is more typically referred to as a ''
three surface aircraft A three-surface aircraft or sometimes three-lifting-surface aircraft has a foreplane, a central wing and a tailplane. The central wing surface always provides lift and is usually the largest, while the functions of the fore and aft planes may ...
'', or sometimes a ''tandem triple'' or ''tandem triplet'', and is not a triplane as such. These modern types may also be compared to the pioneer Voisin-Farman I and
Curtiss No. 1 The Curtiss No. 1 also known as the Curtiss Gold Bug or Curtiss Golden Flyer was a 1900s American early experimental aircraft, the first independent aircraft designed and built by Glenn Curtiss. Development After his success with designing airc ...
which also had a large main wing with smaller fore and aft planes; the smaller planes were not regarded as part of the main wing arrangement, and they were not described as tandem types.


See also

*
List of triplanes This is a list of aircraft types having triplane wings. ! Type ! Country ! Date ! Role ! Status ! Notes , - , Albatros Dr.I , , Germany , , 1917 , , Fighter , , Prototype , , Based on the Albatros D.V biplane. , - , Albatros Dr.II , , Ge ...
*
Multiplane (aeronautics) In aviation, a multiplane is a fixed-wing aircraft-configuration featuring multiple wing planes. The wing planes may be stacked one above another, or one behind another, or both in combination. Types having a small number of planes have specific nam ...
* John Stringfellow * Frederick Marriott


References


Notes


Bibliography

* Angelucci, E. and P. Matricardi. ''World Aircraft - Origins-World War 1''. London: Sampson Low, 1977. * * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Aircraft Built and Flown ''. London: Salamander, 1994. . * Guttman, Jon. "Crazy Capronis". ''Aviation History'', July 2008. * Jane, F.T. ''All the World's Aircraft 1913''. London: Sampson Low, 1913, facsimile reprint David & Charles, 1969. * Lamberton, W.M. and E.F. Cheeseman. ''Fighter Aircraft of the 1914–1918 War''. London: Harleyford, 1960. * Sollinger, G.K. ''Villehad Forssman: Constructing German Bombers 1914–1918''. Rusavia, 2009. {{Authority control Wing configurations