aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

, a multiplane is a

fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft (in which a rotor mounted on a spinning shaft generate ...

-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 names and are not usually described as multiplanes: *

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 ...

- two wings stacked one above the other *

Triplane A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard (aeronautics), canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are. Design principles The trip ...

- three wings stacked one above another *

Tandem wing QAC Quickie Q2 A tandem wing is a wing configuration in which a flying craft or animal has two or more sets of wings set one behind another. All the wings contribute to lift. The tandem wing is distinct from the biplane in which the wings are ...

- two main planes, one behind the other. The tandem triple or tandem triplet configuration has three lifting surfaces one behind another. While triplane, quadruplane and tandem designs are relatively uncommon, aircraft with more than four sets of wings rarely occur - none have proven successful.

Quadruplanes

The quadruplane configuration takes the

triplane A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard (aeronautics), canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are. Design principles The trip ...

approach a step further, using efficient wings of high

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

and stacking them to allow a compact and light weight design. During the pioneer years of aviation and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, a few designers sought these potential benefits for a variety of reasons, mostly with little success. From 1908, the American inventor Matthew Bacon Sellers Jr. made a series of flights in a quadruplane, progressively fitted with powerplants of decreasing power, in order to investigate low-powered flight. He eventually achieved flight on only 5 to 6 hp at a speed of 20 mph. Pemberton-Billing Ltd. made two prototype

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor 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. 155� ...

killers, the Pemberton-Billing P.B.29E and Pemberton-Billing P.B.31E, respectively in 1915 and 1917. They were comparatively large, twin-engined fighters. After the company changed its name to

Supermarine Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. The company built a range of seaplanes and flying boats, winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three cons ...

, the P.B.31E became known as the Supermarine Nighthawk. Following test flights with the prototype Armstrong Whitworth F.K.9 in 1916, a small number of Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10 quadruplane reconnaissance fighters were produced, but none saw combat action. The private-venture Wight Quadruplane scout fighter was flown in 1917. The Euler Vierdecker of 1917 unusually featured a standard triplane arrangement of fixed wings with a fourth uppermost wing comprising left and right hand articulated surfaces which acted as full-span

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

. Two examples were built, with different engines. Also in 1917, Friedrichshafen created the even more unusual Friedrichshafen FF54 scout fighter, which featured narrow-chord second and third wings, with struts connecting only the upper pair and lower pair of planes. The prototype proved unacceptable in the air and was later modified as an equally unsuccessful triplane, again with a short-chord intermediate plane. The Naglo D.II quadruplane fighter of 1918 featured a standard triplane arrangement with a smaller fourth wing attached below the main assembly, somewhat analogous to a

sesquiplane 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 a ...

. It participated in Germany's second D-type contest in 1918, and was praised for its construction and workmanship. In 1922 Besson constructed the H-5, a prototype quadruplane

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

transport. It was unusual in having two braced biplane wing stacks deeply staggered and vertically offset such that the four wing planes were stacked in an overall zig-zag arrangement.
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1923/1923%20-%200090.html ''Flight'' 15 February 1923, Pages 89-90] The only example was damaged and development was abandoned.

More than four planes

Any fixed-wing aircraft with more than four wing planes may be referred to as a multiplane. Planes may be stacked vertically as with a biplane, or placed one in front of another as with a tandem wing. Both principles may be combined.

Stacked multiplanes

In the 1890s

Hiram Maxim Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (5 February 1840 – 24 November 1916) was an American-born British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hai ...

constructed a steam-powered flying machine which he ran on rails as a test rig. It began as a biplane and later more lifting and control surfaces were added to create a bizarre multiplane. On one occasion the lift force was so great that the rail was damaged. Maxim did not allow the rig to take off because it had no effective controls. Horatio Phillips built a series of multiplane types from 1904. His Phillips Multiplane I had 20 stacked wings in an otherwise fairly conventional layout. It proved too unstable for sustained flight. By 1907 his third model was able to fly 500 ft, achieving the first successful powered flight in Great Britain. However the disappointing performance compared to more conventional contemporary types caused Phillips to abandon his ideas. In 1908 John William Roshon in America and D'Equevilly in France produced typical multiplane designs. The AEA Cygnet II, designed by

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

and constructed by the Aerial Experimental Association in America, featured a cellular multiplane formed by hundreds of tetrahedral shapes. Neither of these was capable of flight. One of the most infamous multiplanes was the 1923 Gerhardt Cycleplane, a

human-powered aircraft A human-powered aircraft (HPA) is an aircraft belonging to the class of vehicles known as human-powered transport. As its name suggests, HPAs have the pilot not only steer, but power the aircraft (usually propeller-driven) by means of a system ...

with seven sets of wings which made a single short hop under human power alone. Its flimsy construction and subsequent collapse was filmed, and this is often used as

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

mocking early impractical aircraft designs.

Tandem multiplanes

The American Williams 1908 Multiplane featured four planes in tandem while the Zerbe Sextuplane of 1908 had six. The same year, in Switzerland the Dufaux 1908 Tandem Triplane provided the country's first native design in the form of a tandem pair of stacked triplane wings with a smaller biplane horizontal stabiliser.

Stacks in tandem

Anthony Fokker Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker (6 April 1890 – 23 December 1939) was a Dutch aviation pioneer, aviation entrepreneur, aircraft designer, and aircraft manufacturer. He produced fighter aircraft in Germany during the First World War such ...

designed his bizarre Fokker V.8 about the same time as his famous Fokker Dr.I triplane. It featured a tandem arrangement of five wing planes, grouped as a stacked triplane fore wing and a biplane rear wing. Unlike its successful cousin, it barely flew and was soon abandoned. As late as 1921, the Italian Gianni Caproni mated three stacks of triplane wings from his Caproni Ca.4 series to a single

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

in tandem triple arrangement, to create the nine-winged Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano prototype long-range airliner. It proved unstable and crashed on its first flight.

List of multiplane aircraft

This list includes types having four or more wing planes. , - , Maxim Flying machine , , UK , , 2 to 7 planes , , Experimental , , 1890s , , Test rig , , 0 , , Planes mostly stacked. Various configurations investigated. Held down on rails, it lifted but was never allowed to fly free. , - , Phillips test rig , , UK , , 41 planes , , Experimental , , 1893 , , Test rig , , 0 , , Stacked planes. Tethered to rails, lifted 3 ft. , - , Phillips Multiplane I , , UK , , 20 planes , , Experimental , , 1904 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Stacked planes. Hops but too unstable for sustained flight. , - , Phillips Multiplane II , , UK , , 200 planes , , Experimental , , 1907 , , Prototype , , 1 , , 4 tandem stacks of 50 planes each. First successful powered flight in Great Britain. , - , Roshon multiplane , , US , , 26 planes , , Experimental , , 1907 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Tandem stacks of 13. Failed to fly.Angelucci & Matricardi (1977). , - , Williams 1908 Multiplane , , US , , 4 planes , , Experimental , , 1908 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Tandem planes.Jane (1913), page 19b. , - , Zerbe Sextuplane , , US , , 6 planes , , Experimental , , 1908 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Tandem planes. , - , Dufaux triplane , , Switzerland , , 8 planes , , Experimental , , 1908 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Tandem pair of stacked triplane wings with a smaller biplane horizontal stabiliser. First Swiss aircraft. Failed to fly. , - , D'Equevilly multiplane , , France , , 7 planes , , Experimental , , 1908 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Failed to fly. , - , AEA Cygnet II , , US , , 16 planes , , Experimental , , 1908 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Planes of repeat tetrahedral form, stacked. Cellular multiplane designed by

. Failed to fly. , - , Sellers 1908 Quadruplane , , US , , 4 planes , , Experimental , , 1908 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Investigation of low-powered flight. , - , Pemberton-Billing P.B.29E , , UK , , 4 planes , , Fighter , , 1915 , , Prototype , , , , Zeppelin killer.Green & Swanborough (1994). , - , Armstrong Whitworth F.K.9 , , UK , , 4 planes , , Reconnaissance fighter , , 1916 , , Prototype , , , , , - , Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10 , , UK , , 4 planes , , Reconnaissance fighter , , 1917 , , Production , , , , , - , Pemberton-Billing P.B.31E , , UK , , 4 planes , , Fighter , , 1917 , , Prototype , , , , Zeppelin killer. Became the Supermarine Nighthawk. , - , Supermarine Nighthawk , , UK , , 4 planes , , Fighter , , 1917 , , Prototype , , , , Zeppelin killer. Previously the Pemberton-Billing P.B.31E. , - , Wight quadruplane , , UK , , 4 planes , , Fighter , , 1917 , , Prototype , , 1 , , , - , Euler Vierdecker , , Germany , , 4 planes , , Fighter , , 1917 , , Prototype , , 2 , , Standard triplane arrangement of fixed wings with a fourth uppermost wing comprising left and right hand articulated surfaces which acted as full-span ailerons. , - , Friedrichshafen FF54 , , Germany , , 4 planes , , Fighter , , 1917 , , Prototype , , , , Narrow-chord second and third wings, with struts connecting only the upper pair and lower pair of planes. Later modified to triplane configuration. , - , Naglo D.II , , Germany , , 4 planes , , Fighter , , 1918 , , Prototype , , , , Standard triplane arrangement with a smaller fourth wing attached below the main assembly, analogous to a

. , - , Fokker V.8 , , Germany , , 5 planes , , Fighter , , 1917 , , Prototype , , , , Tandem arrangement, grouped as a stacked triplane fore wing and a biplane rear wing. , - , Johns Multiplane , , US , , 7 planes , , Experimental , , 1919 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Unable to maintain controlled flight. , - , Zerbe Air Sedan , , US , , 4 planes , , Experimental , , 1919 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Crashed on first flight. , - , Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano , , Italy , , 9 planes , , Transport , , 1921 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Three tandem stacks of triplane wings, nine in all. Flying boat. , - ,

Besson H-5 __NOTOC__ The Besson H-5 (or sometimes Besson MB-11) was a French transport quadruplane flying boat designed by the Marcel Besson company of Boulogne. The only H-5 was damaged and development was abandoned. Development The HB.5 (MB-10) origina ...

, , France , , 4 planes , , Transport , , 1922 , , Prototype , , , ,

Flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

with two braced biplane wing stacks deeply staggered and vertically offset such that the four wing planes were stacked in an overall zig-zag arrangement. , - , Gerhardt Cycleplane , , US , , 7 planes , , Experimental , , 1923 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Stacked wings. Human-powered

References

Notes

{{reflist

Bibliography

*Angelucci, E. and Matricardi, P.; ''World Aircraft - Origins-World War 1'', Sampson Low, 1977. *Green, W. and Swanborough, G.; ''The complete book of fighters'', Salamander, 1994. *Jane, F.T.; ''All the world's aircraft 1913'', Sampson Low, 1913, facsimile reprint David & Charles, 1969. Wing configurations Lists of aircraft by wing configuration