HISTORY
Originally formed as
Nieuport-Duplex
in 1902 for the manufacture of
engine components the company was
reformed in 1909 as the
Société
Générale d'Aéro-locomotion,
and its products (including ignition
components) were marketed to the
aviation industry. During this time,
their first aircraft were built,
starting with a small single-seat
monoplane, which was destroyed in a
flood. A second design flew before
the end of 1909 and had the
essential form of the modern
aircraft, including a non-lifting
tail (where the lift pushes down, as
opposed to up as on the Bleriots)
and an enclosed fuselage with the
pilot protected from the slipstream.
In
1911, the company was reformed
specifically to build aircraft
(though it continued to build
components including propellers)
under the name
Nieuport
et Deplante.
In 1911, Edouard Nieuport(1875–1911)
(one of several brothers) died after
being thrown from his aircraft, and
the company was taken over by Henri
Deutsch de la Meurthe, a famous
supporter of aviation development.
With his financing, the name was
changed to
Société
Anonyme des Établissements Nieuport,
and development of the existing
designs was continued. Charles
Nieuport, the second brother died in
another accident in 1912 (he stalled
and spun in), and the position of
chief designer was taken over by the
Swiss engineer Franz Schneider, more
famous for his work for his next
employer, L.V.G.,
and his long-running fight with
Anthony Fokker over machine gun
interrupter / synchronizer patents.
Schneider left Nieuport in late
1913. With
Schneider's departure, Gustave
Delage (no connection to the Delage
automobile company) took over as
chief designer in January 1914.
He began work on a sesquiplane racer
- a biplane whose lower wing was
much narrower in chord than its top
wing and relied on a single wing
spar instead of the usual two. This
aircraft was not ready to fly until
after World War I had begun but, as
the Nieuport 10, the type saw
extensive service with the Royal
Naval Air Service (R.N.A.S.) of the
United Kingdom and with the French
and Russian Flying Services.
The performance of the Nieuport 10,
and the more powerful Nieuport 12,
which also served with the Royal
Flying Corps (R.F.C.) was such that
they were used as fighters. Nieuport
developed an improved design
specifically intended as a fighter -
the Nieuport 11, which was regarded
as the "baby" (bébé)
of the 10, which it closely
resembled, except in size.
Until the
end of 1917, most of the company's
output would consist of successive
developments of this one design,
with more powerful engines, modest
increases in overall dimensions, and
slightly more refined aerodynamics,
until the line ended with the
Nieuport 27. As horsepower
increased, the "V-strut" Nieuports
began to suffer from the limitations
of the sesquiplane wing form, and
required careful piloting to avoid
the risk of wing failures. By
March/April 1917 the design was
technically outclassed by the newer
twin-gun Albatros D.III, and
although the process of replacement
had already begun, Nieuport 27's
would still be in front line service
in the spring of 1918. Even while
still in frontline service,
Nieuports of all types were being
used at French and American flight
training facilities, with the bulk
of production from 1917 onwards
going to flying schools.
Some pilots,
notably Albert Ball and Charles
Nungesser preferred the Nieuport due
to its sensitive controls and
maneuverability. Pilots Eddie
Rickenbacker and Billy Bishop flew
Nieuport aircraft to some of their
first victories, with Bishop
achieving his when the Nieuport 23
he flew was already obsolescent.
The
next design, the Nieuport 28 was the
first Nieuport fighter with two
spars to both upper and lower wings
but by the time it was ready for
service the French had already
chosen the SPAD S.XIII as their
primary fighter. Due to a shortage
of SPAD S.XIIIs, the first fighter
squadrons of the United States Army
Air Service (USAAS), used the
Nieuport 28 on operations. While
only in operational service with the
USAAS for a short time, the Nieuport
28 was the first fighter to be used
on operations by a U.S. Squadron.
The
Nieuport fighters were widely used
by the Allied air arms, and various
models were built under licence in
both Italy and Russia. In Italy, the
modern firm of Aermacchi was
originally formed as Nieuport-Macchi
for the purpose of building various
Nieuports under licence. They
started with the Nieuport IV, but
built the Nieuport 10, 11, 17 and
finally the post-war NiD.29 under
license. In Russia several
companies, notably Dux, built
Nieuports of several types including
the IV, 10, 11, 16, 17, 21, 23 and
24bis.
On the
morning of Friday, 8 August 1919,
three weeks after the Paris victory
parade in 1919 marking the end of
hostilities in World War I, Charles
Godefroy flew a "v-strut" Nieuport
fighter through the large arch of
the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The event was filmed.
By the end
of 1918, Nieuport had two new
fighter types flying, the Nieuport
29 biplane and the Nieuport 31
monoplane both of which had evolved
in parallel from the Nieuport 28.
They differed from earlier Nieuports
in having streamlined wooden
monocoque fuselages, a 300 hp (220
kW) Hispano-Suiza engine, and
dispensed with the vee-strut
sesquiplane wing used previously.
Specially modified Nieuport 29 and
31 aircraft set speed and height
records, and the 31 was the first
aircraft to exceed 200 mph (320
km/h) in level flight, in the hands
of Joseph Sadi-Lecointe.
At this
time, Nieuport became
Nieuport-Astra, with the absorption
of Société Astra, a company known
for aerial balloons, though this
name would not be used for long,
before becoming Nieuport-Delage, in
honour of the work of the chief
designer, Gustave Delage, who had
been running the company throughout
the war years. Also at this time,
Tellier (who built seaplanes) was
also absorbed, and for a brief time
the name Nieuport-Tellier was used.
Despite the
many successes achieved with 29 and
31 in setting speed and altitude
records, Delage quickly embarked on
a new design (The Nieuport-Delage
NiD.42) that was to provide the
basis for a family of aircraft that
would remain in service until the
fall of France during World War II.
This design first saw light as a
shoulder wing racer (42S), then as
single seat (42 C.1) and two seat
fighters (42 C.2) for the French Air
Force though none of these would see
service. The Nieuport-Delage 52, a
slightly improved NiD.42, entered
service with Spain, and remained in
service well into the Spanish Civil
War, although by that time it was
obsolete and was retired before the
end of the conflict. The French
bought large numbers of the 62
series (620, 621, 622, 629) which
was also derived from the NiD.42 to
equip the bulk of the French fighter
units until replaced by newer
designs in the late 30's. Despite
being hopelessly obsolete, several
French second-line escadrilles were
still equipped with them during the
invasion of France. The
Nieuport-Delage NiD 38 and similar
39 were small airliners of which
more than 37 were built. Other types
were developed, the majority of
which were one-offs or did not
result in significant production.
The final
aircraft developed by Nieuport saw
much of their development done by
successor companies. In 1932, as a
result of the amalgamations taking
place in the French aviation
industry, Delage retired and
Nieuport-Delage was briefly renamed
Nieuport again, before merging with
Loire Aviation to form
Loire-Nieuport, which was reformed
as SNCAO during the mergers in the
French aircraft industry. SNCAO
would eventually be merged into the
massive conglomerate known as
Aérospatiale, however, the records
were burnt to prevent their falling
into German hands during World War
II. This step didn't prevent the
Germans from charging several
employees with espionage, as the
last operational aircraft to carry
the Nieuport name, the
Loire-Nieuport LN.401 was a single
seat, single engine retractable gear
monoplane dive bomber with an
inverted gull wing and a vague
similarity to the Junkers 87.
Source:
Wikipedia
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