December marks the anniversary of the Wright brothers’ history-making flight at Kitty Hawk, when the duo successfully completed the first heavier-than-air powered flight. To mark this occasion, let’s take a closer look at biplanes.

December marks the anniversary of the Wright brothers’ history-making flight at Kitty Hawk, when the duo successfully completed the first heavier-than-air powered flight. To mark this occasion, let’s take a closer look at biplanes.

Upcoming Programs Soar Together Virtual Family Day

Discover the importance of the biplane, and how it changed the world forever!

Story Time at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Join us for a story about flying away in your own airplane. Where would you fly and what would you see? Write and illustrate your own airplane story book.

Story Time in Washington, DC

Join us for a story about flying away in your own airplane. Where would you fly and what would you see? Write and illustrate your own airplane story book.

What is a biplane? 

A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one over the other. 

The Wright Flyer

The Wright Flyer—the aircraft behind the world’s first successful flight of a powered heavier-than-air flying machine—was the product of a sophisticated four-year program of research and development conducted by Wilbur and Orville Wright beginning in 1899. After building and testing three full-sized gliders, the Wrights' first powered airplane flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, making a 12-second flight, traveling 120 ft.

View Object Record
Explore 3D Model Virtual Tour of Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age More About the Wright Brothers Biplanes Through the Years Boeing F4B-4

Biplanes such as the Boeing FB-5 allowed the US Navy to develop the training and techniques needed to land aircraft on moving aircraft carriers. 

Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk

Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk had a hook attached to the top wing. This allowed a Sparrowhawk pilot to snag a trapeze suspended beneath the US Navy airships. The airship could store the Sparrowhawk inside or launch it again. 

Boeing-Stearman N2S-5 Kaydet

The Stearman was the most common military primary trainer used by the Army and Navy during World War II. It remained in military service training pilots until 1946.

Beck-Mahoney "Sorceress"

The Sorceress became in 1976 the first sport biplane racer to exceed 200 mph in level flight.

Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-3

Naval Aircraft Factory N3N was a popular Navy primary flight trainer that first flew February 1936. The Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, used this N3N for training at the academy until 1960. 

More Biplanes Curtiss JN-4D Jenny Object Bücker Bü-133C Jungmeister Object Travel Air D4D Object Pitts Special S-1C Object Grumman G-164 Ag-Cat Object Aviation Specialties Unlimited Challenger III Object How Things Fly

Curious about how biplanes fly. Explore the forces of flight, aerodynamics, propulsion, and more.  

Learn How Things Fly

Last Month's Theme

When you picture space, what do you see? Perhaps it’s the Earth like a blue marble in the sky, Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon, or colorful images of the universe taken by space telescopes. Artists and scientists have played major roles in how we visualize space.

 

Inspiring Art on Earth

Étienne Trouvelot

In the 1800s, Étienne Trouvelot’s artwork captured astronomical events.

Discovery His Story
Chesley Bonestell

Before humans went to the Moon, Chesley Bonestell imagined the surface of the Moon with his masterpiece A Lunar Landscape. However, later photos taken by the first lunar probes showed a very different place than in A Lunar Landscape.

Learn More About This Artwork
Alma Thomas

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, artist Alma Woodsey Thomas painted abstractions inspired by moments—including astronomical events and moments from the Apollo program.

Discovery Her Story

Taking Pictures ... in Space

During the Apollo 8 mission, the combination of everyday photography technology and out-of-this-world space technology led to the iconic Earthrise photo, transforming the way we thought about our home planet.

More from the Apollo Program The Whole Earth Picturing Earth Meet the Moonman How We Saw Armstrong's First Steps

See More with Super Powerful Telescopes

 

Creating Imagery with Space Telescopes Podcast Episode

Discover how image processors take invisible (to us) light and data from space telescopes and translate it into something that's better than what our naked eyes can see.

Meet the Experts (and an Activity)

Alyssa Paga and Joe DePasquale share how they create data from space telescopes to create imagery. 

Seeing a Black Hole with the Event Horizon Telescope Video for Young Learners

Join the Astronomy Education team from the National Air and Space Museum as they discuss this amazing image, what a black hole is, and how the National Science Foundation and the Event Horizon Telescope accomplished this amazing feat.

 

For Mature Learners

Sheperd Doeleman, founding director of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, talks about the collaboration created an image of a black hole shares details of the first results.