Biplane



Equalist biplanes are small, light aircraft, which are designed to be quick moving and capable of delivering powerful bombs and torpedoes; rearward firing bolas are used for defense against other aircraft. They were designed by Hiroshi Sato and built by Future Industries in the interests of the Equalists.

History
Upon the arrival of the United Forces in Republic City's harbor, several Equalist biplanes began flying towards the fleet, launching bombs and torpedoes at the battleships. One of these biplanes was being flown by Hiroshi Sato. During the battle, General Iroh firebent a number of powerful shots towards a biplane which was headed straight for the helm of his ship, but he was tossed into the harbor by an explosion caused by one of the biplane's bombs. After the battle, the planes emerged victorious, having successfully destroyed the entire fleet.



In the underground shelter, General Iroh, who had been rescued by Korra, sent a wire to Commander Bumi, telling him not to bring the second wave of reinforcements any closer to the city until he had taken care of the biplane problem. Iroh, Bolin, and Asami then figured out the location of the Equalists' airfield and decided to infiltrate the base. Upon their arrival, however, the group was captured and imprisoned by Hiroshi. While in the cell, they were visited by him, who told his new captives that he had intercepted General Iroh's transmission and knew exactly where Bumi's fleet was hiding. He told the three prisoners his plans for destroying the fleet. A few moments later, just after Hiroshi had left, Naga broke into the base and freed Iroh, Bolin, and Asami from their cell. The group then headed outside, toward the airstrips.

Upon reaching the airstrips, General Iroh decided to go after a biplane that was preparing to take-off. Utilizing his firebending in a manner similar to jet-propulsion, the General managed to catch up to the moving biplane and hijack it, causing the Equalist pilot to bail out and deploy his parachute. Although Iroh found the biplane difficult to control at first, he eventually managed to catch up with the rest of the fleet and began attacking the other planes, using its own weapons and his firebending.



Despite doing well at first, his plane was destroyed when another biplane launched a bola at his engine, causing its blades to stop rotating, and the plane to fall from the sky. Once again, Iroh used his firebending to propel himself onto the wing of another biplane. Once on the wing, he launched another fireblast, destroying the engine of the biplane that was ahead of him. Iroh then successfully hijacked the plane he was currently on, however his luck didn't last very long, as his biplane was attacked and damaged by another aircraft above him which had begun dropping bombs.

Before the attacking biplane had the chance to drop any more, Iroh launched an upward firebending blast at the open bomb bay, causing the bombs to detonate, effectively destroying it. Soon after this success, Iroh was forced to abandon his biplane, as it was headed straight for the statue of Aang on Aang Memorial Island. After Iroh jumped out and grabbed onto the Equalist banner hanging from the statue's staff, the plane he had stolen crashed into the statue's head, causing the giant Amon mask to fall off.

Back at the airfield, Bolin used his earthbending to destroy the individual airstrips, thus stopping any more biplanes from taking off. Asami also used a mecha tank to destroy several biplanes that had not taken off.

Design


The Equalist biplanes have three engines, one in 'pull' configuration on the front of the fuselage, as well as one in 'push' configuration mounted under the edge of each upper wing. The twin rear stabilizers on the biplane are equivalent to the ones used on early designs of aircraft.

The biplanes are also equipped with various weapons for combat. Located on the underside of the aircraft is a bomb bay that, when opened, will drop several small, but powerful bombs on the targeted areas. The biplanes can also be equipped with up to four torpedoes underneath their two lower wings, which, once in the water, continue on a straight trajectory, under their own power and detonate on impact with another object. As a means of self-defense against any airborne threat, the biplanes have a compartment located beneath the cockpit, which is capable of shooting bolas at anything behind them, which becomes entangled in the propellers of the enemy biplane, causing it to lose momentum and thrust, resulting in the plane falling from the sky. Strangely, unlike other bolas used by mecha tanks and some Equalist chi blockers, these bolas does not electrocute their targets. However, they are stronger than typical bolas, being able to wrap themselves around the propellers of a plane without being shredded.

Weaknesses
Due to their relatively small size, flimsy build, flammable components, and lack of defensive armor, the biplanes can easily be destroyed once hit: one hit to a biplane's fragile structure will likely render them useless and force its pilot to bail out. However, their small size and high speeds make them difficult targets.

Trivia

 * The biplane is based on different planes used during World Wars I and II.
 * The aircraft's design has similarities to the Airco DH.4, a British airplane designed for bombing during World War I.
 * While it is a biplane, the bends on the bottom wings and the fact that it is a bomber pose similarities to the Stuka, a dedicated dive-bombing aircraft that was employed by Nazi Germany, or the Aichi D3A Val, another dive-bombing aircraft used by the Empire of Japan, during World War II.
 * The manner in which General Iroh, Bolin, and Asami destroyed the biplane squadron is very similar to how Sokka, Toph, and Suki destroyed the Fire Nation airship fleet 70 years earlier during the arrival of Sozin's Comet.
 * Similar to how the Equalist biplanes were quick to disable General Iroh's fleet, the Fairey Swordfish played a decisive role in sinking the German battleship Bismarck.