Biplane wing dihedral

Friend of mine said at lunch today that the upper wings of biplanes
have no dihedral. Hementioned specificlaly the Stearman PT-17.

I believe he was mistaken. I know the Sopwith Camel upper wing was
flat but I think the PT-17 and most other biplanes have dihedral in
both wings.

Any expert comments?

Thanks. vince norris

On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 00:04:10 -0400, vincent p. norris wrote:

Friend of mine said at lunch today that the upper wings of biplanes
have no dihedral. Hementioned specificlaly the Stearman PT-17.

Think he's right about the Stearman, but it's not universal. See:

http://www.miramarevents.com/dreamma...ane-300dpi.jpg

http://hillcrestcottage.com/images/m...bah/flying.jpg

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-...96/raf-be2.jpg

http://www.airwar.ru/image/i/other1/be2c-i.jpg

http://www.raf-upper-heyford.org/UH_...ol_Fighter.jpg

http://www.airmuseumsuk.org/airshow/...%20Fighter.jpg

http://www.airmuseumsuk.org/airshow/...with%20Pup.jpg

http://www.airmuseumsuk.org/airshow/...net%20Moth.jpg

http://www.aviation-history.com/raf/se5a-6.jpg

Not even triplanes are immune:

http://www.airmuseumsuk.org/airshow/...7/Triplane.jpg


Ron Wanttaja

On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 00:04:10 -0400, vincent p. norris
wrote:

Friend of mine said at lunch today that the upper wings of biplanes
have no dihedral. Hementioned specificlaly the Stearman PT-17.

I believe he was mistaken. I know the Sopwith Camel upper wing was
flat but I think the PT-17 and most other biplanes have dihedral in
both wings.

Any expert comments?

Thanks. vince norris

If you realise that monoplanes have been designed with various
anhedrals and dihedrals, why would you suppose that there are no
similar examples in biplanes?

Brian Whatcott Altus, OK

If you realise that monoplanes have been designed with various
anhedrals and dihedrals, why would you suppose that there are no
similar examples in biplanes?

I didn't suppose that, Brian, I supposed the opposite.

vince norris

Thanks, Ron. I'll forward those to my friend--who, btw, is a retired
747 captain with many thousands of hours, but not terribly well
informed about ragwings.

vince norris

On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 19:17:06 -0400, vincent p. norris
wrote:

If you realise that monoplanes have been designed with various
anhedrals and dihedrals, why would you suppose that there are no
similar examples in biplanes?

I didn't suppose that, Brian, I supposed the opposite.

vince norris

Then I guess your position was well-founded?

Brian W

Then I guess your position was well-founded?

Did you look at the web sites Ron sent?

vince norris

On Sun, 12 Jun 2005 20:36:59 -0400, vincent p. norris
wrote:

Then I guess your position was well-founded?

Did you look at the web sites Ron sent?

vince norris

Not initially - but I just did - some live examples of biplane and
triplane -hedral, just as you would expect - you say you did
expect this, didn't you?

Best

Brian Whatcott

... I just did - some live examples of biplane and
triplane -hedral, just as you would expect - you say you did
expect this, didn't you?

Yes, here's the essence of my original post:

"Friend of mine said at lunch today that the upper wings of biplanes
have no dihedral. .... I believe he was mistaken. ..... I think the
PT-17 and most other biplanes have dihedral in both wings."

My friend insists the PT-17, properly rigged, has no dihedral in the
top wing. My photo collection shows SOME PT-17s that clearly have
some dihedral, but perhaps they were modified.

It appears that the N3N, F3F and SBC had no dihedral in the top wing,
along with the Fokker D VII, Albatros D III and D V, but most WW I
biplanes and most biplanes in the museum at Pensacola did.

vince norris

On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 00:04:10 -0400, vincent p. norris
wrote:

Friend of mine said at lunch today that the upper wings of biplanes
have no dihedral. Hementioned specificlaly the Stearman PT-17.

I believe he was mistaken. I know the Sopwith Camel upper wing was
flat but I think the PT-17 and most other biplanes have dihedral in
both wings.

Any expert comments?

Thanks. vince norris


Some biplanes have sweptback wings which provide the same effect as
dihedral. My parasol Jungster II has sweepback and no dihedral.

Ed Sullivan