Retro Modern

[mikehotwheelz]

In the early days of flight Biplanes and Triplanes had much improved climb rates, and presumably shorter take-off runs, than their monoplane contemporaries due to greater lift generated by all that wing area. At the same time they paid the price of limiting their top speed thanks to the added drag.

My question is, if short take off/landing and high load carrying capability are the most necessary requirements in a modern transport aircraft while high top speeds seem to be a less important factor, would it not make sense to design a fully "modern" multi-engined, Biplane heavy-lift transport aircraft?

Could not modern turbofans power such a craft to an acceptable cruising speed?
Or would the drag be simply too great? What other problems would such a design incur?

 

[itsthemetho]

Bi/Tri-planes existed because wings could not be made at the time to larger sizes. This was a materials limitation of the time. Of course no such material limitations exist today. Such planes can continue to serve a useful role in low speed planes, such as in agriculture.