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Just had a thought about canard airplanes while looking at the Tu-144 that features a canard surface on the top of its fuselage.

Are there any high-wing aircraft with a top or bottom mounted canard? What are the deficiencies that make the configuration so uncommon?

Gerry
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    I believe that at least some aircraft on this list would qualify as "high-wing" – DeepSpace Jan 25 '22 at 09:50
  • E.g. all the MacCready "Gossamer xxxxx" aircraft – quiet flyer Jan 25 '22 at 13:53
  • Almost all Rutan-designed (or derived)aircraft (Long EZ, Varieze, Berkut, etc.) are high-wing... (except for the canopy anyway) – Charles Bretana Jan 25 '22 at 14:17
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    Might better ask "why are there so few high wing aircraft" in general. All the same considerations apply. – Zeiss Ikon Jan 25 '22 at 14:25
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    @ZeissIkon I'm not sure if you meant that literally, but per Wikipedia 4 out of the 5 most-produced civilian aircraft of all time are/were high-wing: C172, C182, C150/2, J-3. – Pondlife Jan 25 '22 at 20:20
  • If we wanted to split hairs, we could point out that the early Wright gliders and airplanes had canards and a high wing (and also happened to have a low wing too...) -- likewise Curtis June Bug, Santos-Dumont 14-bis, etc : ) – quiet flyer Jan 25 '22 at 22:35
  • @Pondlife On the other hand, outside the fairly narrow civil light plane market, the vast majority of all types are low, mid, or shoulder wing for reasons of gear height/weight, visibility, and structural weight. – Zeiss Ikon Jan 26 '22 at 12:05
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    https://disciplesofflight.com/king-katmai/

    There’s at least one.

     – MD88Fan Jan 31 '22 at 01:29

2 Answers2

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Who says there aren't?

MiG Utka (source): High wing, low canard. Sources say it was a pleasure to fly.

MiG-8 Utka

Focke-Wulf 19 Ente (Ente means the same in German what Utka means in Russian): High wing, high canard. It was built to research canard configurations.

FW 19 Ente

A high canard is unusual when ahead of the cockpit because it restricts the pilot's field of view too much.

For the drawbacks of canards in general please see this answer or this answer. If you ask yourself why you always read how much better canards are, consult this answer.

Peter Kämpf
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  • A high canard not ahead of the cockpit... Saab Gripen and Viggen are all I can think of. – Camille Goudeseune Jan 25 '22 at 19:47
  • I remember all the fanfare when Rutan introduced the Vari-Eze, and his "secret" to fixing the pitch behaviour issues inherent to canards, with the U of Glasgow airfoil. Then it turned out the airfoil couldn't tolerate any contamination, even rain, so people put VGs on the canards, and finally John Roncz came up with a modified canard airfoil that didn't need the VGs. In any case, main selling point for the airplane wasn't so much that it was faster than a normal configuration, but that you got high speeds from high wing loadings without the stall risks. – John K Jan 25 '22 at 20:13
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    A pleasure to fly perhaps, but not to behold, dear god almighty what an ugly duckling... – Jpe61 Jan 25 '22 at 21:25
  • @CamilleGoudeseune Eurofighter also - all three really more mid-wing canards with low-wing deltas. – J... Jan 25 '22 at 23:44
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    "Ente means the same in German what Utka means in Russian" – And just to be clear: the German word "Ente" and the Russian word "Utka" mean the same as the English word "duck", which means the same as the French word … "canard". – Jörg W Mittag Jan 26 '22 at 07:39
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    @CamilleGoudeseune What about the XB-70? Also a high canard, but a low wing. – Peter Kämpf Jan 26 '22 at 11:12
  • @JörgWMittag I thought this was obvious. Canard and Ente even have the same double meaning. – Peter Kämpf Jan 26 '22 at 11:13
  • @PeterKämpf Only obvious if you speak both French and German... – Graham Jan 26 '22 at 14:02
  • @PeterKämpf which double meaning? – htmlcoderexe Jan 26 '22 at 14:08
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    @htmlcoderexe A canard is a falsehood, mostly when printed in a newspaper. This is even used in English, with the French word. Only Wikipedia doesn't know this. – Peter Kämpf Jan 26 '22 at 17:44
  • @PeterKämpf thank you for your insightful answer! – Gerry Jan 27 '22 at 07:19
  • @PeterKämpf huh, that's maybe where Russian got it too as it also has that exact extra meaning - basically like a newspaper hoax – htmlcoderexe Jan 27 '22 at 09:24
  • @htmlcoderexe You're right, and they have translated the "canard" into gasjetna utka (newspaper duck). – Peter Kämpf Jan 27 '22 at 16:53
  • I've never seen the Ente before. I would have guess that its construction was some kind of industrial prank. – acpilot Jan 28 '22 at 05:30
  • @acpilot As a research airplane, it was one of a kind. And it cured everyone involved from following up on it. – Peter Kämpf Jan 28 '22 at 07:24
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Are there any high-wing aircraft with a top or bottom mounted canard?

No one could deny that the Aviafiber CANARD 2 FL was a (very!) high-winged aircraft with a forward-mounted canard. The wing was mounted very high above the fuselage on long diagonal struts, while the canard was at the level of the fuselage. For photos, visit http://www.delta-club-82.com/bible/photo.php?id_aile=568&langue=en

motorized version of the Aviafiber Canard

There was also a motorised version of it.

More info--

https://www.delta-club-82.com/bible/568-hang-glider-canard-2fl.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviafiber_Canard_2FL

See also the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross human-powered aircraft.

Perhaps some of these also qualify--

Duck hang glider

Gyrfalcon hang glider

Mk 2 Splitwing Circa hang glider

And this unknown hang glider

But the real "nuts-and-bolts" answer to your question is this-- considering aircraft with a conventional enclosed cockpit or "cabin"-- if the aircraft has a horizontal stabilizer in the rear and an engine in the front, then one of the logical places to put the wing, as far as the fore-and-aft trim and stability is concerned, is on top of the cockpit or cabin. (Putting the wing beneath the cockpit or cabin can also work out well.) Once you move the engine to the rear and get rid of the rear horizontal stabilizer and add a (lifting) canard, it tends to work out best to put the cockpit or cabin in front of the wing, as far as the fore-and-aft trim and stability is concerned. This tends to rule out the option of putting the wing on top of the cockpit or cabin. (Or perhaps it would be more accurate to note that this tends to allow the designer the option of putting the wing more or less on the same level as the cockpit or cabin, without having structural parts run through the cockpit or cabin space.) But as other answers have shown, there are exceptions to every rule or generalization--even in such a case, there are still ways to mount the wing above the level of the cockpit or cabin, so a few such designs do exist.

Peter Kämpf
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quiet flyer
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