Biplane

aviation history · flying machines · engineering

Two wings stacked up. A biplane has two main wings, one above the other, instead of just one like modern planes. This double-wing design gave early aircraft builders extra strength without needing heavy materials.

The Wright brothers' choice. The Wright Flyer, the first airplane to ever fly with a person controlling it, was a biplane. This historic flight in 1903 proved that the design worked for powered flight.

Trade-off with drag. While two wings made planes stronger, they also created more air resistance, or drag, than a single wing would. As airplanes got faster and materials improved, this became a bigger problem.

Used until the 1930s. Biplanes were the main design for airplanes for about 30 years. But better building techniques and stronger materials meant that by the late 1930s, sleeker monoplanes with just one wing took over.