Monoplane

Encyclopedia : M : MO : MON : Monoplane

For Félix du Temple's invention, see Monoplane'' (1874)

The low-wing of a de Havilland Dove

The mid-wing of a de Havilland Vampire T11

The high-wing of a de Havilland Canada Dash 8

The parasol wing of a Dornier Do 24 flying boat

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.

History

One of the first monoplanes 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.

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