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79-653: The Gloster IV was a single-engined biplane racing floatplane designed and produced by the British aviation manufacturer Gloster Aircraft Company . In response to an order from the British Air Ministry for a high speed floatplane for the 1927 race, Gloster designed the Gloster IV ; it was a development of the Gloster III which had finished second in the 1925 race. Henry Folland , Gloster's chief designer, redesigned

158-611: A biplane or a monoplane ; while the high speed aircraft developed in Germany were almost entirely monoplanes by 1927, France and Britain both opted to pursue development of both biplane and monoplane configurations for their racing aircraft. Gloster's chief designer, Henry Folland , decided to persist with the biplane configuration following an extensive study of the matter, centred around three key areas: speed, wing rigidity, and application to service requirements. Certainly, torsional rigidity, and thus resistance to undesirable wing flutter ,

237-471: A 3-year-old seedling may be considered established; in moist habitats, seedlings may need 4 or 5 years to become established on mineral soil, possibly longer on litter seedbeds. Growth remains very slow for several to many years. Three years after shelterwood felling in subalpine Alberta, dominant regeneration averaged 5.5 cm in height in scarified blocks, and 7.3 cm in non-scarified blocks (Day 1970), possibly reflecting diminished fertility with

316-646: A W shape cabane, however as it does not connect the wings to each other, it does not add to the number of bays. Large transport and bombing biplanes often needed still more bays to provide sufficient strength. These are often referred to as multi-bay biplanes . A small number of biplanes, such as the Zeppelin-Lindau D.I have no interplane struts and are referred to as being strutless . Because most biplanes do not have cantilever structures, they require rigging wires to maintain their rigidity. Early aircraft used simple wire (either braided or plain), however during

395-412: A biplane aircraft, two wings are placed one above the other. Each provides part of the lift, although they are not able to produce twice as much lift as a single wing of similar size and shape because the upper and the lower are working on nearly the same portion of the atmosphere and thus interfere with each other's behaviour. In a biplane configuration with no stagger from the upper wing to the lower wing,

474-460: A degree, these classification procedures have important limitations; genetic composition of the seeds produced by a stand is determined by both the seed trees and the pollen parents, and species classification of hybrid seedlots and estimates of their level of introgression on the basis of seed-tree characteristics can be unreliable when hybrid seedlots vary in their introgressiveness in consequence of spatial and temporal variations in contributions from

553-608: A documented jet-kill, as one Lockheed F-94 Starfire was lost while slowing down to 161 km/h (100 mph) – below its stall speed – during an intercept in order to engage the low flying Po-2. Later biplane trainers included the de Havilland Tiger Moth in the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and others and the Stampe SV.4 , which saw service postwar in the French and Belgian Air Forces. The Stearman PT-13

632-509: A faster and more comfortable successor to the Dragon. As the available engine power and speed increased, the drag penalty of external bracing increasingly limited aircraft performance. To fly faster, it would be necessary to reduce external bracing to create an aerodynamically clean design; however, early cantilever designs were either too weak or too heavy. The 1917 Junkers J.I sesquiplane utilized corrugated aluminum for all flying surfaces, with

711-422: A given wing area. However, interference between the airflow over each wing increases drag substantially, and biplanes generally need extensive bracing, which causes additional drag. Biplanes are distinguished from tandem wing arrangements, where the wings are placed forward and aft, instead of above and below. The term is also occasionally used in biology , to describe the wings of some flying animals . In

790-419: A manner that it could be fitted into the fuselage with a minimum of interference. A further interference reduction measure was the positioning if all bracing wires that left the wing surfaces at large angles. Furthermore, these lift wires imposed relatively little compression load upon the upper wing spars. A novel shock absorbing feature, comprising strategically placed rubber discs, was incorporated so that

869-507: A minimum of struts; however, it was relatively easy to damage the thin metal skin and required careful handling by ground crews. The 1918 Zeppelin-Lindau D.I fighter was an all-metal stressed-skin monocoque fully cantilevered biplane, but its arrival had come too late to see combat use in the conflict. By the 1930s, biplanes had reached their performance limits, and monoplanes become increasingly predominant, particularly in continental Europe where monoplanes had been increasingly common from

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948-463: A small degree, but more often was used to improve access to the cockpit. Many biplanes have staggered wings. Common examples include the de Havilland Tiger Moth , Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann and Travel Air 2000 . Alternatively, the lower wing can instead be moved ahead of the upper wing, giving negative stagger, and similar benefits. This is usually done in a given design for structural reasons, or to improve visibility. Examples of negative stagger include

1027-473: A somewhat unusual sesquiplane arrangement, possessing a more substantial lower wing with two spars that eliminated the flutter problems encountered by single-spar sesquiplanes. The stacking of wing planes was suggested by Sir George Cayley in 1843. Hiram Maxim adopted the idea for his steam-powered test rig, which lifted off but was held down by safety rails, in 1894. Otto Lilienthal designed and flew two different biplane hang gliders in 1895, though he

1106-558: Is a subjective concept based on the idea that once a seedling has successfully reached a certain size, not much is likely to prevent its further development. Criteria vary, of course, but Noble and Ronco (1978), for instance, considered that seedlings four to five years old, or 8 cm to 10 cm tall, warranted the designation "established", since only unusual factors such as snow mold , fire , trampling , or predation would then impair regeneration success. Eis (1967) suggested that in dry habitats on either mineral soil or litter seedbeds

1185-547: Is better known for his monoplanes. By 1896 a group of young men in the United States, led by Octave Chanute , were flying hang gliders including biplanes and concluded that the externally braced biplane offered better prospects for powered flight than the monoplane. In 1903, the Wright Flyer biplane became the first successful powered aeroplane. Throughout the pioneer years, both biplanes and monoplanes were common, but by

1264-422: Is more difficult. Species classification for seeds collected from spruce stands in which introgressive hybridization between white and Sitka spruces ( P. sitchensis ) may have occurred is important for determining appropriate cultural regimens in the nursery. If, for instance, white spruce grown at container nurseries in southwestern British Columbia are not given an extended photoperiod, leader growth ceases early in

1343-524: The Bristol M.1 , that caused even those with relatively high performance attributes to be overlooked in favour of 'orthodox' biplanes, and there was an allegedly widespread belief held at that time that monoplane aircraft were inherently unsafe during combat. Between the years of 1914 and 1925, a clear majority of new aircraft introduced were biplanes; however, during the latter years of the First World War,

1422-638: The First World War -era Fokker D.VII fighter and the Second World War de Havilland Tiger Moth basic trainer. The larger two-seat Curtiss JN-4 Jenny is a two bay biplane , the extra bay being necessary as overlong bays are prone to flexing and can fail. The SPAD S.XIII fighter, while appearing to be a two bay biplane, has only one bay, but has the midpoints of the rigging braced with additional struts; however, these are not structurally contiguous from top to bottom wing. The Sopwith 1½ Strutter has

1501-684: The Grumman Ag Cat are available in upgraded versions with turboprop engines. The two most produced biplane designs were the 1913 British Avro 504 of which 11,303 were built, and the 1928 Soviet Polikarpov Po-2 of which over 20,000 were built, with the Po-2 being the direct replacement for the Soviet copy of the Avro 504. Both were widely used as trainers. The Antonov An-2 was very successful too, with more than 18,000 built. Although most ultralights are monoplanes,

1580-595: The Lite Flyer Biplane, the Sherwood Ranger , and the Murphy Renegade . The feathered dinosaur Microraptor gui glided, and perhaps even flew, on four wings, which may have been configured in a staggered sesquiplane arrangement. This was made possible by the presence of flight feathers on both forelimbs and hindlimbs, with the feathers on the forelimbs opening to a greater span. It has been suggested that

1659-539: The Nieuport-Delage NiD 42 / 52 / 62 series, Fokker C.Vd & e, and Potez 25 , all serving across a large number of air forces. In the general aviation sector, aircraft such as the Waco Custom Cabin series proved to be relatively popular. The Saro Windhover was a sesquiplane with the upper wing smaller than the lower, which was a much rarer configuration than the reverse. The Pfalz D.III also featured

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1738-494: The Sopwith Dolphin , Breguet 14 and Beechcraft Staggerwing . However, positive (forward) stagger is much more common. The space enclosed by a set of interplane struts is called a bay (much as the architectural form is used), hence a biplane or triplane with one set of such struts connecting the wings on each side of the aircraft is a single-bay biplane . This provided sufficient strength for smaller aircraft such as

1817-418: The interwar period , numerous nations sought to compete for the prestigious Schneider Trophy . Seeking a competitive entry for the 1927 race, Britain's Air Ministry was determined to put forward aircraft with greater performance that those of the last few competitions, during which the British entries were soundly bested by American Curtiss floatplanes in 1923 and 1925, while no British aircraft even entered

1896-419: The lift coefficient is reduced by 10 to 15 percent compared to that of a monoplane using the same airfoil and aspect ratio . The lower wing is usually attached to the fuselage , while the upper wing is raised above the fuselage with an arrangement of cabane struts , although other arrangements have been used. Either or both of the main wings can support ailerons , while flaps are more usually positioned on

1975-469: The pulvinus , give it away. Beyond that, determination can become more difficult. Intensive sampling in the Smithers/Hazelton/Houston area of British Columbia showed Douglas (1975), according to Coates et al. (1994), that cone scale morphology was the feature most useful in differentiating species of spruce; the length, width, length: width ratio, the length of free scale (the distance from

2054-596: The 1926 competition, which was won by the Italian Macchi M.39 . To this end, the Air Ministry placed orders for the design and limited production of high speed floatplanes with numerous British aircraft manufacturers, including Gloster , Supermarine (who would produce the S.5 ) and Shorts (who developed the Crusader ). At the time, there was significant divergence of opinion on if the optimal racing aircraft ought to be

2133-503: The CR.42 was able to achieve success in the defensive night fighter role against RAF bombers that were striking industrial targets throughout northern Italy. The British Fleet Air Arm operated the Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber from its aircraft carriers, and used the type in the anti-submarine warfare role until the end of the conflict, largely due to their ability to operate from

2212-518: The Caribou , performed the first non-stop flight between the Canadian mainland and Britain in 30 hours 55 minutes, although the intended target for this long distance flight had originally been Baghdad , Iraq . Despite its relative success, British production of the Dragon was quickly ended when in favour of the more powerful and elegant de Havilland Dragon Rapide , which had been specifically designed to be

2291-474: The Earth. Picea is the sole genus in the subfamily Piceoideae . Spruces are large trees, from about 20 to 60 m (about 60–200 ft) tall when mature, and have whorled branches and conical form. Spruces can be distinguished from other genera of the family Pinaceae by their needles (leaves), which are four-sided and attached singly to small persistent peg-like structures ( pulvini or sterigmata ) on

2370-503: The First World War, the British Royal Aircraft Factory developed airfoil section wire named RAFwire in an effort to both increase the strength and reduce the drag. Four types of wires are used in the biplane wing structure. Drag wires inside the wings prevent the wings from being folded back against the fuselage, running inside a wing bay from the forward inboard corner to the rear outboard corner. Anti-drag wires prevent

2449-565: The French Nieuport 17 and German Albatros D.III , offered lower drag than a conventional biplane while being stronger than a monoplane. During the Interwar period , numerous biplane airliners were introduced. The British de Havilland Dragon was a particularly successful aircraft, using straightforward design to could carry six passengers on busy routes, such as London-Paris services. During early August 1934, one such aircraft, named Trail of

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2528-644: The Germans had been experimenting with a new generation of monoplanes, such as the Fokker D.VIII , that might have ended the biplane's advantages earlier had the conflict not ended when it had. The French were also introducing the Morane-Saulnier AI , a strut-braced parasol monoplane , although the type was quickly relegated to the advanced trainer role following the resolution of structural issues. Sesquiplane types, which were biplanes with abbreviated lower wings such as

2607-471: The aircraft to minimise its drag . Akin to its predecessors, the Gloster IV was of wooden construction, featuring a monocoque fuselage and single bay wings. Both the upper and lower wings were gulled to allow the drag of the wing/fuselage junction to be minimised, while radiators were built into the surfaces of the wings and floats . In total, three aircraft were built, differing in the surface area of

2686-497: The aircraft via small openings during maintenance. The aircraft was equipped with duralumin floats that incorporated a single-step curved desk design. They were relatively slender and tapered to minimise drag, being supported on two pairs of struts that met on the fuselage's centreline. The two floats were connected to one another via a series of horizontal wires instead of struts. The inter-wing struts were designed to minimise their frontal area, being composed of forged duralumin that

2765-409: The aircraft's maximum speed potential by 70 MPH. The optimal fuselage section from an aerodynamic did not lend itself to conventional construction approaches, thus a tradeoff was made between aerodynamic shaping and ease of manufacture. The construction technique used was known as the "double-diagonal' system amongst boatbuilders, comprising fairly narrow spruce planks at roughly 45 degree angles from

2844-526: The aircraft: the fuselage and the floats. Efforts were made to minimise these areas and revise their lines to sharpen their form; this work reportedly yielded a 45 percent reduction in comparison to that of the Gloster III that had participated in the 1925 race. Furthermore, the wings and fuselage were smoothly blended together, not only reducing drag but also boosting lift by 15 percent. These reductions, in combination with other improvements such as increased engine power and propeller efficiency, allegedly boosted

2923-407: The biplane naturally has a deep structure and is therefore easier to make both light and strong. Rigging wires on non-cantilevered monoplanes are at a much sharper angle, thus providing less tension to ensure stiffness of the outer wing. On a biplane, since the angles are closer to the ideal of being in direct line with the forces being opposed, the overall structure can then be made stiffer. Because of

3002-429: The branches, and by their cones (without any protruding bracts ), which hang downwards after they are pollinated. The needles are shed when 4–10 years old, leaving the branches rough with the retained pegs. In other similar genera, the branches are fairly smooth. Spruce are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (moth and butterfly) species, such as the eastern spruce budworm . They are also used by

3081-413: The centre line while the plants of the twin skins crossed over one another at right angles. While most of the fuselage had two skins, areas that were expected to bare high loads had more layers applied . The fins , which were covered in laminated spruce, were integral to the fuselage. The tail plane was composed of wood and was adjustable (on the ground) to any desired incident; it was largely integral with

3160-598: The competition aerobatics role and format for such a biplane well-defined by the mid-1930s by the Udet U 12 Flamingo and Waco Taperwing . The Pitts Special dominated aerobatics for many years after World War II and is still in production. The vast majority of biplane designs have been fitted with reciprocating engines . Exceptions include the Antonov An-3 and WSK-Mielec M-15 Belphegor , fitted with turboprop and turbofan engines respectively. Some older biplane designs, such as

3239-470: The drag from the number of struts used. The structural forces acting on the spars of a biplane wing tend to be lower as they are divided between four spars rather than two, so the wing can use less material to obtain the same overall strength and is therefore lighter. A given area of wing also tends to be shorter, reducing bending moments on the spars, which then allow them to be more lightly built as well. The biplane does however need extra struts to maintain

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3318-542: The end of World War I . At the start of World War II , several air forces still had biplane combat aircraft in front line service but they were no longer competitive, and most were used in niche roles, such as training or shipboard operation, until shortly after the end of the war. The British Gloster Gladiator biplane, the Italian Fiat CR.42 Falco and Soviet I-153 sesquiplane fighters were all still operational after 1939. According to aviation author Gianni Cattaneo,

3397-643: The first growing season, and seedlings do not reach the minimum height specifications. But, if an extended photoperiod is provided for Sitka spruce, seedlings become unacceptably tall by the end of the first growing season. Species classification of seedlots collected in areas where hybridization of white and Sitka spruces has been reported has depended on (i) easily measured cone scale characters of seed trees, especially free scale length, (ii) visual judgements of morphological characters, e.g., growth rhythm, shoot and root weight, and needle serration, or (iii) some combination of (i) and (ii) (Yeh and Arnott 1986). Useful to

3476-563: The following spring. More than half of spruce seedling mortality probably occurs during the first growing season and is also very high during the first winter, when seedlings are subjected to freezing damage, frost heaving and erosion, as well as smothering by litter and snow-pressed vegetation. Seedlings that germinate late in the growing season are particularly vulnerable because they are tiny and have not had time to harden off fully. Mortality rates generally decrease sharply thereafter, but losses often remain high for some years. "Establishment"

3555-1598: The fossil record is from the Early Cretaceous ( Valanginian ) of western Canada, around 136 million years old. P. sitchensis (Bongard) Carrière P. breweriana Watson P. likiangensis (Franchet) Pritzel P. farreri Page & Rushforth P. spinulosa (Griffith) Henry P. schrenkiana Fischer & Meyer P. smithiana (Wallich) Boiss. P. glauca (Moench) Voss P. engelmannii Parry ex Engelmann P. martinezii T.F.Patt. P. chihuahuana Martínez P. alcoquiana (Veitch ex Lindley) Carrière P. brachytyla (Franchet) Pritzel P. neoveitchii Masters P. morrisonicola Hayata P. purpurea Masters P. wilsonii Masters P. orientalis (von Linné) Peterm. P. maximowiczii Regel ex Masters P. polita (Siebold & Zuccarini) Carrière P. pungens Engelmann P. glehnii (Schmidt) Masters P. jezoensis (Sieb. & Zuccarini) Carrière P. rubens Sargent P. mariana (Miller) Britton, Sterns & Poggenburg P. omorika (Pančić) Purkyne P. obovata Ledeb. P. abies (von Linné) Karsten P. koyamae Shiras. P. asperata Masters P. koraiensis Nakai P. torano (Siebold ex Koch) Koehne P. retroflexa Masters P. shirasawae Hayashi P. crassifolia Komarov P. meyeri Rehder & Wilson As of April 2022 , Plants of

3634-414: The fuselage. The wing design of the Gloster IV was somewhat unorthodox, the external covering being a part of the stress-bearing structure. The airfoil sections were constructed using similar lamination practices to that of the fuselage. Specifically, the skin being built up upon the formers and secured to the framework of multiple spars , the leading and trailing edges , and intermediate contour pieces,

3713-416: The gap between the wings, which add both weight and drag. The low power supplied by the engines available in the first years of aviation limited aeroplanes to fairly low speeds. This required an even lower stalling speed, which in turn required a low wing loading , combining both large wing area with light weight. Obtaining a large enough wing area without the wings being long, and thus dangerously flexible

3792-420: The hind limbs could not have opened out sideways but in flight would have hung below and slightly behind the fore limbs. Spruce About 35; see text. A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea ( / p aɪ ˈ s iː . ə / py- SEE -ə ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae , found in the northern temperate and boreal ( taiga ) regions of

3871-435: The imprint of the seed wing to the tip of the scale), and the percentage free scale (length of free scale as a percentage of the total length of the scale) were most useful in this regard. Daubenmire (1974), after range-wide sampling, had already recognized the importance of the two latter characters. Taylor (1959) had noted that the most obvious morphological difference between typical Picea glauca and typical P. engelmannii

3950-404: The landing wires would not go slack or vibrate at moments of low loading. The wings bore large surface-type radiators upon them; specially developed by Gloster, these radiators, consisting of thin corrugated copper sheets, were particularly effective at preventing engine overheating. By positioning them on both wings, a larger proportion of the radiators was kept in the slip stream generated by

4029-416: The larvae of gall adelgids ( Adelges species). In the mountains of western Sweden , scientists have found a Norway spruce , nicknamed Old Tjikko , which by reproducing through layering , has reached an age of 9,550 years and is claimed to be the world's oldest known living tree. Determining that a tree is a spruce is not difficult; evergreen needles that are more or less quadrangled, and especially

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4108-452: The latter being used in place of traditional ribs . The wings proved to be particularly strong, being capable of supporting a load equivalent to 13 times the weight of the seaplane before indicators of failure would present; this was considered particularly conducive for undertaking high rates of acceleration. The aircraft was furnished with a relatively thin-section lower wing that also had a small chord . The wing roots were curved in such

4187-612: The low speeds and simple construction involved have inspired a small number of biplane ultralights, such as Larry Mauro's Easy Riser (1975–). Mauro also made a version powered with solar cells driving an electric motor called the Solar Riser . Mauro's Easy Riser was used by "Father Goose", Bill Lishman . Other biplane ultralights include the Belgian-designed Aviasud Mistral , the German FK12 Comet (1997–),

4266-519: The lower wing. Bracing is nearly always added between the upper and lower wings, in the form of interplane struts positioned symmetrically on either side of the fuselage and bracing wires to keep the structure from flexing, where the wings are not themselves cantilever structures. The primary advantage of the biplane over a monoplane is its ability to combine greater stiffness with lower weight. Stiffness requires structural depth and where early monoplanes had to have this provided with external bracing,

4345-561: The most famed copies was the Siemens-Schuckert D.I . The Albatros D.III and D.V , which had also copied the general layout from Nieuport, similarly provided the backbone of the German forces during the First World War. The Albatros sesquiplanes were widely acclaimed by their aircrews for their maneuverability and high rate of climb. During interwar period , the sesquiplane configuration continued to be popular, with numerous types such as

4424-588: The night ground attack role throughout the Second World War. In the case of the Po-2, production of the aircraft continued even after the end of the conflict, not ending until around 1952. A significant number of Po-2s were fielded by the Korean People's Air Force during the Korean War , inflicting serious damage during night raids on United Nations bases. The Po-2 is also the only biplane to be credited with

4503-483: The outbreak of the First World War biplanes had gained favour after several monoplane structural failures resulted in the RFC's "Monoplane Ban" when all monoplanes in military service were grounded, while the French also withdrew most monoplanes from combat roles and relegated them to training. Figures such as aviation author Bruce observed that there was an apparent prejudice held even against newly-designed monoplanes, such as

4582-727: The pollen parent (Yeh and Arnott 1986). Secondly, morphological characters are markedly influenced by ontogenetic and environmental influences, so that to discern spruce hybrid seedlot composition with accuracy, hybrid seedlots must differ substantially in morphology from both parent species. Yeh and Arnott (1986) pointed out the difficulties of estimating accurately the degree of introgression between white and Sitka spruces; introgression may have occurred at low levels, and/or hybrid seed lots may vary in their degree of introgression in consequence of repeated backcrossing with parental species. Spruce seedlings are most susceptible immediately following germination , and remain highly susceptible through to

4661-398: The propeller. The top wing was faired into the cylinder blocks of the engine. The propeller, which was manufactured by Gloster, was composed of forged duralumin in a manner that achieved minimal blade distortion under load. The engine mounting was particularly rigid, comprising a pair of box-section engine bearers composed of duralumin and supported by a series of steel tubes. No welding

4740-457: The race being won by Flight Lieutenant Sidney Webster flying the S.5. On inspection, it was found that the Gloster's propeller shaft was seriously cracked and would probably have failed if Kinkead had not retired. Prior to its withdrawal, the Gloster IV had demonstrated promising performance, having achieved faster lap speeds than the directly driven Supermarine S.5 , although not the geared model of

4819-424: The reduced stiffness, wire braced monoplanes often had multiple sets of flying and landing wires where a biplane could easily be built with one bay, with one set of landing and flying wires. The extra drag from the wires was not enough to offset the aerodynamic disadvantages from having two airfoils interfering with each other however. Strut braced monoplanes were tried but none of them were successful, not least due to

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4898-634: The relatively compact decks of escort carriers . Its low stall speed and inherently tough design made it ideal for operations even in the often severe mid-Atlantic weather conditions. By the end of the conflict, the Swordfish held the distinction of having caused the destruction of a greater tonnage of Axis shipping than any other Allied aircraft. Both the German Heinkel He 50 and the Soviet Polikarpov Po-2 were used with relative success in

4977-477: The removal of the A horizon. DNA analyses have shown that traditional classifications based on the morphology of needle and cone are artificial. A 2006 study found that P. breweriana had a basal position, followed by P. sitchensis , and the other species were further divided into three clades , suggesting that Picea originated in North America. The oldest record of spruce that has been found in

5056-661: The same aircraft. Following the race, the Gloster IVA and IVB were returned to the United Kingdom, where they were modified to improve the pilot's view by raising the upper wing and used as high speed trainers. They were used to train pilots for the 1929 race, with the IVB crashing during a landing accident in December 1930 and the IVA used again as a trainer for the 1931 race. The original Gloster IV

5135-700: The series of Nieuport military aircraft—from the Nieuport 10 through to the Nieuport 27 which formed the backbone of the Allied air forces between 1915 and 1917. The performance of the Nieuport sesquiplanes was so impressive that the Idflieg (the German Inspectorate of flying troops) requested their aircraft manufacturers to produce copies, an effort which was aided by several captured aircraft and detailed drawings; one of

5214-415: The structural problems associated with monoplanes, but offered little improvement for biplanes. The default design for a biplane has the wings positioned directly one above the other. Moving the upper wing forward relative to the lower one is called positive stagger or, more often, simply stagger. It can increase lift and reduce drag by reducing the aerodynamic interference effects between the two wings by

5293-665: The two planes when the high pressure air under the top wing and the low pressure air above the lower wing cancel each other out. This means that a biplane does not in practice obtain twice the lift of the similarly-sized monoplane. The farther apart the wings are spaced the less the interference, but the spacing struts must be longer, and the gap must be extremely large to reduce it appreciably. As engine power and speeds rose late in World War I , thick cantilever wings with inherently lower drag and higher wing loading became practical, which in turn made monoplanes more attractive as it helped solve

5372-600: The two short-span aircraft (the Gloster IVA and IVB) being shipped to Venice in August 1927. The Gloster IVB was finally chosen to compete with the two S.5s in the race, the Crusader having crashed due to having its control cables crossed on re-assembly. On 26 September 1927, the day of the race, the Gloster IVB, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Samuel Kinkead was the first aircraft to take off, completing five laps before retiring, with

5451-400: The upper and lower wings together. The sesquiplane is a type of biplane where one wing (usually the lower) is significantly smaller than the other. The word, from Latin, means "one-and-a-half wings". The arrangement can reduce drag and weight while retaining the biplane's structural advantages. The lower wing may have a significantly shorter span, or a reduced chord . Examples include

5530-528: The wings and the arrangement of the tail. All three aircraft made their first flights during the summer of 1927. A single aircraft, the Gloster IVB, competed in the Schneider Trophy 1927 race, however, it was forced to retired part way through due to the imminent failure of the propeller shaft. The three aircraft built continued to be flown as trainers by the High Speed Flight for several years. During

5609-434: The wings from folding up, and run from the underside of the outer wing to the lower wing root. Conversely, landing wires prevent the wings from sagging, and resist the forces when an aircraft is landing, and run from the upper wing centre section to outboard on the lower wings. Additional drag and anti-drag wires may be used to brace the cabane struts which connect the fuselage to the wings, and interplane struts, which connect

5688-421: The wings from moving forward when the aircraft stops and run the opposite direction to the drag wires. Both of these are usually hidden within the wings, and if the structure is sufficiently stiff otherwise, may be omitted in some designs. Indeed many early aircraft relied on the fabric covering of the wing to provide this rigidity, until higher speeds and forces made this inadequate. Externally, lift wires prevent

5767-426: Was considerably more easily achieved with a biplane configuration than with a monoplane. Gloater also had a long established reputation for building high speed biplanes. One key performance aspect that was consistently appreciated irrespective of the basic configuration was the need to minimise drag . It was recognised that the majority of the aircraft's head resistance would typically be attributable to two aspects of

5846-591: Was lightened out. All control elements were ran internally; the ailerons being actuated via torque tubes that ran inside the top wing while the elevator and rudder 's controls ran within the fuselage. A custom variable-gearing mechanism was provisioned that permitted the ratios between the control column and the final control surface movement to be adjusted by the pilot, permitted the flight controls to be well suited to both high speed and low speed flight. The three Gloster IVs were first flown in July–August 1927, with

5925-478: Was meanwhile sold with the intention of being converted to a landplane and used in attempt on the world air speed record , but these plans came to nothing. Data from Gloster Aircraft since 1917 , National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics General characteristics Performance Biplane Biplanes offer several advantages over conventional cantilever monoplane designs: they permit lighter wing structures, low wing loading and smaller span for

6004-404: Was more readily accomplished with a biplane. The smaller biplane wing allows greater maneuverability . Following World War I, this helped extend the era of the biplane and, despite the performance disadvantages, most fighter aircraft were biplanes as late as the mid-1930s. Specialist sports aerobatic biplanes are still made in small numbers. Biplanes suffer aerodynamic interference between

6083-464: Was performed during the fabrication, the main joints relying on stainless steel bolts . Directly beneath the engine bearers was the oil tank and its integral corrugated primary cooler (auxiliary coolers were present on the sides of the fuselage); its shape conformed with the contours of the surrounding fuselage. All seven of the aircraft's fuel tanks were held within the fuselage; their size was restricted so that they could be readily lifted in and out of

6162-511: Was the cone scale, and Horton (1956,1959) found that the most useful diagnostic features of the two spruces are in the cone; differences occur in the flower, shoot and needle, "but those in the cone are most easily assessed" (Horton 1959). Coupé et al. (1982) recommended that cone scale characters be based on samples taken from the midsection of each of ten cones from each of five trees in the population of interest. Without cones, morphological differentiation among spruce species and their hybrids

6241-741: Was widely used by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) while the US Navy operated the Naval Aircraft Factory N3N . In later civilian use in the US, the Stearman became particularly associated with stunt flying such as wing-walking , and with crop dusting, where its compactness worked well at low levels, where it had to dodge obstacles. Modern biplane designs still exist in specialist roles such as aerobatics and agricultural aircraft with

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