File:Nieuport28.jpg

Summary

The Nieuport 28 (N.28C-1) was the first fighter airplane flown in combat by pilots of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in WWI. Its second armed patrol with an AEF unit on April 14, 1918, resulted in two victories when Lts. Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell (the first American-trained ace) of the 94th Aero Squadron each downed an enemy aircraft. Although the Nieuport 28 was considered obsolete at the time, American pilots maintained a favorable ratio of victories to losses with it. The Nieuport was more maneuverable than the sturdier SPAD XIII that replaced it, but it had a reputation for fragility and a tendency to shed its upper wing fabric in a dive. Even so, many American aces of WW I - including 26-victory ace Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker - flew the French-built Nieuport at one time or another in their careers.

This reproduction was rebuilt by the US Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, USA. This reproduction contains wood and hardware from an original Nieuport 28. The aircraft is painted and marked to represent a Nieuport of the 95th Aero Squadron, 3rd Flight, as it appeared in July 1918. The plane depicted was placed on display in May 1994. Public Domain. URL http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/early_years/ey7.htm

Licensing

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the |US Code. See Copyrights. Note: This only applies to works of the Federal Government and not to the work of any individual US state, territory, commonwealth, county, subdivision, or municipality.