History of Airplanes

The image is a Nieuport 17

The French answer to the Fokker Eindekker was the Nieuport 11, equipped with the 80 horse-power Le Rhône (later the 110 horse-power), and armed with a Lewis gun, mounted on the top plane and shooting over the propeller. The machine was superior to the Fokker — all WWI pilots agreed on that point — but the Lewis was subject to constant jams, and its drums contained only forty-seven rounds of ammunition. On account of its position, the gun was difficult to clear when jammed, and a change of drums in the air was a feat for a contortionist. The Nieuports did not appear in numbers on the Front until late in 1915, and were still somewhat of a novelty when the Lafayette Escadrille was equipped with them in April, 1916.

The rapid and efficient Nieuport Type 11 (“biplane scout”) made its appearance in late 1915. In several important features it was entirely different from any contemporary biplanes. It could not quite forget its monoplane construction, and it had made a compromise with the biplane by adding a very narrow lower wing. It was humorously nicknamed the “one and one-half plane,” – but it proved itself just the thing the fighting airmen were looking for. Its narrow lower plane, while giving more stability and a ” girder formation ” to its wing bracing, did not interfere with the pilot’s range of vision, a highly important consideration. In order to allow as full a view as possible in all directions, it had only two V-shaped struts between the planes, while the upper wing, just above the pilot’s seat, had been cut away in a semi-circle at the rear so that he might be able to see above. The lower wing was in two sections, one at each side of the fuselage.

This little biplane had a top wing span of only 23 feet, 6 inches, while the distance across the lower plane from tip to tip was a trifle shorter, measuring just 23 feet. The upper plane measured from the front to the rear edge a trifle less than 4 feet. The entire length of the biplane from the tip of its nose to its tail was 18 feet, 6 inches. The fuselage was built with sides and bottom flat but the top rounded off. There was plenty of room for the pilot to move freely in his seat. Armed with a machine gun which fired over the propeller, he was well able to defend himself when enemy craft appeared.

The Nieuport biplane wrote its achievements in large letters during the Great War. It was the machine which Guynemer and his famous band of ” Storks ” flew in their daring battles against the German fast scout, the Fokker. It carried many an American flier to fame in the Lafayette Escadrille. England, Italy and America all used it over the lines, and its high speed and quickness at maneuver made it a general favorite. The Nieuport 16, supplied to the RFC, was essentially a Nieuport 11 airframe powered by the Le Rhone 9J 110 hp (82 kW) engine. Visible differences included a pilot headrest fairing and larger aperture in front of the “horse shoe” cowling.

Reginald Bacon, in “Dover Patrol,” descibed an incident involving a Nieuport Type 11:

Heavy gales and great quantities of rain were experienced during fourteen of the thirty-one days in December 1915, and no flying was possible, while on others the conditions were such that while protective patrols were carried out over the war-ships off La Panne, it was not considered feasible to undertake offensive work.

At 3.15 p.m. on the 14th of December 1915, Flight- Sub-Lieutenant B. Graham, with Sub-Lieutenant Ince as observer, in a Nieuport Scout (Type 11) sighted a large German sea-plane. The Nieuport Scout, which was much the faster, gave chase, and got within 100 yards’ range, the position being then practically over a British steamer. Flight-Sub-Lieutenant Graham dived and manoeuvred his airplane so as to enable his gunner to train his gun upwards under the enemy’s tail at fifty yards’ range. This manoeuvre was repeated three times, a number of rounds being fired into the enemy on each occasion. On the third occasion, when five rounds had been fired, the German airplane suddenly turned sharply down, nose-dived vertically into the water, a flaming wreck. The pilot then went down close to the water to investigate more closely; his engine failed to pick up, and he was forced to ditch in the sea close to the paddle minesweeper Balmoral. The Nieuport turned over on when it struck the water, and Lieutenant Graham had great difficulty in releasing his belt under the water and extricating himself. Eventually both he and his observer got clear, and within a few minutes the Balmoral had lowered a boat and promptly rescued the two officers.

Top Speed: 97 m.p.h.

Engine: 80 h.p. Le Rhone rotary

Wingspan: 24 feet 8 inches

Weight: 1060 lbs.

Armament: 1 machine gun

Specifications from “Practical Aviation,” by Charles Hayward, 1919

Planes
The Nieuport 11, introduced in 1915, the first of the series, has a span on the upper wing of 24 feet 8 inches, the lower plane being but 5 inches shorter. The chord of the upper plane however, is 3 feet 11 inches while that of the lower is but 2 feet 5 inches, so that while the area of the upper plane with its ailerons is 97 square feet, that of the lower is only 49.5 square feet. The ailerons each have 14 square feet of surface. Both planes a a dihedral, slightly less in the lower than in the upper plane, the wing tips are swept back. As is the case in all high-speed machines, the angle of incidence is very low, only 1 degree 30 minutes on the upper plane and 3 degrees on the lower.

In later types of the same machine, such as the Nieuport 17, there is less difference between the angles of the planes, the upper being set at an angle of 2 degrees, 30 minutes, while the lower is at an angle of 3 degrees 30 minutes in one type and 2 degrees in another, this last representing the practice employed in the most recent Nieuport to be brought out. Owing to the difference in the chord of the planes, the stagger is disproportionately large, this amounting to 2 feet 3 inches.

In place of the usual strut construction, the interplane struts are made considerably wider than usual and are brought together at a common point of support on the lower plane, forming a V.

The ailerons are mounted on steel tubes inside the ring and running along the after edge of the rear spar to the body. They are operated from the control lever by means of cranks, pull and push rods, and a crank lever. The cranks are hollowed out to provide clearance for the rear spar, while the upper plane has sluts cut in it for the cranks. Ball joints are employed to connect the pull rods to the crank lever.

Tail Unit
With the exception of the fact that no vertical fin is employed, the design of the tail unit is more or less conventional. The horizontal stabilizer has an area of 11 square feet, the elevators have 14.5 square feet, and the rudder, which is of the balanced type, has but fi square feet. Most of the surface of the rudder is above the upper line of the body and its proportions are unusual, the width being greater than the height. Rudder and elevator controls are of the usual types.

Power Plant
In three types of Nieuport scouts that have been turned out since the beginning of the war, different types of motors have been used. These are the Le Rhone 80-h.p. rotary air-cooled (on the Nieuport 11); and the Clerget 110-h.p. or the Le Rhone 110-h.p. (on the 17), the motor being entirely inclosed in a cowl in the later machines. The machine fitted with the 80-h.p. engine has a propeller 8 feet 2 inches in diameter and climbs 3300 feet the first four minutes, 6600 feet in seven minutes, 9900 feet in eleven minutes, and 13,200 feet in sixteen minutes.

Weight
The Nieuport 11 weighed 1,060 pounds in total.

For the Nieuport 17: The complete machine, empty, weighs 760 pounds, of which the planes represent 111 pounds, the tail unit 23.8 pounds, the motor and body complete 583 pounds, and the landing gear, struts, and bracing 31.2 pounds. The total weight, loaded, is 1210 pounds, so that the useful load carried is 451 pounds. This consists of 20 ½ gallons of fuel and 5 gallons of oil, weighing 165 pounds, the pilot 176 pounds, and the machine, gun and ammunition 110 pounds, giving a lift loading of the machine of 8.3 pounds per square foot and a power loading of 12.1 pounds per horsepower. The small size of the complete machine, 26 feet 10 inches over-all length by 8 feet 1 inch extreme height, may be realized from the fact that it may be run under the lower wing of one of the big Caproni planes.