aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes airplane, fixed-wing and helicopter, rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as aerostat, lighter- ...

, a multiplane is a

fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are dist ...

-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 a ...

- 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 foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are. Design principles The triplane arrangement ma ...

- 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 foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are. Design principles The triplane arrangement ma ...

approach a step further, using efficient wings of high aspect ratio and stacking them to allow a compact and light weight design. During the pioneer years of aviation and World War I, a few designers sought these potential benefits for a variety of reasons, mostly with little success. From ca. 1909 the American inventor Matthew Bacon Sellers II made a series of flights in the

Sellers 1909 Quadruplane Sellers may refer to * Seller, someone who sells * Sellers, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Sellers, South Carolina Sellers is a small town in Marion County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 219 at the 2000 census. G ...

, 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 Count 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 ...

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 that is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II as well as a range of seaplanes and flying boats, and a series of jet-powered fighter aircraft after World War II ...

, the P.B.31E became known as the

Supermarine Nighthawk The Supermarine P.B.31E Nighthawk was a British aircraft of the First World War and the first project of the Pemberton-Billing operation after it became Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. It was an anti-Zeppelin night fighter operated by a crew o ...

. Following test flights with the prototype Armstrong Whitworth F.K.9 in 1916, a small number of

Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10 The Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10 was a British two-seat quadruplane (''i.e.'', four wing) fighter aircraft built by Armstrong Whitworth during the First World War. While it was ordered in small numbers for the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Nava ...

quadruplane reconnaissance fighters were produced, but none saw combat action. The private-venture Wight Quadruplane scout fighter was flown in 1917. The

Euler Vierdecker Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...

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. 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 fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fuselag ...

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- 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 hair-curl ...

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 Horatio Frederick Phillips (1845 – 1924) was an English aviation pioneer, born in Streatham, Surrey. He was famous for building multiplane flying machines with many more sets of lifting surfaces than are normal on modern aircraft. However h ...

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 Roshon in America and D'Equevilly in France produced typical multiplane designs. The

AEA Cygnet II The Cygnet (or Aerodrome #5) was an extremely unorthodox early Canadian aircraft, with a wall-like "wing" made up of 3,393 tetrahedral cells. It was a powered version of the Cygnet tetrahedral kite designed by Dr Alexander Graham Bell in 1907 and ...

, designed by

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

and constructed by the

Aerial Experimental Association The Aerial Experiment Association (AEA) was a Canadian-American aeronautical research group formed on 30 September 1907, under the leadership of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. The AEA produced several different aircraft in quick succession, with eac ...

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. Human-powered aircraft have been successfully flown over considerable distances. However, they are still primarily constructed ...

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 stoc ...

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 suc ...

designed his bizarre Fokker V.8 about the same time as his famous

Fokker Dr.I The Fokker Dr.I (''Dreidecker'', "triplane" in German), often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as th ...

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 The Caproni Ca.4 was an Italian heavy bomber of the World War I era. Development After designing the successful Ca.3, Gianni Caproni of the Caproni works designed a much bigger aircraft. It shared the unusual layout of the Caproni Ca.3, bein ...

series to a single fuselage 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. , - ,

, , 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. , - , 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 The so-called Dufaux triplane was an unnamed experimental aircraft built in Switzerland in 1908. It was constructed by the brothers Armand and Henri Dufaux who had previously experimented with a model helicopter. This new aircraft incorporated a ...

, , 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. , - , Roshon multiplane , , US , , 26 planes , , Experimental , , 1908 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Tandem stacks of 13. Failed to fly.Angelucci & Matricardi (1977). , - , D'Equevilly multiplane , , France , , 7 planes , , Experimental , , 1908 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Failed to fly. , - ,

, , US , , 16 planes , , Experimental , , 1908 , , Prototype , , 1 , , Planes of repeat tetrahedral form, stacked. Cellular multiplane designed by

. Failed to fly. , - ,

, , US , , 4 planes , , Experimental , , 1909 , , 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 , , , , , - ,

, , UK , , 4 planes , , Reconnaissance fighter , , 1917 , , Production , , , , , - , Pemberton-Billing P.B.31E , , UK , , 4 planes , , Fighter , , 1917 , , Prototype , , , , Zeppelin killer. Became the 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 The Zerbe Air Sedan was an American single engine quadruplane passenger aircraft project started by Professor James Slough Zerbe in 1918. The machine made one flight in 1921, was damaged during landing, and was subsequently abandoned. Design an ...

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

Flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fuselag ...

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 design configuration