Nieuport 24

Nieuport 24
Charles Nungesser with his Nieuport 24bis.
Role	fighter / advanced trainer
Manufacturer	Nieuport
Designer	Gustave Delage
First flight	1917
Primary users	Aéronautique Militaire Royal Flying Corps Royal Naval Air Service

The Nieuport 24 was a French biplane fighter aircraft during World War I designed by Gustave Delage as a replacement for the successful Nieuport 17. In the event its performance was little better than the type it was meant to replace, which was largely superseded by the SPAD S.7 instead. Operational Nieuport 24s served with French, British and Russian units, and the type also served widely as an advanced trainer.

Design and development

The Nieuport 24 introduced a new fuselage of improved aerodynamic form, rounded wingtips, and a tail unit incorporating a small fixed fin and a curved rudder. The tailskid was sprung internally and had a neater appearance than that on earlier Nieuports. A 130 hp Le Rhône rotary engine was fitted.

There were initial structural problems with the new tail, and most production aircraft of the type were of the Nieuport 24bis model, which retained the fuselage and wings of the 24, but reverted to the Nieuport 17 type tailplane, tailskid and rectangular balanced rudder. The new tail was finally standardised on the Nieuport 27.

A batch of Nieuport 24bis were built in England for the Royal Naval Air Service.

The standard armament of the Nieuport 17 (a synchronised Vickers in French service - a Lewis gun on a Foster mounting on the top wing in British service) was retained to save weight and retain a good performance, although many 24s were used as advanced trainers and normally flown without guns.

Service history

27 December 1917: No.1 Squadron RFC with Nieuport 27s and Nieuport 24s at Bailleul.^[1]

In the summer of 1917, when the Nieuport 24 and 24bis. were coming off the production line, most French fighter squadrons were replacing their Nieuport 17s with SPAD S.VIIs – and many of the new fighters went to fighter training schools, and to France’s allies, including the Russians, and the British, who used theirs well into 1918, due to a shortage of S.E.5as. A few French units retained the Nieuport through late 1917 – the type was actually preferred by some pilots, especially the famous Charles Nungesser.

Some of the large number of Nieuport advanced trainers bought by the Americans for their flying schools in France in November 1917 were 24s or 24bis.

Operators

 Afghanistan

• Afghan Air Force

 France

 Japan

• Imperial Japanese Army Air Force - built by Nakajima Aircraft Company

 Poland

 Romania

 Russia

 Serbia

 United Kingdom

• Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force^[2]
  • No. 1 Squadron RFC
  • No. 29 Squadron RFC
  • No. 40 Squadron RFC
  • No. 111 Squadron RFC
  • No. 113 Squadron RFC

 Soviet Union

 United States

Specifications (Nieuport 24bis.)

Data from^{[citation needed]}

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 5.88 m (19 ft 3½ in)
• Wingspan: 8.18 m (26 ft 10 in)
• Height: 2.44 m (8 ft)
• Empty weight: 354 kg (782 lb)
• Loaded weight: 544 kg (1,200 lb)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 187 km/h (116 mph)
• Service ceiling: 5,550 m (18,200 ft)
• Rate of climb: 22 min to 5,000 m (16,400 ft)

Armament

• Guns:
  
  • (French service) 1 × synchronised Vickers machine gun
  • (British service) 1 × Lewis gun on Foster mounting on upper wing

See also

Related development

• Nieuport 17
• Nieuport 27
  

Notes

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Bruce 1982, p. 336.

References

• Nieuport Fighters in Action published by Squadron/Signal Publications.
• Bruce, Jack M. "More Nieuport Classics". Air Enthusiast, Number Five, November 1977-February 1978. Bromley, Kent, UK: Pilot Press. pp. 14–28.
• Bruce, J.M. The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing). London:Putnam, 1982. ISBN 0 3780 30084 x.
• Cheesman E.F. (ed.) Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War Letchworth, Harletford Publications, 1960 pp. 96–97