A tandem wing aircraft usually involves two full-sized wing

Wing

A wing is an appendage with a surface that produces lift for flight or propulsion through the atmosphere, or through another gaseous or liquid fluid...

s, both of which are full airfoils. Sometimes an aircraft of this configuration can look like a variation on the biplane

Biplane

A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...

, but is in fact very different. The forward wing is often technically a canard

Canard (aeronautics)

In aeronautics, canard is an airframe configuration of fixed-wing aircraft in which the forward surface is smaller than the rearward, the former being known as the "canard", while the latter is the main wing...

, fitted with elevator

Elevator (aircraft)

Elevators are flight control surfaces, usually at the rear of an aircraft, which control the aircraft's orientation by changing the pitch of the aircraft, and so also the angle of attack of the wing. In simplified terms, they make the aircraft nose-up or nose-down...

s, but both forward and aft wings provide lift

Lift (force)

A fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a surface force on it. Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the drag force, which is the component of the surface force parallel to the flow direction...

. In the case of the QAC Quickie

Rutan Quickie

-See also:-External links:***...

 the aft wing serves as horizontal stabilizer, but pitch control comes from the forward wing.

In the case where the rearmost tandem wing is effectively an oversize tailplane it is referred to as a "Delanne wing" - from Maurice Delanne, a French designer of tandem wing aircraft.

The difference between a tandem wing and a biplane has to do with the horizontal proximity of one wing to the other. In a biplane, the wings are horizontally close, so that the lift vector on each wing is in close proximity to each other (measured longitudinally). Because of their proximity, there is little difference between a biplane and a monoplane

Monoplane

A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...

 in the relationship between the lift vector and the aircraft's center of gravity

Center of gravity

In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...

 (CG). In a tandem wing design the lift vectors on the two wings are spread far apart longitudinally.

Examples

• Langley Aerodrome
  Langley Aerodrome
  The Langley Aerodrome was a pioneering but unsuccessful manned, powered flying machine designed at the close of the 19th century by Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Langley. The U.S...
  
   - 1900s
• Blériot VI
  Blériot VI
  -Bibliography:* Devaux, Jean and Michel Marani. "Les Douze Premiers Aéroplanes de Louis Blériot". Pegase No 54, May 1989.* Elliott, Bryan A. Blériot: Herald of an Age. Stroud: Tempus, 2000. ISBN 0 7524 1739 8...
  
   - 1907
• Miles Libellula
  Miles Libellula
  -Specifications :-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Amos, Peter and Don Lambert Brown. Miles Aircraft Since 1925, Volume 1. London: Putnam Aeronautical, 2000. ISBN 0-85177-787-0....
  
   - 1942-1945
• Westland P.12 Lysander Delanne - 1940
• Mauboussin Hemiptère
  Mauboussin Hémiptère
  -References:...
  
  
• Peyret Taupin
• Curtiss-Wright X-19
  Curtiss-Wright X-19
  |-See also:-External links:*...
  
   - 1963
• Rutan Quickie
  Rutan Quickie
  -See also:-External links:***...
  
   - 1978
• Viking Dragonfly
  Viking Dragonfly
  -References:* Jackson, Paul. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 2003–2004. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Information Group, 2003. ISBN 0-7106-2537-5.Data from Kitplanes magazine, January 2001, which quoted advertising from Viking, which sells Dragonfly plans and parts....
  
   - 1980
• Scaled Composites Proteus
  Scaled Composites Proteus
  The Scaled Composites Model 281 Proteus is a tandem-wing high-endurance aircraft designed by Burt Rutan to investigate the use of aircraft as high altitude telecommunications relays. The Proteus is actually a multi-mission vehicle, able to carry various payloads on a ventral pylon...
  
  - 1998