On Feb 1, 7:20*pm, John Smith wrote:
In article ,
*Dudley Henriques wrote:

The DR1 was the result of many different designers from different
countries experimenting with more wings at different aspect ratios
trying to get greater maneuverability and rate of climb.
You are correct in that they were slow, specifically the DR1 which had a
top speed of barely over 100mph. The reason was interference drag
between the wings.
The maneuverability was excellect in the hands of good drivers, but the
ham handed could dent the fabric in a nano-second with this crate.
Eventually, the idea for the 3 wings (actually, many airplanes of the
period had even more than 3 :-) went the way of all bad ideas as the
structural issues in monoplane design began to get solved.
Bottom line on the DR1 was that it was something new to be played with
by experienced pilots, but the cons outweighed the pros and the damn
thing was slow as molasses, so it was eventually canned as a viable weapon.

Didn't AIR&SPACE magazine do an article last year with photos showing
the interference drag on each will resulting from the others?

Yeah, they did. They said the same things Bertie mentioned. The
middle wing was useless due to the interference.

Phil