NiD.42, 52, 62 | |
---|---|
Nieuport-Delage NiD.52 prototype in French markings prior to delivery to Spain. The 42 was similar but had a wooden fuselage and relocated radiators. | |
Role | Fighter |
National origin | France |
Manufacturer | Nieuport-Delage |
Designer | Gustave Delage |
First flight | 1924 |
Introduction | 1924 |
Retired | 1940 |
Status | retired |
Primary user | Aéronautique Militaire |
Number built | 882 |
Developed from | Nieuport-Delage Sesquiplan |
Variants | Nieuport-Delage NiD 52 Nieuport-Delage NiD 62 |
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 42 was a fighter aircraft built in France in the early 1920s, the first in a family of designs that would form the backbone of the French fighter force over the next decade. [1] [2]
As first built, the NiD 42 was a highly streamlined parasol-wing monoplane with a monocoque fuselage and an open cockpit of which a single prototype was built. Soon afterwards, Nieuport-Delage built two examples of a modified version for the 1924 Coupe Beaumont as the NiD 42S, [3] [4] on which the main wings were mounted directly to the sides of the upper fuselage at shoulder position with a short subsidiary wing fitted around the undercarriage axle. To further streamline the design, the surface radiators were installed on the upper surface of the wing. [5]
One of these aircraft was flown by Joseph Sadi-Lecointe in the race of 22 June and was the only one out of the five entrants to actually finish the course. [3] [6] [7] Indeed, having finished the prescribed six laps of the 50 km (31 mi) course, Sadi-Lecointe flew another four laps to break the world speed record over a 500-km closed-course. [7] His average speed in winning the Coupe Beaumont was 311 km/h (193 mph; 168 kn) and over the 500 km (310 mi) was 306 km/h (190 mph; 165 kn), beating the previous record for the latter by 36 km/h (22 mph; 19 kn). [7] On 15 February the following year, Sadi Lecointe took a NiD 42S up to a speed of 375 km/h (233 mph; 202 kn) [6] and went on to win the 1925 Coupe Beaumont with a NiD 42S on 18 October [6] with an average speed of 313 km/h (194 mph; 169 kn). [8]
While the NiD 42S was achieving these distinctions, development continued on the fighter version. Nieuport-Delage designed two further such variants in 1924; a single-seater designated NiD 42 C.1 and a similar machine with a second cockpit for a tail gunner with a machine gun in a ring mount, designated the NiD 42 C.2. [2] One of the latter was exhibited at that year's Salon de l'Aéronautique , along with a NiD 42 C.1 nose section to illustrate an alternative engine mount. [9] These differed from the original NiD 42 fighter in having a second, small wing added to the lower fuselage, turning the parasol monoplane into a sesquiplane, a design feature adopted from the NiD 37 [10] which would be a key identifying feature through most of the versions developed from the 42.
Only two examples of the two-seater were built, [1] but Nieuport-Delage entered the single-seater in the 1925 concours des monoplaces, a competition by the Army's Technical Service to find a replacement for the NiD 29. [10] The NiD 42 was selected from a field of eleven competitors, and an order for 50 aircraft was placed, [10] of which 25 were eventually delivered. [2] Although impressive at the time it was designed, technology had already surpassed the NiD 42 when it entered service in 1928, particularly with regard to its wooden structure, [10] and most of the development work associated with the design was made in an effort to cure it of a tendency to enter a flat spin. Nevertheless, it provided the foundation for further development as the NiD 52 and NiD 62. [11]
Data from "Nieuport-Delage NiD-42" [12]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
The Blériot SPAD S.510 was a French single-seat, single-engined biplane fighter aircraft. First flying in 1933, 60 were built for the Armée de l'Air, entering service in 1936. The type remained in service as a fighter-trainer at the start of the Second World War. It was the last French biplane fighter to enter production.
Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars.
The Hispano-Suiza 8 is a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914 that went on to become the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza 8A was rated at 140 hp (100 kW) and the later, larger displacement Hispano-Suiza 8F reached 330 hp (250 kW).
The Breguet 19 was a sesquiplane bomber and reconnaissance aircraft which was also used for long-distance flights and was designed by the French Breguet company and produced from 1924.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 52 was a French fighter aircraft of the 1920s. A single-engined sesquiplane, it served with the Spanish Air Force, being operated by both sides of the Spanish Civil War.
The Blériot-SPAD S.61 was a French fighter aircraft developed in 1923. Designed by André Herbemont, the S.61 was a conventional biplane, abandoning the swept upper wing used by Herbemont in several previous designs. The prototype S.61 was evaluated by the French Air Force alongside the S.51 as a potential new fighter, but like its stablemate, was rejected. The Polish Air Force was impressed enough to order 250, as well as purchase licences for local production. The Romanian Air Force also ordered 100 aircraft. About 30 were built in Poland, by the CWL.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD.62 was a French sesquiplane fighter from the early 1930s. This machine was a descendant of a long line of Nieuport-Delage fighters that were designed and built during the years immediately after World War I. The NiD.62 was built in 1931 as a fighter for the Armée de l'Air. It served until the late 1930s, when it was replaced by more modern monoplane fighters. By the time of the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, all of the NiD.62s had been withdrawn from front-line fighter escadrilles but were used as trainers in French flight schools. A few aircraft were employed as target tugs. After the French German Armistice and German occupation of North and West part of France in June 1940, the German Luftwaffe had no interest in the NiD.62s and they were scrapped. None survived the war.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD.29 was a French single-seat biplane fighter designed and built by Nieuport-Delage for the French Air Force.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 38 was a touring aircraft built in small numbers in France in the early 1920s. It was a single-bay biplane of conventional design with an enclosed cabin for two passengers and an open cockpit for the pilot.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 39 was an airliner produced in France in the late 1920s, developed from the NiD 38. The airline Compagnie Aérienne Française had purchased four examples of the previous aircraft and ordered an improved version with greater passenger capacity from the manufacturer. Like its predecessor, the NiD 39 was a single-bay biplane of conventional design with an enclosed cabin its passengers and an open cockpit for the pilot. However, while the NiD 38 could only carry two passengers, the NiD 39 could carry four. CAF also specified the engine to be used – the Armstrong Siddeley Lynx – although the first eight examples produced flew with the same Hispano-Suiza engine that had powered the NiD 38. The airline operated around thirty examples on routes between western European cities until 1932.
The Nieuport-Delage Sesquiplans were a series of 1920s French racing monoplanes built by Nieuport-Delage. It was the first aircraft to be recorded as achieving 200 mph (321.88 km/h) in level flight and it established a world air speed record in 1923, attaining an airspeed of 205.2 mph (330.275 km/h).
The Bernard SIMB AB 14 was a 1920s French single-seat sesquiplane fighter aircraft designed and built by the Société Industrielle des Métaux et du Bois (SIMB). With a reluctance of the French authorities to purchase monoplanes the Bernard 14 was designed as a sesquiplane with Y-form struts bracing the wings on each side. It was powered by a Hispano-Suiza 12Hb inline piston engine and had a fixed tailskid landing gear. While on a test flight on 22 February 1926 the aircraft suffered a catastrophic structural failure of the upper wing and the only Bernard 14 was destroyed.
The Bernard 15 C1 or Bernard SIMB AB 15 was a 1920s French single-seat sesquiplane fighter aircraft designed and built by the Société Industrielle des Métaux et du Bois (SIMB). With the structural failure of the earlier Bernard 14 the Bernard 15 was an improved variant with a greater span upper wing. It was powered by a Hispano-Suiza 12Hb inline piston engine and had a fixed tailskid landing gear. The performance was not an improvement on the Bernard SIMB AB 14 and only the prototype was built.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 120 was a French single-seat parasol monoplane fighter aircraft built during the 1930s. It was built in several versions that were fitted with different engines. Rejected for service with the French Air Force after a fatal crash in 1933, only a dozen aircraft were built for the Peruvian Air Force. Deliveries began at the end of 1934, but the NiD 121s were only service for a few years before a crippling shortage of spare parts after the French aviation industry was nationalized after a series of strikes in 1936. The Peruvian Air Force had exhausted its inventory of spares by early 1939 and the surviving aircraft were scrapped in late 1940.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 37 was a single-engine, single-seat monoplane fighter aircraft and racer designed and built in France in the early 1920s. It had a small foreplane to bring the centre of pressure forward. Heavy, slower than expected and with turbo-supercharger problems, development ended without any entering service.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 43 was a single-engine, two-seat biplane fighter aircraft designed and built for shipboard use in France in 1924.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 48 was a French single-engine parasol wing light fighter aircraft, designed and built in the 1920s. Its performance was not markedly better than that of the much heavier Nieuport-Delage NiD 62 then going into production, so only two were flown.
The Blériot-SPAD S.91 was a French light-weight fighter aircraft. It would be later developed into the Blériot-SPAD S.510, the last biplane produced by the French aeronautic industries.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 540 was a high wing, eight seat, single engine airliner, built in France and first flown in 1930. It did not reach production.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD 450 was a French racing floatplane, originally intended to compete for the 1929 Schneider Trophy. After the French decided not to participate that year, the type was used as the NiD 650 to speed the development of the proposed entrants to the 1931 event, the NiD 651 and NiD 652. Delays in producing the latters' engines left these unflown.