Nieuport 17

what is it?

The Nieuport 17 C.1 (or Nieuport XVII C.1 in contemporary sources) is a French sesquiplane fighter designed and manufactured by the Nieuport company during World War I. An improvement over the Nieuport 11, it was a little larger than earlier Nieuports and better adapted to the more powerful engine than the interim Nieuport 16. Aside from early examples, it had the new Alkan-Hamy synchronization gear, permitting the use of a fuselage-mounted synchronised Vickers gun firing through the propeller disc. At the time of its introduction in March 1916, the type's outstanding manoeuvrability and excellent rate of climb gave it a significant advantage over fighters on both sides and was described as "the best pursuit plane of the day".

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 8.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 170 km/htop speed
• size 560 kgmax take-off weight
• built 3,600made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 110 years ago, in 1916.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1916-01

introduced

1916

status

retired

number built

3,600

role

fighter

origin

🇫🇷 France

makers

Nieuport

engines

1× Le Rhône 9Ja / Le Rhône 9J

length

5.8 m

wingspan

8.2 m

height

2.4 m

max take-off weight

560 kg

top speed

170 km/h

range

—

ceiling

5,300 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family