The problems were mainly structural rather than aerodynamic.Ī series of fatal accidents involving wing failures in early monoplanes resulted in a ban on them by the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in the summer of 1912. Although many of the earliest aircraft were monoplanes, they were found to possess some very dangerous characteristics. After all, who has ever seen a biplane bird? Nature, however, cannot always be translated into machinery in a straightforward manner. It is a basic premise that an airplane with one wing is more aerodynamically efficient than an airplane with two. ![]() The triplane would have become a mere footnote in the history books were it not for the fact that one of them, the Fokker Dr.I, became one of the most famous airplanes of World War I. Aircraft design is no less subject to that principle than are clothes, music, architecture or automobiles.įor the brief period of a year, roughly from mid-1917 to mid-1918, the triplane format suddenly came to dominate the world of fighter plane design, particularly in Germany. ![]() Design is often dominated by the whimsical dictates of fashion.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |