Nieuport

A second design flew before the end of 1909 and had the essential form of modern aircraft, including an enclosed fuselage with the pilot protected from the slipstream and a horizontal tail whose aerodynamic force acted downwards,[2] balancing the weight of the engine ahead of the centre of gravity, as opposed to upwards as on contemporaries such as the Blériot XI.

A second of the brothers, Charles Nieuport, died in another accident January 24, 1913[3] after he stalled and spun in, and the position of chief designer was taken over by the Swiss engineer Franz Schneider, better known for his work for his next employer, L.V.G.,[4] and his long-running fight with Anthony Fokker over machine gun interrupter / synchronizer patents.

Even while still in frontline service, Nieuports of all types were being used at French and American flight training facilities, with the bulk of production from 1917 onwards going to flying schools.

Some pilots, notably Albert Ball and Charles Nungesser, preferred the Nieuport due to its sensitive controls and maneuverability.

Due to a shortage of SPAD S.XIIIs and problems with their engines, the first fighter squadrons of the United States Army Air Service (USAAS) used the Nieuport 28 on operations.

[10] Nieuports were widely used by the Allied air arms, and various models were built under licence in Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom.

[12] In Russia several companies, notably Dux, built Nieuports of several types including the IV, 10, 11, 16, 17, 21, 23 and 24bis,[13] with the 24bis continuing in production after the Russian Revolution had ended.

Three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919 marking the end of hostilities in World War I, and in protest over being forced to march like infantry in the parade, Charles Godefroy flew a "v-strut" Nieuport fighter through the arch of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on the morning of Friday, 8 August 1919.

Despite the many successes achieved with 29 and 31 in setting speed and altitude records, Delage quickly embarked on a new design that was to provide the basis for a family of aircraft that would remain in service until the fall of France during World War II – the Nieuport-Delage NiD.42.

This design first saw light as a shoulder-wing racer (42S), then as single-seat (42 C.1) and two-seat fighters (42 C.2) for the French Air Force, although none of these variants would see service.

This step didn't prevent the Germans from charging several employees with espionage, as the last operational Nieuport, the Loire-Nieuport LN.401 was a single-seat, single-engine retractable-gear monoplane dive bomber with an inverted gull wing with a vague similarity to the Junkers Ju 87.