Friday 19 March 2010

Triplane



A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three sets of wings, each roughly the same size and mounted one above the other. Traditionally, vertical wings, elevators, and canards are not included in this count. Typically, the lower set of wings would be level with the underside of the aircraft's fuselage, the middle set level with the top of the fuselage, and the top set supported above the fuselage on struts.

The first triplane was designed in 1908 by Ambroise Goupy, built by Blériot-Voisin, and flown with a 37 kW (50 hp) Renault engine. The British aviation pioneer A.V. Roe built several experimental triplane designs before turning to the tractor biplane. Triplanes have greater wing area than biplanes and monoplanes of similar wing span and chord, potentially offering increased lift and tighter turning radius.

During World War I, some aircraft manufacturers turned to this configuration in an effort to gain extra maneuverability for fighter aircraft, at a penalty of greater drag and therefore lower speed. In practice, triplanes generally offered inferior performance to biplanes, and only a few aircraft of this configuration reached production status. Triplane layouts were also experimented with on large aircraft such as early heavy bombers such as the Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1 Barling Bomber and on some experimental British anti-zeppelin fighters.



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