what is it?
The Nieuport Nighthawk was a British fighter aircraft developed by the Nieuport & General Aircraft company for the Royal Air Force towards the end of the First World War. Although ordered into production before the aircraft first flew, it did not enter large scale service with the RAF owing to unreliable engines. Re-engined aircraft did see service in Greece, serving from 1923 to 1938.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 8.5 m wingspan
base stats
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 107 years ago, in 1919.
- Top speed is 1.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1919
- introduced
- 1923
- retired
- 1938
- status
- retired
- number built
- —
- role
- fighter
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- engines
- 1× ABC Dragonfly I
- length
- 5.6 m
- wingspan
- 8.5 m
- height
- 2.9 m
- max take-off weight
- 1,006 kg
- top speed
- 243 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 7,468 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4898602, Wikipedia: Nieuport Nighthawk (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.