Nieuport 11/16 Bébé vs Fokker Eindecker: Western Front 1916 (Duel)
Language: English
Pages: 80
ISBN: 1782003533
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The Nieuport 11 boasts an important place in the technology race against German aircraft in World War I aerial warfare. It eventually led Nieuport to produce the first plane flown in large numbers in aerial combat by the United States.
The appearance in July 1915 of Germany's Fokker E I, armed with interrupter gear that allowed its machine gun to fire forward without striking the propeller, heralded a reign of terror over the Western Front that the Allies called the "Fokker Scourge". Among several alternative means for countering the Fokkers, until the Allies introduced practical synchronisation mechanisms of their own, was the French Nieuport - 11 a single-seat version of the Nieuport 10 sesquiplane ("one-and-a-half wing") mounting a Lewis machine gun above the upper wing, firing over the airscrew. Nicknamed the Bébé because of its comparatively small size, the Nieuport 11 was, though less robust than true biplanes, superior in structure and overall performance to the German monoplane. During 1916 the Nieuport 11, and its more powerful but more difficult to control stablemate, the Nieuport 16, battled a succession of improved Fokkers, the E II, E III and E IV, until the Germans abandoned the monoplane in favour of a new and deadly generation of biplane fighters. Even so, the Bébé's early successes also influenced the Germans to adopt sesquiplane designs of their own - most notably the Albatros D III and D V - while Nieuport also held on to the sesquiplane format longer than it should have. Fully illustrated with specially commissioned full-colour artwork, this is the absorbing story of the clash between these two innovative fighters at the height of World War I.
who, in spite of grievous wounds, made it back to of the first Germans to perform complicated aerobatic Allied lines. Dagonet was made a Chevalier de la Légion manoeuvres, and in January 1914 he began working at d’Honneur for this act of bravery, but died in hospital at the Union Flugzeugwerke at Teltow. When war broke out Höhndorf volunteered for flying, and Wiencourt l’Equipée on the 22nd. On 23 August Höhndorf became a founding member was accepted at Etappen-Flugzeug-Park 1 in Dusseldorf on of
command the first Marine Feld Jagdstaffel. (Greg VanWyngarden) 63 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com 64 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com 65 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com PREVIOUS PAGE While the French were massing their Nieuport fighters over Verdun, the RFC prepared to support its Somme offensive with Nos. 24, 29 and 32 Sqns, equipped with DH 2 pushers. The RFC had also acquired a handful of Nieuport 16s, but those were allotted to
the pilot could fire by means of a Bowden cable to the cockpit. (Service Historique de la Défense –section’Air (SHDA)) The first Nieuport 11 prototype differed in some details from the production version, including the fitment of an inverted ‘U’ shaped aft cabane strut that was intended to improve the pilot’s view. (Christophe Cony) © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com 11 NIEUPORT 16 18ft 3.5in. 8ft 0.5in. 12 12 24ft 8in. © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com A
1916 by Ltn Walter Höhndorf, then flying an E IV with Fokkerstaffel Falkenhausen. (Greg VanWyngarden) then launches hundreds at once against our lines. He has achieved air superiority and, with grinding teeth, we must watch while he shoots down our monoplanes and we’re helpless. Actions could speak louder than words. On 1 July 1916 Oblt Kurt Student, commanding Armee-Oberkommando 3’s Fokkerstaffel at Leffincourt, showed his skill with the Fokker E IV when he brought Nieuport 11 N1324 down
VanWyngarden) 22 A view into the cockpit of Nieuport 11 N1205 of N65, flown by MdL Jacques Allez from 27 July to 8 August 1916, at Cachy aerodrome. Note the conveniently located sector map. (SHDA B83.1413) Morane-Saulnier, Fokker and Pfalz, the Nieuport 11 boasted stunning performance for early 1916, although it could be dangerous in a lateral skid. The Nieuport’s intrinsic advantages over the Fokker Eindeckers, which still used wing warping for lateral control, lay in the ailerons in its