Biplane aircraft: design features, advantages and disadvantages

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Even a person who is far from aviation in general should be clear that there are different planes - and they differ both in their functionality and in principle in form and appearance. For example, there are biplanes among aircraft varieties. What they are like when the first biplanes appeared, how modern ones differ from them - and we tell about other information regarding these iron birds in our material.

What is a biplane

Before talking about biplanes of the world, about biplanes from different countries, let's briefly talk about what a biplane is in general and how it differs from other iron birds. The very name "biplane" seems to hint at what this aircraft variety is: "bi" means "two", in this particular case we are talking about two pairs of wings located one above the other. Such wings have a large area, despite the fact that their span is smaller. As a result, during takeoff and landing, a biplane requires a significantly smaller strip than a monoplane - that is, an aircraft with a single pair of wings. Initially, the wings of the biplanes were wooden, they were covered with fabric on top. It cannot be said that such a design was distinguished by highstrength, and therefore they soon abandoned it, replacing the wooden planes (as the wings are called) with metal ones.

When biplanes appeared

The exact date of the appearance of biplanes is not that difficult, rather impossible. It is known that by the time the First World War began, biplanes were the most sought-after iron birds. They were very popular, and during the war they were generally "number one" in aviation.

However, the development of biplanes definitely started even earlier. At the end of the nineteenth century, when aviation was just “getting on its feet”, various designers experimented with aircraft models and brought something of their own to this area of science. The “mastering” of gliders was actively going on, but experience showed that the design of such aircraft was not very successful - it was biplanes that turned out to be much more convenient. Many (mostly French speakers) generally believe that the biplane was the first to be built from aircraft, and its authorship belonged to a Franco-Brazilian balloonist named Santos-Dumont. The thing is that each aircraft designer - that the aforementioned Santos-Dumont, that the notorious Wright brothers, that other scientists - contributed, as mentioned above, something of their own to the aircraft industry, which, as we remember, was just beginning to develop. No one really knew yet what would work, what would “shoot”. Therefore, everyone who somehow had a hand in the development of the first aircraft models can be considered pioneers in this area.

Early twentieth century

BIn the early 1900s, biplanes were, as they say, “in use” in aviation. There were several varieties. However, there were two main aerodynamic versions of iron birds: with a pusher propeller and the so-called box-shaped wing (this is a biplane wing when the shape of the box when viewed from the front is rectangular) - once, and with the plumage located behind and the pulling screw - two. In those years, in general, either double biplanes or single-seat monoplanes were built, since it was these two types of aircraft that, based on the results of various tests, showed the best results. The advantages of biplanes, as well as their disadvantages, will be discussed in more detail later.

Benefits

Biplanes had many advantages - otherwise they would not have gained such great popularity. Perhaps their main advantage was the large wing area already mentioned above with a relatively small wing span and the need for only a minimum runway. However, in addition to this, the biplanes had enough advantages: a greater carrying capacity, a better view for both the pilot and the passenger, the ability to use this machine as a training one, better maneuverability due to two wing planes, a reduction in total weight and moments of inertia, greater reliability - for the same reason, greater stability and a much more rare spin. As you can see, there are more than enough pluses, but it cannot be assumed that biplanes did not have any minuses. They did, and the conversation will go on about them.

Disadvantages of biplanes

Unlikemonoplanes, which were more suitable for sports flying, biplanes were not used as often by athletes (although special sports biplanes also existed, we will talk about this later). However, this cannot be called a significant drawback, but the serious fuel consumption due to the mutual influence of two pairs of wings on each other is undoubtedly a minus of this design. The wings, by the way, are capable of somewhat limiting the pilot's view; however, the location of the pilot in the cockpit varies - he can be in front of the wings, then this disadvantage also becomes insignificant. The main disadvantage of biplane aircraft is considered to be an increased profile drag (this is the difference between the aerodynamic drag of the wing and its inductive drag).

Be that as it may, but the shortcomings of biplanes did not prevent them, we repeat again, from being the most used aircraft during the First World War. We'll talk about this later.

Military biplanes

Above mentioned two varieties of biplanes that were especially popular. One of them, a biplane with a pusher propeller, was the number one during the war years. It was first used in 1910 as an improved variation of previous military models. Such modernization of the biplanes benefited - their streamlining increased, due to which the iron birds were able to develop greater speed. Biplanes of the First World War were fuselageless, unlike the models used earlier. It was a very popular option.biplanes called "Scout", as you might guess, British-made - small in size, with a single-column wing box and single - the presence of a passenger was not expected. They developed a very high speed - higher than monoplanes - due to the low load on the wings, and in wartime conditions this was almost a fundamental quality for aircraft. The Scout was the fastest and most agile of all the iron birds, and it was this biplane model that became the inspiration for the subsequent fighter aircraft.

USSR biplanes

These are all world biplanes, but what about Soviet biplanes? What pleased aviation lovers with the aircraft construction of the country of the Soviets?

Successes in this science in our country were not as large-scale as in other states, but they also took place. We also developed our own biplanes - and the first biplane that successfully flew into the air belonged to the authorship of Prince Kudashev. He stayed in the air in 1910 for several minutes, flying a couple of tens of meters, and radically changed the skeptical attitude of representatives of the state apparatus towards Russian developments.

Following Kudashev, such scientists-engineers as Sikorsky, Gakkel and, of course, Mozhaisky made their contribution to the Russian biplane construction. And a few decades later, already closer to the middle of the century, the AN-2 pleased the world with its birth - a Soviet-made biplane, which became the Guinness Book record holder as the longest aircraft in operation in the world. About him and about his predecessor, the U-2 aircraft, we will tellnext.

U-2 was born thanks to a scientist named Polikarpov in 1927. When he passed away in 1944, the biplane was renamed - from U-2 it turned into PO-2 in memory of its creator. The power of this aircraft was about a hundred horsepower, it took only fifteen meters to take off, and it was used in completely different areas: for sanitary and passenger transportation, for military purposes and aerial photography - and so on. There was even a U-2 biplane bomber. On board were placed up to six bombs of eight kilograms each.

AN-2 owes its birth to the designer Antonov - that's why the name is, according to the first two letters of the engineer's last name. For the first time it took off into the sky in 1947 and since then it has continued to do so for almost seventy long years (at the same time it was on the verge of closing several times in Soviet times). "Kukuruznik" - as the people call the AN-2 until now - was often used for passenger and freight transportation on local lines, constantly flying to regional centers, villages, and regions. This was possible due to the great maneuverability of the biplane, and also because its properties included the ability to land on unprepared sites (and take off from them, respectively). A similar quality later contributed to the fact that it was on the AN-2 that the flight to the South Pole was made - much more unprepared place for landing and takeoff!

Biplanes in World War II

During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet U-2 biplanes played a huge role in our aviation. What alreadyit was said above, they were used as bombers - not only were bombs placed on their sides, they were also practically invisible for shelling, because they were very light and this allowed them to fly either at extremely low altitude or at "turtle" speed. In addition, biplanes performed reconnaissance and communications aircraft functions. Biplanes also carried out night raids on the enemy camp, U-2 constantly interacted with partisan detachments. The U-2 was much more maneuverable than the German biplanes, and therefore the Germans could not manage to sit on the tail of the Soviet pilots.

Also in the Great Patriotic War, I-153 biplane fighters also played a significant role, the first battle for which was the battle back in 1939 at Khalkhin Gol. After that, the I-153 was actively used in the war with the Finns, and with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War - on its fronts. With their help, they mainly carried out attacks on ground targets. Since it was an old model, by 1945 it was practically out of order and, giving way to the “young”, was hardly used in the future.

But the AN-2 did not have time to be used in World War II - it was “born” after its completion. But nevertheless, it can rightfully be called a military aircraft - this biplane has seen a lot in its lifetime. The Korean and Vietnam Wars, the civil wars in Laos and Nicaragua, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Croatia, the uprising in Hungary, the conflict in Karabakh, the war in Angola … And these are far from all military clashes in which, asboth transport and assault vehicles were actively and successfully used by the Soviet "maize".

Biplanes of today

Modern biplanes are, of course, more modernized. Many things in them have been improved, although some things are still used from what was in the Soviet period. For example, the location of the upper wing in front of the rear wing remained unchanged, which significantly improves the viewing angle.

If we talk about new developments, then this, for example, is the use of an ultra-modern turboprop American engine instead of the good old piston gasoline. Such biplanes are produced in Ukraine, similar ones should soon appear in our country - despite the fact that almost ten years ago the production of the AN-2 was discontinued. Now there are rumors about the possible resumption of production of the most popular Soviet "maize" as part of the aircraft manufacturing development program until 2025.

Sport varieties of biplanes

As mentioned above, the biplane was never a sports aircraft - unlike the monoplane, which was more convenient for this purpose. However, of course, in the world there were - and still exist - several sporting varieties of biplanes. Among them, for example, the Acro Sport models (United States of America) created in 1972. These biplanes are very light, and their design is so simple that it even implies the possibility of self-assembly. Acro Sport was originally released as a single-seat sports biplane, but alreadysix years later, it was improved - and a two-seat model of this biplane appeared.

Interesting facts

1. The first officially recognized world flight was made in December 1903. The plane on which this action took place was a biplane.
2. On the good old Soviet "corn" the raid can be up to twenty thousand hours, which is a very considerable figure.
3. The production of AN-2 began in Novosibirsk. There, a large production was opened at the Chkalovsky Aviation Plant. And the original name of this aircraft was "Vezdelet" - the name proposed by the creator himself, engineer Antonov.
4. Before the AN-3, the AN-2 was the largest single-engine aircraft.
5. Biplanes began to be called "maize" in the mid-fifties of the last century, when they began to be actively used for agricultural work on corn "plantations".
6. In the Soviet Union, biplanes were called "maize", but the Germans during the Great Patriotic War called our aircraft of this type "coffee grinders" and "sewing machines" - one more trenchant!
7. In the same year as the AN-2, the Kalashnikov assault rifle was born. So for a long time there was a joke that the above aircraft is a Kalashnikov assault rifle with a propeller.
8. Soviet AN-2 is now produced even in China - under a different name, of course. And until 2002, a biplane was also produced in Poland - for almost forty years, almost twelve thousand of theseairplanes.
9. To this day, the AN-2 is present among the aircraft of the armies of nineteen states, including the Russian one.
10. The first biplane factory was founded in 1907 in France.
11. The fastest biplane in the world, a high-speed biplane fighter, back in 1938, was recognized by the Italian Fiat, which became a modernized form of a polutoraplan fighter. The maximum speed that this aircraft was capable of reaching reached five hundred and twenty kilometers per hour.
12. In the Soviet Union in the forties monoplanes were preferred, while biplanes were considered an anachronism, a relic of the past. Perhaps, partly for this reason, the engineer Antonov took quite a long time to realize his idea - after all, he planned the creation of the future AN-2 back in 1940 (and everything turned out only seven years later).
13. The last French biplane fighter was produced in 1937 under the name Bleriot-SPAD.
14. Engineer Polikarpov created not only the famous U-2 biplane. It is his authorship that also belongs to the biplane fighter called "The Seagull", in other words, the I-153 mentioned above.
15. Despite the production of the AN-2 suspended in our country (and it was suspended due to the high cost of these biplanes and, as a result, the lack of demand for them), the biplane scheme is still the most "digestible" and the most suitable in that including for a light aircraft of the twenty-first century, the search for the design of which is now being carried out by modern aircraft designers. The engineers point outthat not a single model, with the exception of biplanes, can firmly occupy its niche in the aviation market. And this means that the biplanes still live and live.

This is the information about the various biplanes of the world. And I really want here, at the end of our article, to give a short excerpt from the work of the famous writer Richard Bach, who is also a lover of heights, airplanes and the sky. His work is called so - "Biplane", and there are such lines in it:

This is one of those times where there is no doubt that this moment is an important moment that will be remembered for a long time. At that moment, the ancient throttle stick under my glove moves forward, and the first second of the journey begins. Here are the technical details crowded around: 1750 engine rpm, oil pressure - 70 psi, its temperature - 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Other details rush to join them, and I'm ready to learn again: when this plane is on the ground, I can't see anything ahead of me at all; I wonder how far you can push the throttle forward so that the engine does not spin faster; it will be a long and windy journey; pay attention to the grass that grows on the edge of the runway; the tail rises so quickly, and we rush along the ground on one front wheels. And we're off the ground. I am surrounded by the roar and the beating, whirling wind, but I can hear it all the way they hear from there, from the ground: a subtle rumble that grows and for a moment turns into a powerful roar directlyoverhead, then gradually fades until only a silent, tiny old biplane remains in the sky.

Beautiful, isn't it?