Monoplane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For Félix du Temple's invention, see Monoplane (1874)
 |
|
|
|
A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane.
The main distinction in types of monoplane is how the wings attach to the fuselage:
- low-wing, the wing lower surface is level with the bottom of the fuselage
- mid-wing, the wing is mounted mid-way up the fuselage
- shoulder-wing, the wing is mounted above the fuselage middle
- high-wing, the wing upper surface is level with the top of the fuselage
- parasol, the wing is mounted above the fuselage (now rare)
Louis Bleriot flew across the English Channel in 1909 in a mid-wing monoplane of his own design. The Fokker 'Eindecker' of 1915 was a successful fighter aircraft.
Monoplanes then went out of fashion, and remained so until the 1930s. Most military aircraft of WW2 were monoplanes, as have been virtually all jet powered aircraft since.
[edit] History
Probably the first monoplane was the Monoplane built in 1874 by Felix du Temple de la Croix, a large plane made of aluminium in Brest, France, with a wingspan of 13 meters and a weight of only 80 kilograms (without the pilot). Several trials were made with the plane, and it is generally recognized that it achieved lift off under its own power after a ski-jump run, glided for a short time and returned safely to the ground, possibly making it the first successful powered flight in history, depending on the definition — since the flight was only a short distance and a short time.
Another early monoplane was constructed by Romanian inventor Traian Vuia, who made a flight of 12 m (40 feet) on March 18, 1906. Two years later, Louis Blériot built his own monoplane and flew it across the English Channel.
Richard Pearse of New Zealand had built a monoplane in which he made attempts at controlled powered flight on the 31st of March 1903, although the lack of outside knowledge of his achievements meant that his design had almost no influence in the general development of the aeroplane.
