A biplane is a
fixed-wing aircraft with two main
wings. The first powered heavier-than-air
aircraft, the
Wright brothers' Wright Flyer, used a biplane design, as did most airplanes in the early years of
aviation. While a biplane wing structure has several advantages it inevitably produces much more drag than a similar
monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques and materials, and the need for greater speed, effectively made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.
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