Biplanes and Triplanes

During World War I, there were two types of airplanes used. One type was a biplane which had two wings and the other was a triplane, which had three

wings. These planes were driven by propellers and usually had either two to four wheels. Each plane had some type of gun. Usually it was a machine gun. The machine gun was first placed on the wing so it wouldn't hit the propeller, but then engineers came up with a more complex idea. They could time the speed of the propeller then shoot the machine gun and it would miss the propeller. All countries started to use this design.

These had single cockpits and cloth skins. Cockpits in the war were open,

so the wind would really blur the pilot's vision. Reconnaissance planes, or spy planes had two men cockpits, of which the second man used the machine gun in the back. Most of these planes had open cockpits. All of these planes were used for spying, fighting and bombing. There were racks under the planes that carried the bombs. They did not have radar, so they depended on their eyesight to see where their targets were. Fighter planes used camouflage to blend in with the natural surroundings.