I am always looking for techniques and configurations for simple easy-to-build light aircraft. I recently had an idea, and after I took a few moments to recover 
, I thought I'd bounce it off the members here.
Biplanes are a great way to get into the air with a simple, light structure if you are not trying to go fast, but turnbuckles and wires can be fiddly and expensive and sometimes require re-rigging. The Fiat biplanes of the 1920s-1940s--CR.20, CR.32 and finally the CR.42 fighter used extensively in North Africa--used a Warren-truss arrangement to reduce, in fact, to almost eliminate wires from the wing bracing. I am sure there were other biplanes designed this way as well. I seem to remember, for example, that the Fisher Celebrity, Youngster, etc. had the option of V-struts instead of wires at one point.
What about using this same arrangement for a simple, low-cost lightplane? I am thinking of an unstaggered, untapered, unswept biplane, as simple as you can get. To maximize the benefit, I can see building the wings as single unit rather then individual panels. On the shop floor you lay out and build the front truss (upper and lowere wing main spars) and then the rear truss (upper and lower wing rear spars). Then you tie them together, perhaps even using a Warren truss within the wings, between the front and rear spars, for compression/drag/antidrag bracing. There would be a few wires bracing the strut frames or those could be N-struts to eliminate the wires altogether.
This could be used for any size aircraft, of course, but I have in mind a side-by-side cabin biplane a bit like a cartoon version of a Waco or de Havilland Hornet Moth. There seems to be the potential for a lot of wing area with very low weight, so an AeroVee engine ought to be plenty. Hmmm....
Thoughts? Does anyone know of any strut-braced biplane designs or has anyone tried something like this on paper or in the real world?
Cheers,
Matthew
, I thought I'd bounce it off the members here.Biplanes are a great way to get into the air with a simple, light structure if you are not trying to go fast, but turnbuckles and wires can be fiddly and expensive and sometimes require re-rigging. The Fiat biplanes of the 1920s-1940s--CR.20, CR.32 and finally the CR.42 fighter used extensively in North Africa--used a Warren-truss arrangement to reduce, in fact, to almost eliminate wires from the wing bracing. I am sure there were other biplanes designed this way as well. I seem to remember, for example, that the Fisher Celebrity, Youngster, etc. had the option of V-struts instead of wires at one point.
What about using this same arrangement for a simple, low-cost lightplane? I am thinking of an unstaggered, untapered, unswept biplane, as simple as you can get. To maximize the benefit, I can see building the wings as single unit rather then individual panels. On the shop floor you lay out and build the front truss (upper and lowere wing main spars) and then the rear truss (upper and lower wing rear spars). Then you tie them together, perhaps even using a Warren truss within the wings, between the front and rear spars, for compression/drag/antidrag bracing. There would be a few wires bracing the strut frames or those could be N-struts to eliminate the wires altogether.
This could be used for any size aircraft, of course, but I have in mind a side-by-side cabin biplane a bit like a cartoon version of a Waco or de Havilland Hornet Moth. There seems to be the potential for a lot of wing area with very low weight, so an AeroVee engine ought to be plenty. Hmmm....
Thoughts? Does anyone know of any strut-braced biplane designs or has anyone tried something like this on paper or in the real world?
Cheers,
Matthew
