Triplane

A triplane is an airplane with three vertically stacked wings on each side of its fuselage. The arrangement can provide substantial lift with a short wingspan, but adds structural complexity and drag.

Biplane: An airplane with two vertically stacked wings on each side of its fuselage. Its two-wing layout is the closest common comparison for the triplane arrangement.
Wing-cell aircraft: An aircraft whose multiple wings are joined by struts and wires into a braced structural unit. Many triplanes use this braced arrangement to support their stacked wings.
Fokker Dr.I: A German single-seat triplane fighter flown by the Luftstreitkräfte during the First World War. Its association with Manfred von Richthofen made it the most famous triplane.
First World War aviation: The development and use of military aircraft during the First World War. Rapid wartime competition created the conditions for the triplane's short-lived rise.
Monoplane: An airplane with one main wing on each side of its fuselage. Its single-wing layout shows the alternative that eventually became dominant.
Airfoil: A shaped surface, such as an aircraft wing, that produces aerodynamic force as air flows around it. Each triplane wing is an airfoil whose lift contributes to the aircraft's total.
Sopwith Triplane: A British single-seat fighter used by the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War. Its combat success helped prompt German development of triplane fighters.
Fighter aircraft: Military aircraft designed primarily to attack other aircraft. Most famous triplanes were fighters built for close air combat.
Wing loading: The ratio of an aircraft's weight to its wing area. Three wings can provide more area without a proportionally wider span.
Lift: The aerodynamic force perpendicular to an object's motion through a fluid. The stacked wings generate the force that supports the airplane's weight.

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