Twin-fuselage aircraft

A twin-fuselage aircraft has two main fuselages. It is distinct from the twin-boom configuration which has a single main fuselage with two subsidiary boom structures.

Twin fuselages have been adopted for various reasons, and a few types have entered production.

Early seaplanes

A twin-float arrangement offers stability on the water without the need for wing tip stabilising floats. Mounting the float immediately below, or integrally with, the fuselage provides a strong airframe with minimal additional weight. During and after World War I a number of such twin-fuselage floatplanes and twin-hulled flying boats were constructed, and a few entered production.

As early as 1913, the Radley-England Waterplane racing flying boat demonstrated the concept at the hands of pilot Gordon England.

The Twin Blackburn of 1915 was a long-range floatplane for anti-Zeppelin patrol. A handful of production examples were delivered but few were used operationally.

Savoia-Marchetti produced two twin-hulled flying boat types. The S.55 multirole flying boat first flew in 1924. It was built in large numbers, including both civil and military variants. The later S.66 airliner of 1931 sold less well.

The heavy bomber

During WWI, Caproni introduced one of the first production landplanes to feature twin fuselages, in the Ca.4 heavy bomber, manufacturing around 50 aircraft in a range of variants.

The heavy glider tug

During World War II the need arose for a heavy glider tug capable of towing the large Gotha Go 242 and even larger Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant. The Heinkel He 111Z Zwilling (twin) was created by joining two He 111 fuselages with a new wing centre section and adding a fifth central engine. Although liked by its pilots when it first flew in 1941, even the 111Z could not tow a fully laden Gigant, and although a small batch became operational they saw little action.

A few variants were developed for roles such as long-range reconnaissance or air-launched anti-ship missile carrier, but none entered service.

Heavy fighters

During World War II a need arose for a heavy fighter, which could not be met by a new design proposal in a reasonable time frame. Joining two examples of an existing light fighter aircraft was one way to achieve this.

The German Messerschmitt Bf 109Z twin (Zwilling) Bf 109 prototype was destroyed in an attack by the British in 1943 before it was completed, and the project subsequently abandoned. The later Me 609 twin Me 309 project was never built.

In 1944 Dornier proposed the Dornier Do 635 long-range reconnaissance variant of the Do 335 Pfeil heavy fighter, to have twin Do 335 fuselages and four engines. It was never built.

The Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 prototype was unusual in being an adaptation of a twin-boom design but did not enter production.

The North American F-82 Twin Mustang arrived too late to enter service during the War but later saw service in the Korean war.

Space launchers

More recently the idea of a dedicated re-usable large mothership, capable of carrying and launching a spacecraft, has gained interest. The twin fuselage configuration offers the advantage of a clean payload area underneath the wing centre section, without the need for exceptional ground clearance beneath the fuselages.

Early concepts included the Conroy Virtus and Twin-fuselage Lockheed C-5 Galaxy Shuttle transport aircraft of 1974.

Following the success of the Scaled Composites White Knight prototype the White Knight Two is under development, with the first example being used to flight-test the SpaceShipTwo suborbital passenger craft.

The Scaled Composites Stratolaunch, informally known as the Roc, has the longest wingspan of any aircraft ever flown, at 385 feet (117 m). It is owned by Stratolaunch Systems, who are currently developing the air-launched spacecraft envisaged as its payload.

NASA have flown a scaled-down demonstrator of a rocket-assisted Towed glider air-launch system, in which the laden twin-fuselage mothership is towed to altitude as a glider and released. Its rocket engine then ignites, propelling it to a speed and altitude greater than those of the tow plane. The payload spacecraft is then released.

Significant one-offs

The Fouga CM.88 Gemeaux is constructed from two Fouga CM.8 gliders. It was used as an engine testbed for many years, with either a single engine mounted centrally above the wing or twin engines above each fuselage.

The Boerboon & Coller Yak-110 is an aerobatic type conceived to be eyecatchingly different. Featuring twin Yak-55 fuselages with a third, centrally-mounted jet engine, it is the only trimotor cleared for unlimited aerobatics and performs at events in the USA.

List of twin-fuselage aircraft

Types are listed in chronological order of first flight or, for those which never flew, of project announcement.

TypeCountryClassRoleDateStatusNo.Notes
Belyayev DB-LKUSSRPropellerBomber1940Prototype1
Bestetti BN.1ItalyPropellerPrivate1940Sportplane.
Blackburn T.B.UKPropellerPatrol1915Production9Floatplane.
Blériot 125FrancePropellerTransport1931Prototype112 seat airliner.
Boerboon & Coller Yak-110USAMixedPrivate2018Operational1Two joined Yakovlev Yak-55s. Trimotor with two tractor props and one jet engine.[1]
Caproni Ca.4ItalyPropellerBomber and transport1915Production44+Series of types.[2]
Conroy VirtusUSAPropellerTransport1974Project0Shuttle transport
DARPA General Atomics Liberty LifterUSAPropellerTransport2022Project0Design proposal.[3]
Dornier Do 635GermanyPropellerFighter1944Project0Twin Dornier Do 335 Pfeil proposal.
Twin ErcoupeUSAPropeller19461Twin ERCO Ercoupe one-off conversion.
Fauvel AV.28FrancePropellerFighter1940Project0Two-seater twin-engine fighter project.[4]
Fokker K.IGermanyPropeller1915Prototype1Kampfflugzeug (twin fuselage with nacelle)
Fouga CM.88 GemeauxFranceJetExperimental1951Operational1Twin Cyclope, jet engine testbed, 2 built[5]
General Aircraft Twin HotspurUKGliderExperimental19421Twin General Aircraft Hotspur
Goodhart Newbury ManflierUKPropellerExperimental1979Prototype1A two-place human-powered aircraft, by Nicholas Goodhart. 138 ft wingspan, and each pilot sitting in fuselages 70 ft apart.
Heinkel He 111ZGermanyPropellerUtility1941Production15Glider tug. Variant of the He 111.
KZHBV ASCUSSRPropellerUtility1935Prototype1Amphibious flying boat.[6]
Labourdette-Halbronn H.T.1FrancePropellerTorpedo bomber1918Prototype1Flying boat. One H.T.1 (1918) flown.[7]
Labourdette-Halbronn H.T.2FrancePropellerTorpedo bomber1919Prototype2Flying boat. Two H.T.2 (1919) flown.[7]
Twin fuselage Lockheed C-5 GalaxyUSAJetTransport1974Project0Shuttle transport aircraft proposal.[8][9]
Messerschmitt Bf 109ZGermanyPropellerFighter1943Project0Twin Bf 109 prototype. Destroyed while under construction.[10]
Messerschmitt Me 609GermanyPropellerFighter1941Project0Twin Me 309 proposal.[10]
North American F-82 Twin MustangUSAPropellerFighter1945Production272Long-range.
Pipistrel Taurus G4SloveniaPropellerExperimental2011Prototype1Electric aircraft. Winner of the 2011 Green Flight Challenge.
Radley-England WaterplaneUKPropellerRacing Aircraft1913Prototype1Damaged, rebuilt in modified form as Waterplane 2.
Ricci R.1ItalyPropeller1917PrototypeFlying-boat
Savoia-Marchetti S.55ItalyPropellerMultirole1924Production243+Flying boat.
Savoia-Marchetti S.66ItalyPropellerTransport1931Production24Flying boat.
Savoia-Marchetti SM.92ItalyPropellerFighter1943Prototype1
Scaled Composites Model 348 White Knight TwoUSAJetSpacecraft launcher2008Prototype1
Scaled Composites Model 351 RocUSAJetSpacecraft launcher2019Prototype1Launcher for Stratolaunch spacecraft.
Scaled Composites Model 367 BiPodUSAPropellerExperimental2011Prototype1Flying car, carried out "hops" under wheeled power.
SSAKTB SL-2PLithuaniaGliderExperimental1987Prototype1Flying laboratory, made from two LET L-13 Blaník gliders.[11][12]
Thomas-Morse MB-4USAPropellerUtility1920Prototype2+Mail plane
Towed glider air-launch systemUSASpacecraft launcher2013Project0NASA Dryden[13]
Tupolev ANT-22USSRPropeller1934Prototype1Flying boat.
Voisin Type OFrancePropeller1914Prototype1Made by merging two Voisin Type M aircraft.[14][15]
Wagner Twin CubUSAPropeller1952Prototype1Twin Piper Cub one-off conversion.[16]
Wight Twin SeaplaneUKPropeller1916Prototype4Variant of the Wight Twin Landplane of twin boom configuration.

References

Notes

  1. "The Yak-110 Is Two Planes Plus A Jet Engine". World War Wings. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  2. "The Caproni Bombing Triplane CA-4-1915", Flight, Volume XI, Issue 25, No. 547, 19 June 1919, pp. 797–799. Retrieved: 29 October 2013.
  3. "DARPA - Liberty Lifter Aims to Revolutionize Heavy Air Lift".
  4. "Charles Fauvel and his Flying Wings". www.nurflugel.com (in French). Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  5. "Fouga CM.88-R Gémeaux".
  6. "КЖБВ АСК".
  7. Davilla, J.; French aircraft of the first World War (2002), Flying Machines Press, Page 287
  8. Tails through time
  9. Shuttling the Shuttle: Twin fuselage C-5 Galaxy
  10. Green, W.; Warplanes of the Third Reich, Macdonald and Jane's, 1970.
  11. "Twins - Nest of Dragons".
  12. "J2mcL Planeurs - Fiche planeur n°".
  13. 'Gliding' to Space: A Novel Means of Launching Space Satellites
  14. "Voisin M/O".
  15. "English: Voisin Type O". 1916.
  16. http://www.twinnavion.com/oddballs.htm

Bibliography

  • Gunston, Bill, The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2004, ISBN 978-0-521-84140-5/ISBN 0-521-84140-2

See also

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