Tag: airplane

Wight Quadruplane Fighter

First Flying in mid-1916, the Wight Quadruplane was a single seat fighter. The initial design had two cabane struts of long chord length supporting the upper wing. Four similar type interplane struts were used between the upper three wings, all of which had ailerons. Due to the position of the lower wing, the tail skid was unusually long to prevent the rear of the lower wing contacting the ground. The leading and trailing edges of the wings were cambered with a flat centre section. This proved inefficient and the aircraft was difficult to get into the air. It also displayed poor yaw control due to the small vertical stabiliser.

A redesign added a larger tail fin and rudder, conventional interplane struts, the wings had a varying cords and the landing gear was lengthened. This design also proved unsatisfactory and a second modification was made.

The third re-build introduced wings of decreasing width, with the top one being the widest. Ailerons were only fitted to the top two wings. Flight testing in July 1917 demonstrated an unsatisfactory lack of control. In February 1918, the Quadruplane crashed, destroying the aircraft. No more development work was undertaken.