Some of the first examples delivered to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) were fitted with a Lewis mounted on the cowl in front of the pilot and fitted with an Alkan-Hamy synchronization gear: however the Lewis's open bolt firing cycle resulted in an unpredictable rate of fire which played havoc with the timing and these soon reverted to the overwing mounts.

The British would continue with the overwing gun for all of their Nieuport scouts, and developed their own Foster mounting to improve on the numerous French designs.

Some Nieuport 16s were fitted to fire Le Prieur rockets from the struts for attacks on observation Kite balloon.

[6] In their first operational deployment, eight aces including Nungesser, Guiguet and Chaput were specially trained by Le Prieur in their use, and in an early morning attack on 22 May 1916, managed to down six balloons in short order, panicking the German authorities into lowering the remainder along a 100 km (62 mi) stretch of the front lines, blinding the German Army in time for the first French counter-attack on Fort Douaumont.

[10][better source needed] When the Nieuport 16 had become obsolete for front line use, they continued to be used for advanced training into 1917, particularly in the use of Le Prieur rockets.

[11] The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) had also ordered 14 Nieuport 16s to begin replacing their Nieuport 11s, however they were transferred directly to the Royal Flying Corps which was finding that its de Havilland DH.2 pusher aircraft were inadequate against the Halberstadt D.II and other replacements for the Fokker Eindecker.

[15] Data from Davilla, 1997, p.378, Pommier, 2002, p.171 and Durkota, 1995, p.358General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era