Aviation Naval Warfare Land Systems Small Arms Space By Flag By Year By Tag

Nieuport 17

1916 WORLD WAR 1

Newport 17 History

The success of the Nieuport 11 is refreshing, and the Nieuport 17 is a direct evolution aimed at improving on earlier designs. The Nieuport 11 was born out of the pre-war Nieuport 10 competition aircraft, which was scrapped as a competition aircraft and adopted for military service by several world powers.

The Nieuport 11 was a militarized version of the Nieuport 10 at the time, and retained the fine qualities of the design, including the biplane biplane configuration, the single-seat open-air cockpit and powerful handling characteristics. The Nieuport 11 helped turn the tide of the horrific "Fokker Scourge" of 1916, overtaking and overtaking the German monoplane with relative ease.

Nieuport then attempted to further improve the Nieuport 11 with the Nieuport 16, although its engine choices made for a significantly more top-heavy design. Next was the Nieuport 17, which ended its tenure as one of the best Allied fighter designs of World War I.

The Nieuport 17 featured a larger fuselage and biplane wing assembly, while retaining the same general single-seat layout. In addition, to improve high-altitude performance, a more powerful engine is used - this is a 110 hp Le Rhone 9J series 9-cylinder rotary engine. As a result, the airframe can reach speeds of up to 110 miles per hour and be capable of fighting at altitudes of 17,400 feet, with an established endurance of nearly two hours.

The rate of climb was reported to reach 9,800 feet in 12 minutes.

Externally, the Nieuport 17 follows the accepted line of World War I fighter design. The engine and wing arrangement was well ahead in the layout, with the engine driving a simple two-bladed wooden propeller in a "puller" configuration.

The upper and lower wing assemblies using "V-stays" are uneven spans. The development of this wing dates back to the half-planar arrangement of the original Nieuport 10 race car, which essentially defined a lower wing assembly that was much smaller than the upper assembly. The wings are completed by a single bracket, so only one instance of the V-pillar support is visible on either side of the fuselage. The engine bay is covered with circular metal panels that blend in nicely with the boxy fuselage, which is primarily made of canvas and wood. The open-air cockpit is located behind and below the upper wing assembly.

The fuselage tapers at the rear end, connecting a single, flat, rounded vertical fin and two horizontal planes. The landing gear was fixed and consisted of two support wheels, which were placed around a reinforced structure with a tail skid in the stern. This arrangement gives the Nieuport design a striking "nose up" look when stationary.

Such aircraft were also required to operate at hostile airfields, and did so in many cases during the war.

One of Newport's famous "Fighting Scouts", the Newport 17 is a reconnaissance aircraft primarily armed with a single machine gun. Finally, in Air France service, the aircraft was fitted with a synchronizer (Nieuport 17bis) that allowed the machine gun to be operated directly in front of the pilot and fired through the rotating propeller blades to clear blockages. The original production model included a machine gun above the upper wingspan.

During British service, this model retained the upper-wing machine gun armature during front-line service, clearing jams by mechanically lowering the machine gun to the pilot's position. The French use the proven air machine guns of the Vickers line, while the British use the Lewis system on the Foster mount - both are .30 calibers.

In addition to the machine gun (as before in the Nieuport 11), the Nieuport 17 can fire 8 x Le Prieur missiles at reconnaissance balloons or ground targets as needed.

In practice, the Nieuport 17 proved to be an excellent fighter. Its single machine gun mount makes it an accurate artillery platform in the heat of battle, while its competition aircraft pedigree is proven in performance and handling.

However, the Nieuport 17 retains the same structural weakness inherent in the previous Nieuport 11 design - the single-cabin wing V-pillar bracing system, especially during high-speed flight such as dives, causing failures that often kill pilots. To say the least, This requires stable, well-trained and experienced controllers.

The Nieuport 17 was deployed almost immediately after its maiden flight in January 1916. Launched that month, the Nieuport 11 itself showcased the rapidly changing face of warfare - aircraft that entered service months before their introduction were officially replaced by better, more modern models. Officially deployed in March 1916, the Newport 17 directly replaced the Newport 11 in front-line service with the French. The British followed suit and soon received the type. Over the next few months, the Newport 17 made up a large proportion of the French Air Force, a type that was very important to the war effort (most of the planes of World War I were actually reconnaissance planes).

Nieuport 17 became the mount of famous ace Albert Ball and William Bishop. The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) also received this model when it arrived in theater. The Russian Empire adopted this aircraft in large numbers and kept it for some time, until the post-war Soviet period.

Although the Nieuport 17 performed well after its launch, it was itself superseded by the latest German fighter development. As a result, the aircraft was gradually replaced by the improved Nieuport type (including the related Nieuport 17bis with its fuselage-mounted synchronized machine gun and 130 hp Clerget rotary engine), and finally by the competing SPAD S. VII series in mid-1917 . British Air Service managed to use the Nieuport 17 until early 1918 before finally abandoning the type.

In the years following the war, the surplus Newport was used as the main two-seater trainer for a new generation of pilots. The Nieuport 23 is an improved version of the Nieuport 17 with a lighter Le Rhone 9J series engine and a newly revised upper spar.

Recognizing the excellence of this type, the Germans transformed the Nieuport 17 into the Siemens-Schuckert D.I and subsequently produced it.

Overall, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia/Soviet Union, Siam, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay.