Editing Monoplane (section)

==History==
[[File:Demoiselle_replica.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Santos-Dumont Demoiselle]] was the first production monoplane (replica shown).]]

Although the first successful aircraft were biplanes, the [[Early flying machines|first attempts]] at heavier-than-air flying machines were monoplanes, and many pioneers continued to develop monoplane designs. For example, the first aeroplane to be put into production was the 1907 [[Santos-Dumont Demoiselle]], while the [[Blériot XI]] flew across the [[English Channel]] in 1909.<ref>Wragg, David; ''Historical Dictionary of Aviation'', History Press, 2008, pp.214-5.</ref> Throughout 1909–1910, [[Hubert Latham]] set multiple altitude records in his [[Antoinette IV]] monoplane, eventually reaching {{convert|1384|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name=King2004>King, ''Windkiller'', p. 227.</ref>

[[File:Junkers J 1 at Döberitz 1915.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Junkers J 1]] monoplane pioneered all-metal construction in 1915.]]
The equivalent [[German language]] term is ''Eindecker'', as in the mid-wing [[Fokker Eindecker fighters|Fokker Eindecker]] fighter of 1915 which for a time dominated the skies in what became known as the "[[Fokker scourge]]". The German military [[Idflieg aircraft designation system]] prior to 1918 prefixed monoplane type designations with an ''E'', until the approval of the [[Fokker D.VIII]] fighter from its former "E.V" designation. However, the success of the Fokker was short-lived, and World War I was dominated by biplanes. Towards the end of the war, the parasol monoplane became popular and successful designs were produced into the 1920s.<ref>Angelucci and Matricardi, pp. 109-129.</ref>

Nonetheless, relatively few monoplane types were built between 1914 and the late 1920s, compared with the number of biplanes. The reasons for this were primarily practical. With the low engine powers and airspeeds available, the wings of a monoplane needed to be large in order to create enough lift while a biplane could have two smaller wings and so be made smaller and lighter.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

Towards the end of the First World War, the inherent high drag of the biplane was beginning to restrict performance. Engines were not yet powerful enough to make the heavy cantilever-wing monoplane viable, and the [[#Parasol wing|braced parasol wing]] became popular on fighter aircraft, although few arrived in time to see combat. It remained popular throughout the 1920s.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

On [[flying boat]]s with a shallow hull, a parasol wing allows the engines to be mounted above the spray from the water when taking off and landing. This arrangement was popular on flying boats during the 1930s; a late example being the [[Consolidated PBY Catalina]]. It died out when taller hulls became the norm during World War II, allowing a high wing to be attached directly to the hull.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

As ever-increasing engine powers made the weight of all-metal construction and the [[cantilever]] wing more practical—first pioneered together by the revolutionary [[German Empire|German]] [[Junkers J 1]] [[Junkers|factory]] demonstrator in 1915–16—they became common during the post–World War I period, the day of the braced wing passed, and by the 1930s, the cantilever monoplane was fast becoming the standard configuration for a fixed-wing aircraft. Advanced monoplane fighter-aircraft designs were mass-produced for military services around the world in both the Soviet Union and the United States in the early–mid 1930s, with the [[Polikarpov I-16]] and the [[Boeing P-26 Peashooter]] respectively.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

Most [[military aircraft]] of [[World War II|WWII]] were monoplanes, as have been virtually all aircraft since, except for a few specialist types.

Jet and rocket engines have even more power and all modern high-speed aircraft, especially supersonic types, have been monoplanes.