NIEUPORT

FRANCE

Designer Gustave Delage made the Nieuport company famous with his series of fighters. The sesquiplane Nieuport XI and XVII served with British, French, Belgian, Russian, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, and American services during the First World War. The improved Nieuport 28 biplane which appeared in 1917 was less successful, but best known for its exploits with the American 94th Aero Squadron ("Hat-in-Ring") in the hands of Eddie Rickenbacker and Raoul Lufbery. Nieuport aircraft were manufactured under license in Britain and Italy.

Societe Anonyme des Etablissements Nieuport amalgamated with the Astra airship company, but all construction of airships was abandoned and the company name changed again to SA Nieuport-Delage. This new company's next project was the design and construction of two racing seaplanes for the 1929 Schneider Trophy races, but these were not finished in time to compete. The Nieuport-Delage 62-C1 was a single-seat sesquiplane fighter of partial wood construction, with monocoque fuselage, powered by a Lorraine or Hispano-Suiza engine. The 82-C1 was an all-metal version. Other projects included the N-D 481 single-seat, high-wing aerobatic or sporting monoplane; the N-D 641 maiiplane; and the N-D 540 all-metal long-range passenger aircraft, which had jettisonable long-range fuel tanks.


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