Nieuport Research and History Note
Briefs.
Edouard
Nieuport, 1875-1911. Pommier. This biography details the
brilliant engineering solutions that Nieuport applied to
cycling and automobiles before turning to aircraft.
His brother Charles and the
company bearing their name - which at one time lead the
world in aircraft production.
Flyboys epic tale of the
young American men who became known as the Lafayette
Escadrille - ordinary boys who volunteered for the First
World War looking for adventure and, in the process, became
heroes
Nieuport 11 Bebe flown in
the 1916 Battle of Verdun by Adjutant Norman Prince, an
American who achieved four aerial victories flying for the
Lafayette Escadrille
The first
airplane designed to be a fighter, the Nieuport 11 -
nicknamed "Baby" by the pilots who thought it was small and
cute - defined the cutting edge of military aviation in 1916
and was largely responsible for ending the "Fokker Scourge."
The Royal
Flying Corps' top-scoring WWI ace was Billy Bishop, a
Canadian, who scored 72 victories. Awarded the Victoria
Cross, he was the first pilot to surpass the record of
famed British Ace Albert Ball.
America's
first ace, Raoul Lufbery, flew this Nieuport 17 to his
fifth aerial victory when, returning from an escort
mission over Oberndorf on October 12, 1916, he downed a
Roland C.II.
26 American
aces including Maj. Gen. "Boots" Blesse, Brig.
Gen. David Lee "Tex" Hill, and Brig. Gen. Steve Ritchie.
On June 23, 1916, Victor Chapman - flying a Nieuport
16 as a member of the famed Lafayette Escadrille - finds himself alone against
five German Eindeckers and quickly becomes the first U.S. airman to lose his
life in World War I combat.
One of the most famous Allied fighters of World War
I, the Nieuport 17 was flown by several top aces such as Georges Guynemer and
Raoul Lufbery
WW2 LN-401 dive-bomber that flew for the French navy
during the Battle of France and for the Vichy Republic later in the war
Tenente Franceso Baracca, Udine, November 1916
Eddie Rickenbacker's favorite fighter
Nieuport 28 flown by America's first combat
squadron - the 94th Aero Squadron - in World War I
The French Nieuport company provided Allied
forces with the first true fighter of World War I. Flown by French, British,
Russian, Belgian, and Italian aces, the XI was replaced in 1916 by the even more
popular XII. Americans flew a final variant, the Nie.28, in 1918.
The French firm of Nieuport built some of the
best-looking and most effective fighting planes of World War One - the types 11,
17 and 28 gaining particular fame. Nieuports were also among the most numerous
aircraft of the War, being operated particularly by the French, British,
Belgian, Russian, Italian and American forces.
Lt. Alan Winslow in his Nieuport 28 downs a
German fighter marking the first aerial victory for the U.S. Army Air Service
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