Welcome to PlanesNStuff! If you’ve ever stopped what you were doing because you heard the throaty rumble of an old piston engine overhead, you’re in the right place. This blog is for anyone who loves aircraft, whether that’s warbirds, drones, RC models, airshows or the history behind it all.
For our very first post, it seemed right to start where powered flight itself started: with two wings, a lot of wire and plenty of nerve. Let’s talk about biplanes.
Where It All Began: The Wright Flyer
On 17 December 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright lifted the Wright Flyer off the sand for a flight of about 12 seconds, covering roughly 36 metres (120 feet). The brothers made three more flights that morning, and the longest, flown by Wilbur, lasted 59 seconds.
The Flyer was a biplane, and that wasn’t a coincidence. Stacking two wings and bracing them with struts and wires gave early designers a light, stiff structure with plenty of wing area. That meant a lot of lift at low speeds, which mattered a great deal when engines were weak and materials were mostly wood, wire and fabric.
The original 1903 Flyer survives today and is displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Biplanes Go to War: The Sopwith Camel
In barely a decade, aircraft went from novelty to weapon. By the First World War, biplane fighters were duelling over the Western Front, and few are as famous as the Sopwith Camel.
A Brilliant, Unforgiving Fighter
The Camel first flew on 22 December 1916 and entered service in June 1917. Its nickname came from the humped fairing over its twin Vickers machine guns. Around 5,490 were built, and Camel pilots were credited with downing 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter of the war.
It wasn’t an easy aeroplane to fly. Most of its weight sat in the first couple of metres of the fuselage, and the strong gyroscopic effect of its rotary engine made it turn much faster one way than the other. In experienced hands that made it superbly agile. For new pilots, it could be deadly.
An Australian Connection
Australians flew Camels too. No. 4 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps operated them in France, and one of its best-known pilots, Captain Harry Cobby, was photographed in the cockpit of his Camel. That photo is now one of the classic images of the type.
And yes, the Camel is also the “aircraft” Snoopy imagines flying when he takes on the Red Baron in Peanuts.
Barnstorming: When Biplanes Came to Town
When the war ended, there were suddenly plenty of trained pilots and plenty of surplus aircraft. In the United States, the Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny”, the trainer most American military pilots had learned on, was sold off for as little as US$200 (new, they’d cost around US$5,000).
What followed was the barnstorming era of the 1920s. Pilots would buzz a country town, land in a farmer’s paddock, and sell joy rides for a dollar or a few. Many added stunts like loops, wing walking, parachute jumps and even plane-to-plane transfers. For many rural communities, it was the first time they’d seen an aircraft up close.
A young Charles Lindbergh got his start barnstorming before his famous 1927 Atlantic crossing. By the late 1920s, though, new US safety rules made it very hard to keep the ageing Jennys flying, and the golden age of the travelling flying circus faded.
The Tiger Moth: Australia’s Favourite Biplane
If there’s one biplane that holds a special place in Australian hearts, it’s the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth.
Built to Teach
The Tiger Moth first flew on 26 October 1931 and became the standard primary trainer across the Commonwealth. Almost 8,900 were built worldwide. Its handling was described as “easy to fly, but difficult to fly well”, and that made it an excellent teacher: forgiving enough for beginners, but quick to show up sloppy flying.
The RAAF’s Wartime Trainer
During the Second World War, the Tiger Moth was the basic trainer for the Empire Air Training Scheme. Twelve Elementary Flying Training Schools were set up across Australia, at places like Tamworth, Narromine, Temora, Benalla and Cunderdin. Trainees usually went solo after somewhere between seven and ten hours of flying, all in Tiger Moths.
De Havilland Australia built 1,070 Tiger Moths locally, and the first Australian-assembled example flew at Bankstown in Sydney in late 1940. Thousands of young Australians took their very first flight in one.
A Fun Fact Worth Knowing
A radio-controlled target version of the Tiger Moth, called the Queen Bee, appeared in 1935. The word “drone” for a pilotless aircraft is widely thought to come from it, since a drone is a male bee. So in a roundabout way, today’s drones owe their name to a biplane.
The Stearman: America’s Classic Trainer
Across the Pacific, the US Army and Navy trained their pilots on another much-loved biplane: the Boeing-Stearman Model 75, often called the Kaydet (and known by military designations such as the PT-17 and N2S).
Boeing’s Wichita Division built more than 10,000 Stearman trainers. After the war, many found new lives as crop dusters and aerobatic and airshow mounts. Their bright paint schemes and big round engines make them crowd favourites at airshows to this day.
Why Biplanes Still Capture Our Hearts
So why, more than a century after the Wright Flyer, do we still go weak at the knees for these old machines?
- You can see how they work. Struts, wires, fabric and an open cockpit. Nothing is hidden.
- They’re slow enough to enjoy. A biplane overhead isn’t a flash and a roar; it’s a show you get to watch.
- They connect us to people. Every surviving Tiger Moth or Stearman trained real pilots, often young people heading off to war.
- They feel like flying. Wind, engine noise and the smell of fuel. Ask anyone who’s been up in an open cockpit and they’ll tell you it’s a completely different experience from sitting in an airliner.
That spirit of “old but still brilliant” is exactly what inspired our own “I’m Not Old, I’m a Classic” biplane poster: a polished chrome vintage biplane in front of a retro striped sunset. It’s a bit of fun for anyone who’s proudly a vintage model themselves.
Where to See (and Fly) a Biplane in Australia
The good news is that you don’t have to just read about biplanes. In Australia you can still get up close, and even go flying in one.
See One Up Close
- Australian War Memorial, Canberra holds Tiger Moth A17-704, a 1943 Australian-built aircraft that served with No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School at Tamworth in 1944.
- RAAF Museum, Point Cook (Victoria) displays Tiger Moth A17-711 in wartime training colours.
- Airshows and fly-ins are often the best place to see biplanes actually flying. Keep an eye on your local aero club’s events calendar.
Book a Tiger Moth Joy Flight
Several operators offer Tiger Moth joy flights, usually with a leather helmet and goggles included:
- Royal Aero Club of WA, flying from Jandakot Airport over Perth and the coast.
- Brisbane Biplanes, based at Caboolture Airfield, north of Brisbane.
- Vintage Tiger Moth Joyflights (Joy Flights Melbourne), flying from Lethbridge Airport, west of Melbourne.
- Tiger Moth Joy Flights Yarra Valley, flying from Lilydale Airport in Victoria.
Before you book, check each operator’s website for current prices, flight options, and passenger age and weight limits. Flights in open-cockpit aircraft depend on the weather, so it pays to be flexible with your dates. Rug up, too: it’s chilly up there, even in summer.
Thanks for Flying With Us
Biplanes take us right back to where it all started. They remind us that flying was once (and still can be) an adventure you feel in your bones.
This is just the first of many posts here at PlanesNStuff. We’ll be covering aviation history, famous aircraft, airshows, drones, RC flying, gear, gifts and aviation art. Subscribe to get new posts as they land (our newsletter is coming soon). Blue skies!