Nieuport Aces of World War 1
By (Author) Norman Franks
Illustrated by Harry Dempsey
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Osprey Publishing
17th April 2000
United Kingdom
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
European history
First World War
Weapons and equipment
940.44
Paperback
100
Width 184mm, Height 248mm, Spine 7mm
382g
The French Nieuport company provided the Allied air forces with the first true fighter scout of World War 1 in the shape of the diminutive XI of 1915. Based on the Bebe racer, built for the abandoned Gordon-Bennett Trophy of the previous year, the aircraft utilised a sesquiplane (lower wing much smaller than the upper wing) arrangement which gave the XI extreme manoeuvrability. It was the only scout respected by the all-conquering German Fokker E-series of 1915-16, and was flown by French, British, Russian, Belgian and Italian aces. The XI was replaced from May 1916 onwards by the bigger and more powerful XVII. which proved to be one of the best fighters of World War 1.
Norman Franks is one of the worlds leading authorities on World War 1 fighter aviation, having published some of the seminal works on the subject. He is currently working on a long list of volumes on Great War aces for Ospreys Aircraft of the Aces series. Berkshire-based Harry Dempsey is a talented profile artist who specialises in fighter aircraft of World War 1. He has illustrated all of Ospreys World War 1 Aircraft of the Aces titles to date.