__NOTOC__ The EAA Biplane is a recreational aircraft that was designed by the

Experimental Aircraft Association The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 200,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapt ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and marketed as plans for home-built aircraft.

Design and development

A preliminary design was produced for the EAA by a team of

Allison Allison may refer to: People * Allison (given name) * Allison (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Eugene Allison Smith (1922-1980), American politician and farmer Companies * Allison Engine Company, American aircraft engine ...

engineers led by EAA member Jim D. Stewart in 1955. This team took the Gere Sport of the 1930s as their starting point and eventually developed a completely new design, which also incorporated several later design changes made by Robert D. Blacker, the prototype's builder and one of its test pilots. Blacker's design changes included adding a +2 degree of dihedral to the upper wing, redesign of the

horizontal stabilizer 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 gyroplan ...

, installation of a diagonal brace at Stations 2 and 3, a change to the

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 ...

truss assembly, strengthening of the control column support, and a ball-bearing arrangement. The design is a single-seat

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 ...

of conventional configuration, with staggered, single-bay equal-span wings braced with N-struts. The undercarriage is of fixed tailwheel type. The fuselage is fabric-covered welded steel tube, and the wings fabric-covered wood.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 139. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Monica CA, 1977. This prototype EAA Biplane was built by Blacker and his students at

St. Rita of Cascia High School St. Rita of Cascia High School is an all-male Catholic high school located in the Ashburn neighborhood on Chicago's Southwest Side., United States. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, is operated by the Province of Our Mother ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, as the second airplane completed as part of EAA's

Project Schoolflight Project Schoolflight was a youth outreach program of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) which was jointly co-founded in 1955 by EAA founder Paul Poberezny and Robert D. Blacker, the director of the Aviation Industrial Arts program at St. Ri ...

. The EAA Biplane construction began in September 1957, with a first flight in June, 1960. During the construction of the prototype, Blacker wrote several "EAA Biplane Progress Reports" published in EAA's Sport Aviation magazine. Blacker put the prototype's incomplete fuselage as on display at EAA's 1958 fly-in. The prototype EAA Biplane work, along with the other facets of Project Schoolflight, resulted in the award of the Mechanix Illustrated trophy for "Outstanding Achievement in Home-Built Aircraft". The completed prototype EAA Biplane was first publicly shown at the 1961

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

Fly-In.

Operational history

Plans for the biplane remained available until 1972, with 7,000 sets sold.

Aircraft on display

EAA Aviation Museum The EAA Aviation Museum, formerly the EAA AirVenture Museum (or Air Adventure Museum), is a museum dedicated to the preservation and display of historic and experimental aircraft as well as antiques, classics, and warbirds. The museum is lo ...

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh. History Oshkosh was ...

- prototype.

Specifications (typical)

References

* * *
AirVenture Museum page on type

airVenture Museum specification page for Biplane with 85 hp engine and open cockpit

List of magazine articles about the EAA Biplane

External links

{{commons category inline 1960s United States sport aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Aircraft manufactured in the United States Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1960 Experimental Aircraft Association