The type reached the French
front in March 1916, and quickly began to replace the Nieuport 11 in
French service. It was also ordered by the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service,
as it was superior to any British fighter at that time. Worthy of note
is the fact that during part of 1916, the Nieuport 17 equipped every
fighter squadron of the Aéronautique Militaire. The Germans supplied captured examples to several of their aircraft manufacturers for them to copy. This resulted in the Siemens-Schuckert D.I
which, apart from the engine installation, was a close copy and
actually went into production, although in the event it was not used
operationally on the Western Front.
By early 1917, the Nieuport was outclassed in most respects by the latest German fighters. Newer models (the Nieuport 24 and the 27) were brought out in an attempt to retain the type's ascendency. However, the SPAD S.VII
had already replaced the Nieuport fighters in many French squadrons by
mid-1917. The British persisted with Nieuports a little longer, not
replacing their last Nieuport 24bis until early 1918.
Many Allied air aces flew Nieuport fighters, including Canadian ace W.A. Bishop, who received a Victoria Cross while flying it, and most famously of all, Albert Ball, V.C.
Like
the other Nieuport types, the 17 was used as an advanced trainer for
prospective fighter pilots after its operational days were over. This
aircraft was flown by Adjudant Rene Dorme autumn 1918.
2 comments:
Loving all these old Bi-Planes Warren, bring back the memories as a kid building these....the good old days hey.
Back in the day when we would just build them and play with them. Glue all over the place and no paint most of the time. When we did paint them it was our own choice of colours, applied with a thick Testors brush.
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