Image: Wikimedia Commons

biplane

Aircraft wing configuration with two vertically stacked main wing surfaces

Instance of: wing configuration
Subclass of: multiplane

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

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 biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and higher speeds made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.

Overview

All data

34 statements · 15% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Different from: biplane
tandem wing

On other databases

29 identifiers linking biplane across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

15%

externally sourced

Source last edited June 12, 2026. AIDb refreshes this page daily.

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AIDb. (2026). biplane (Q223818). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/biplane-Q223818