Nieuport Aircraft of Wold War One

194 Pages·2002·59.87 MB·English

by  Ray Sanger

..'
f:·
Nieuport Aircraft
of World War One
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Lockheed C-130 Hercules MartinW. Bowman
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McDonnell DouglasA-4 Skyhawk Brad Elward
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Messerschmitt Bf110 Ron Mackay
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North American B-25 Mitchell JerryScutts
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PanaviaTornado Andy Evans
ShortSunderland Ken Delve
V-Bombers BarryJones
Vickers VClO Lance Cole
NIEUPORT
l U R e T
of World War One
Ray Sanger
1)~CI
The Crowood Press
Firstpublishedin2002by
TheCrowoodPressLtd
Ramsbury,Marlborough
WiltshireSN82HR
©RaySanger2002
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmay
bereproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyany
means,electronicormechanical,including
photocopy,recording,oranyinformationstorage
andretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting
fromthepublishers.
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
Acataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefrom
theBritishLibrary.
ISBN I86126447X
Typefacesused:Goudy(text),
Cheltenham(headings).
Typesetanddesignedby
o& Publishing
Baydon,Marlborough,Wiltshire.
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainbyBurlerand
Tanner,Frome.
Contents
Acknowledgements 6
1 THE COMPANY 7
2 NIEUPORT AIRCRAFT BEFORE WORLD WAR ONE 17
3 NIEUPORT AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR ONE 30
4 FRENCH OPERATIONS OF NIEUPORT AIRCRAFT DURING
WORLD WAR ONE 77
5 BRITISH OPERATIONS OF NIEUPORT AIRCRAFT DURING
WORLD WAR ONE 93
6 NIEUPORT AIRCRAFT IN RUSSIA AND ON THE
EASTERN FRONT 109
7 NIEUPORT AIRCRAFT IN ITALIAN SERVICE 131
8 NIEUPORTS WITH THEAMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY
FORCE AND OTHER AIR FORCES 147
9 POSTWAR DEVELOPMENTS OF WARTIME DESIGNS 159
Bibliography 188
Index 189
AcknowledgeDlents
ieuport aircraft were manufactured and byJack Bruce, principallyfor Putnamand Woodman for supplying photographs and
r.:
used in many countries. Not being a lin Albatros Publications; also of Aviation giving me the benefits of his extensive
guist, itwasnotapracticalproposition for Maritime Franfaise Pendant Ia Grande knowledgeofarmamentandRussianavia
me to refer to original documents in for Guerre by Morareau, Feuilley and Cour tion history. I also thank Greg van Wyn
eignlanguages,eveniftheyweretobestill tinat; I Reparti dell'aviazione italiana nella garden,LucienMorareau,TomaszKopans
inexistence after manyyearsand the rav Grande Guerra by Gentilli and Varriale; ki, Giorgio Apostolo, Paul Leaman and
agesoftwoworldwars.OfnecessityIhave and the numerous articles that have Philip Jarrett for supplying photographs
therefore had to make extensive use of appeared in the excellent French maga andgivingencouragement.
secondary references; some of these have zineAvions. Finally,IwouldliketothankMickDavis,
proved to be unreliable, but others have I also gratefully acknowledge the assis whotooktimeofffromhisownresearch to
provedofutmostvalue, and these are list tancegivenbyStuartLeslieandJackBruce drawthediagrams.
edintheappendix. Imustmakeparticular in making their collection ofphotographs
mentionofthe manypublicationswritten available;andwholeheartedlythankHarry
DesignationSystem
TheFrenchsystemofdesignatingmilitaryaircraftandsquadronsbecameverycomplex Frenchescadrillenumbersweregivenaprefixdesignatingthemaintypeofaircraft
duringthewar,andwasfurthercomplicatedbyanoverlapintypenumbersbetween usedintheescadrille:forexample,EscadrilleN.12operatedNieuportmonoplanesuntil
theprewarNieuportmonoplanesandwartimebiplanedesigns. it re-equipped with Morane-Saulnier Parasols, at which point itwas re-designated
Toavoidconfusion overtheNieuporttype numbers,inthisbookRomannumerals MS.12.However,escadrillesdidnotexclusivelyoperatethetypeindicatedbythelet
have been retainedfortheprewarNieuportmonoplanes, butarabic numeralshave terprefix:forexample,oneortwoNieuportscoutsoperatedinmostescadrillesearly
beenusedforallNieuportbiplanes.althoughthesewerenotofficiallyadopteduntil inthewar,andduringitslatterpartNieuportsandSpadsoperatedsidebysideinNieu
laterinthewar.TheNieuportcompanysometimesadded.Ietterstoitstypenumbers: portescadrillesforsometimebeforethe'Spa'prefixwasadopted.
forexample,'M'stoodfor'Military'intheTypeIVMdesignation;thebiplanederivative SerialnumbersallottedtoaircraftbytheAviationMilitaireindicatedthesequence
ofthe Type XandType XI monoplaneswere designated the Type XB andType XIB inwhichtheywereprocuredfromeachmanufacturer,andnottotalaircraftprocure
respectively- andfortheTypeXIBthecompanyalsousedthedesignationB=XI. mentasinthecaseoftheBritishandAmericansystems.Thustheybeganwithalet
In1915theServicedesFabricationsAeronautiquesdecidedonanaircraftidentifi terprefixdenotingthemanufacturer,theletternaturallybeing'N'inthecaseofNieu
cationsysteminwhichaircraftfromthevariousmanufacturersweregivenRomantype port.Serialnumberswerenormallywritteninblacklettersonbothsidesofthefinand
numbersandthesuffixMformanop/anandBforbiplan.Thusthebiplanederivativeof rudder,andtheaircraftmodeldesignationwascommonlywrittenbelowtheserialnum
theTypeXbecametheNie-XB(NieuportlOinthisbook).Thiswasaugmentedayear ber;inthecaseofNieuportaircraftthiswasoftensimplifiedtoatypenumber;e.g.'Type
laterbyadoptingadditionalsuffixes:Aforobservationaircraft,Bforaviandecombat 28'.WhiletheAmericanforceshadtheirownserialnumbersystem,itwasnotapplied
legerorlightcombataircraft,Cforaviandecombatorheavymulti-seatfighters,0for to aircraftobtainedfromtheirAllies, which retainedthose originallyapplied bythe
cannon-armedaeroplanesandEforbombers. InthiswaytheNie-XIwasdesignated manufacturereveniftheaircraftwassubsequentlyexportedtotheUSA.Britishseri
the Nie-XI BB(Nieuport11 inthis bookl.These designationswere furthermodified alswereallocatedtoBritishmanufacturerswith eachbatchatthetimethecontract
shortlyafterwards,Astillreferringtoobservationaircraft,butBbecomingbombardier wasassigned,andweresubstitutedfortheoriginalFrenchserialnumbersonNieuport
orbomber,andCchasseurorfighterorscout;thesuffixesforthenumberofmainplanes aircraftmanufacturedbytheparentcompany.ConfusionmayariseastheBritishseri
wasstillretained.In1917,Romantypenumbersweretotallyreplacedbyarabicnumer alnumbersystemalsoincluded'N'letterprefixes.
als,andthenumberofseatswasshownbyanarabicnumeralafterthesuffix:forexam Although,ingener_al.foreignlanguagenameshavebeenused,Russianunitnomen
ple,theNie-XXIXbecametheNi0-29C-1,thesystemalsoadoptedinthisbook. claturehasbeentranslated.Theterm 'detachment'hasbeenusedregularlyinthelit
OtherdesignationswereappliedtoNieuportaircraft,whichcanleadtoconfusion eraturetodescribeRussianaviationunits,buttheywereinfactseparateunitsandnot
Forexample,theNieuport-Macchi-producedNie-10wassometimesreferredtoasthe generallydetachmentsfrom largerestablishments;sointhisbooktheterm 'section'
Ni.18orNi.18mqinItalianservice,anomenclaturewhichreferredtothewingareaof hasbeenusedinstead.
18sqm(194sqftl.
6
CHAPTERONE
The COlDpany
Edouard de Nieport was born on 24 May La Societe Generale
1875 at Elida, a small town in Algeria, d'Aero-locomotion
where his father, a colonel in the artillery,
was commander of the garrison. After a In 1907, Leon Levavasseur adopted the
soundtechnicaleducation, hepreparedfor Nieuport-Duplex ignition system for the
anentranceexaminationattheEcolePoly Antoinette engine, and Henry Farman
technique in Paris; but in 1897 he aban completedthefirstclosedcircuitoflkmin
donedhisstudiestodevotehistimetocycle a Voisin biplane powered by such an
racing. For young men at the end of the engine. ShortlyafterwardsEdouardfound
nineteenth century, cycling was a readily ed the Societe Generale d'Aero-locomo
accessiblesportforthosewithamechanical tion,supportedwithfinancebyhisbrother
bent.Theraces,agreatnoveltyfortheperi Charles and other members of his family
od,attractedafashionablefollowing,rather and the principal shareholder, the Lieu
likegolfortennistoday. Itwasnotuncom tenant de Caumont La Force (one ofthe
monfor future exponentsofcarsand aero first military pilots inFrance). M. Zemette
planes - for instance Henry and Maurice became the director ofthe new company,
Farman, and RogerSommer, amongstoth and Henri Depasse the financial director.
ers - to begin their careers incycle racing. The latterhadalso beenacyclist, and was
Hewonadozenracesasanamateuratthe the son of the member of parliament for
ParisVelodrome d'Hiver. During 1897 the Neuilly, who was destined to become a
youngEdouardshowedsufficientproficien future minister. The production manager
cy to turn professional, winning the Zim EdouarddeNiiiport. TheAero was Frank Schneider, a Swiss, and he was
mermanPrizeforthe 1kmtandemrace;one assisted bythe twobrothersandothercol
year later he finished third in the champi laborators including Cizeck, Desbordes,
onshipofFrance,andthefreedomofaction 1902becamethefirst automobileto exceed Rispal andArmandGobe.
this gavehimallowedhimtoparticipat~in .200km/h(l24mph).Atthistimehedidnot It is said that Edouard bought a Voisin
acourse at the Ecole Superieured'Electric appreciatethefuture ofaviation; comment in 1909, to practise flying and to test the
ite.Helackedthephysiquetoreachthetop ing in the magazine La Locomotion in electrical accessories that he was produc
flight, but he compensated for his lack of November1902onFerdinandFeber'sglider ing at the time; but this was destroyed on
strength by courage and the application of experimentshewrote: 18 April 1910 when it caught fire in the
aerodynamics: he used aRudge-Whitworth air, andEdouardwas luckytoescapeunin
cyclewithalongfrarrieand lowhandlebars, Thiswill becomeagame and asport, nothing jured.Thecollaboratorshadnobetterluck
which gave him a low stance and thus more...Weshallneverseetheskytraversedby withtheirfirst indigenousdesign, as itwas
reducedwindresistance.Bythistimehewas airmachines,orfrontiersabolishedbyhigh-fly destroyed by the flooding of the Seine
knownasNieuport. ingvehiclesdescribed by poets...orforecast by soonafter itscompletion inJanuary 1910.
inventors. The laws of gravity, above all of Shortly afterwards Edouard established a
geometry, willneverbealtered by theprogress factory for the production of aeroplanes,
Nieuport-Duplex ofscience....it will be impossible to construct andalsoaflyingschool,atMourmelon.He
machines by which the wings can support its was joined there by Franc;ois Dumoulin,
Forcedtolookforalivingelsewhere,in1902 correspondingweight. Andre Levasseur and Georges Kirsch
Nieuport established a small business in amongstothers. Kirsch, who laterbecame
Suresnes to manufacture electrical acces Hehadcauseto changehisopinion, how mechanic to Charles Weymann, had his
soriesforinternalcombustionenginesunder ever,largelyasaconsequenceofthedisas first experience of flying as a passenger
thebrandnameNieuport-Duplex.Hisback trousParistoMadridRallyof1902,which withHubertLathaminanAntoinette.He
ersincludeddeJoug,Gustin,Altschullerand caused the French administration to ban later fought as a pilot in the war and was
Citroen, and the products included high automotive competitions, a decision that badly wounded. He returned to Nieuport
tension magnetos, accumulators and spark had a serious adverse effect on the car after the war, andfor atime wasasuccess
ingplugs. Hesoonmadeareputationinthe industry.Thisledcompaniestotumtothe ful test and competitionpilot.
automotive and aeronautical world, andhis fledgling aviation industryas an outletfor Edouard,flyinghisseconddesignofair
equipmentwasusedintheDarracq,whichin theirenergies and products. craft, obtained his pilot's certificate (No.
7
THECOMPANY
5 & HYD AVIO s CharlesWeymann
I
U5IN ES & BUREAU X O"eTU0 ES
ISSY· ES-HOUllNEAUX & SAlNT. AZAIRE
1910- 936
"JIRE 10 G~ ERALf A PARIS. ~, RUE DE TEHERAN '8";
CharlesWeymann. Flight
CharlesWeymannwasthesonofanAmericansugarplanterinHaiti;hewasbornat
Port-au-Princeon2August1889,butwaseducatedinFrance.Hewasanunassum
Nieuportadvertfrom1910. L'Aerophile
ingtype,withtheairofacountrygentleman,andrathershortinstature.Hegener
allyworeapince-nez,andwentaroundinaloose-fittingraincoatoveraturtle-neck
sweater,withcapandgogglesinsteadofacrashhelmet.Hehadpassedhistestsfor
theFrenchbreveton6June1910,andtheAeroClubofAmericaissuedhimwithits
ownlicence(No.14)onthesamedate,enablinghimtocompeteasanAmericanpilot.
105)from the Aero-Clubde Franceon 10 vived if he had been treated on the spot instance, at Mourmelon on 6 March he
June 1910. Less than a month later he instead of being carted in a farm wagon managed to exceed a speed of 101km/h
entered three monoplanes, powered by from Buc to St Cyr and thence to Ver (62mph) with an engine of only 28hp,
Darracq engines, in the second Grande sailles.Hisdeathcauseddifficultiesforthe and over the nextfew weeks flew a num
Semaine d'Aviation de Reims; however, company,as itwasnotsellingitsmachines berofrecord flights.
his only success was to come third in the in sufficient numbers to be financially On 1 July, Charles Weymann in a
cross-countryrace. viable. Nieuportcarriedoffthe Gordon Bennett
Theyearended badlyforNieuportwith Having gained self-confidence as a Trophy at the meeting held at East
the death ofthe principal shareholder, Lt pilot, Edouard became more active in church, and Edouard finished third in a
deCaumont, who waskilledwhileexperi promotingthecompany'saeroplanes,and similar time. However, no success was
menting with a REP Type III at Buc. His gained an international reputation for achieved in the Circuit de l'Est, nor in
rudder jammed and he omitted to cut off himself and his aircraft. In the period the Paris to Madrid, and Paris to Rome
his engine, with the result that he hit the from March to June he obtained several events. However, these failures were due
groundhardandsmashedbothhislegs.He speed and distance records, and achieved to anumberofreasons thatweregeneral
diedthesameday, thoughmighthavesur- better success in competitions. For ly no fault ofthe aircraft.
8
THECOMPANY
Nieuport et Deplante
HenriDeutschdelaMeurthe
In May 1911, a new company was formed Intheearly1860sHenrihaddiligentlystudied
to build monoplanes. This was registered engineering atthe Ecole Centrale; afterthis,
underthenameofSocieteNieuport(E)et togetherwithhisbrotherEmile,heguidedthe
familypetroleumbusiness,knownasLesFilsde
Deplante, withoffices at9 rue deSeine at
Alexandre Deutsch,to increasing profitability.
Suresnes, and it was expected that the
Inhisownlaboratoryhedevelopedameansof
companywouldbesufficientlywellfound
refining petrolasafuel fortheinternal com·
ed not to run into financial difficulties.
bustion engine, and from the family fortune
But on 15 September, Edouard Nieuport encouraged the developmentofcars andair
was killed inanaccident. craftbyputting upprizesforcar, balloonand
At the end ofeverysummer it was cus aeroplanecompetitions.In1904heestablished
tomary to hold military manceuvres, and ajointprizeof50,000francsforthefirstairman
in 1911 these tookplace inthe Ardennes, toflyaclosedcircuitof1km;thiswaswonby
when twenty-two aircraft took part. HenriFarman.HethensetupthePrixDeutsch
delaMeurthe,valuedat70,000francs,foran
Edouardwassummonedasareservist,with
air race round Paris. He created the Institute
one ofthe Nieuport monoplanes powered
Mronautique de Saint-Cyr; he also re-estab
by a 50hp or 70hp Gnome rotary, to a
lishedtheEtablissementsSurcoufcompanyas
squadron commanded by LV Gustav
the Astra company, to build aeroplanes, bal
Delage (much moreofwhom later). loonsandairships;andhebecamethepatronof
EdouardwassenttoVerdun. Hearrived manyofthefledglingaeroplanemanufacturers,
there inagale, withsquallsreachingmore includingVoisinandNieuport.
than80km/h(50mph).Helandedinfront
ofa group ofastounded officers, amongst
whom was Colonel Estienne, Comman
HenriDeutschdelaMeurthewithRoland
dant ofthe Military Aviation Laboratory Garrosin1913. TheAero
atVincennes. Asked to give ademonstra
tion flight, Edouard took off again,
climbed to around 800m (2,600ft) before
cutting his motor to glide down to land. Societe Anonyme des On 24 January 1913, prior to delivering
Unfortunately he could not restart his Establissements Nieuport threeNieuportthree-seatersandinthecom
engine, and as he approached the ground pany ofEspanet and Gobe, Charles Nieu
he was hit byagustand crashed. Edouard InDecember1911,theNieuportengineof port flew to the military field at Etampes
was not strapped in and was thrown out, 28hp was placed first in·the Ligue Aeri withhismechanicGuillottocarryoutsome
hittingaplankthathad beensetup to lay ennecompetition. Theday beforeChrist flights beforeanarmyreceptioncommittee.
out maps. Gravely injured, he died. that. mas, Armand Gobe beat the world dis He landed rather heavily following one
night from an internal haemorrhage, tance record, covering 740km (460 miles) flight, having achieved a height of 500m
despite the attentions ofthe eminentsur non-stop in 8hr 16min. Charles Nieuport (1,640ft) in fifteen minutes with a load of
geon Professor Doyen, who had been succeededhis brotherfollowing hisdeath: 500kg (1,lOOlb), butsetoutagain- buton
rushed to the scene by car from Paris. It in 1912, after training as a pilot, he reachinganaltitudeofabout300m (980ft),
had been intended to award Nieuport the obtainedhiscivilcertificate (No. 742) on he side-slipped while making a steep turn,
Legiond'Honneurafterthemanoeuvresin 22January, andhismilitaryone (No. 156) and crashed. Both occupants were killed.
recognition of his services, but in the on9February. HenriDeutschde laMeur In April, the Nieuport floatplanes of
eventtheMinisterofWarpinnedthecross the bought all the Nieuport patents and Weymann and Espanet took part in the
to the aviator's chest afew hours after he created the Societe Anonyme des Estab Schneider Cup; but in spite ofqualifying
passedaway. lissements Nieuport with a capital of 1.2 easily, theywerebotheliminatedfrom the
Without its head the company would millionfrancs, with Leon Bazaineascom finals due to mechanicalfaults.
mostprobablyhavefloundered butfor the mercial director and Henride la Fresnaye TheNieuportdesignshadhardlyevolved
support ofHenri Deutsch de la Meurthe. as technical director. Another company, since 1910, and were less advanced than
In the meantime, inordertoselectsuit Anonyme des Equipements Electriques, those of Deperdussin, and especially
ableaircraftforthearmy,acompetitionwas continued to manufacture Nieuport mag Morane et Saulnier. At the end of 1913,
held during October and November 1911 netos and sparking plugs. In November a Deperdussinbroughtoutamonoplaneofa
by General Rocques, engineering director new factory was built at Issy-les-Moulin new generation, the Type XI, with which
ofthe Ministry ofWar and responsible for eaux,and aflyingschoolwassetupatVil Maurice Legagneux beat the world alti
militaryaeronautics.Asaresultofthesetri lacoublay. tude record. However, itwas not as fast as
als the army ordered ten three-seat Nieu Moreaircraftconstructorswerecoming earlierdesigns,andthearmy, theonlylike
port monoplanes: these had beenfound to on the scene at a time when aircraftsales lycustomer, requiredsomethingevenbet
befastandrobust,havingachievedanaver were stagnating. However, Nieuport re ter, with improved visibility and shorter
age speed of 116.9km/h (72.67mph) over ceived an order from the French navy for take-offand landingdistances. Asearly as
250km (155 miles). monoplanesfitted withfloats. the beginningof1913 Morane etSaulnier
9