The Nieuport-Delage NiD 37 was a single-engine, single-seat

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

and racer designed and built in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the early 1920s. It had a small

foreplane In aeronautics, a canard is a wing configuration in which a small forewing or foreplane is placed forward of the main wing of a fixed-wing aircraft or a weapon. The term "canard" may be used to describe the aircraft itself, the wing configuration ...

to bring the centre of pressure forward. Heavy, slower than expected and with

turbo-supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

problems, development ended without any entering service.

Design and development

Though the NiD 37 has sometimes been termed a

sesquiplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

,Flight, 1923, p.48 it could be described as a

shoulder-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

with a small

. Its immediate predecessor was the NiD 31, which had a similar flying surface. The two designs had little else in common however.Green, 1994, p.438 The fuselage of the NiD 37 was constructed in Nieuport-Delage's standard manner with a

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

shell of spirally wound and glued

tulipwood Most commonly, tulipwood is the greenish yellowish wood yielded from the tulip tree, found on the Eastern side of North America and a similar species in some parts of China. In the United States, it is commonly known as tulip poplar or yellow pop ...

with a final outer fabric covering. This gave a smooth finish to the circular cross section structure which tapered gently to the tail from a dome-shaped nose housing the

Hispano-Suiza 8Fb The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza ...

water-cooled V-8 engine and its Rateau

. The engine was mounted with its output shaft low in the nose and drove a two-blade

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

. Though this was of the wooden, fixed- pitch type, it was intended that it would be replaced by a variable-pitch Lavasseur airscrew later. A single, cylindrical Lamblin

radiator Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

was suspended below the engine between the

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

legs. Dieudonné, the designer of the NiD 37, paid particular attention to the pilot's field of view, and the open cockpit, with screen and faired headrest, was placed well forward, above the engine. To improve the pilot's view downward, the

leading edge The leading edge of an airfoil surface such as a wing is its foremost edge and is therefore the part which first meets the oncoming air.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, ...

s of the main wing, which were otherwise straight and unswept, were curved in towards the root, meeting the fuselage behind the pilot who could see vertically down between the wing and the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

of the foreplane, aligned with the leading edge of the outer sections of the mainplane and mounted well below on the undercarriage

strut A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension. Human anatomy Part of the functionality o ...

s. Apart from long, curved tips, this foreplane had straight edges and constant chord; it had a span of about 40% that of the mainplane and less than 20% of its area. Its function was largely to bring the centre of pressure forward. The main wing was slightly tapered away from its roots and with square tips. It was built around four spars and covered in stressed 3-ply, with long-span

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in Flight dynamics, roll (or ...

. On each side a V-form pair of tubular struts within

aerofoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

fairings braced the lower fuselage to the wing. The trailing edge of the mainplane had a long

fillet Fillet may refer to: *Annulet (architecture), part of a column capital, also called a fillet *Fillet (aircraft), a fairing smoothing the airflow at a joint between two components *Fillet (clothing), a headband *Fillet (cut), a piece of meat *Fille ...

reaching almost to the curved leading edge of the broad tailplane; mounted at mid-fuselage, this had strong inboard sweep, decreasing outwards. It carried horn-balanced

elevators An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...

. The

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

was smaller, with a rounded, balanced rudder. The NiD 37 had a fixed,

conventional undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

with its mainwheels, streamlined with partial (45°) aluminium fairings, mounted on faired V-struts. These had short forward projections to carry the foreplane at axle height. The NiD 37 first appeared in public at the Paris Air Show in December 1922, though it had not then flown. It carried twin

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

machine guns A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

mounted in the nose in front of the cockpit and over the engine. Nieuport-Delage NiD

Its first flight took place the following April. Tests proved disappointing as the NiD 37 was heavy compared with its competitors and slower than expected and never achieved the predicted top speed. There were also problems with the turbo-supercharger because of the limitations of the high-temperature alloys of the time. As a result of these problems, development was abandoned.

Related developments

A second aircraft was built as a racer with a substantially reduced wing area and a cantilevered upper wing. Some sources list this as a NiD 37, others as the 41. After a

carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meteri ...

fire during the 1922 Coupe Deutsch, it withdrew and was retired permanently.Rosenthal, 1997, p.147 Nieuport-Delage also had plans for a larger three seat development of the same concept under the designation NiD.39, also with the pilot over the engine, however with the lack of success of the fighter/racer, it was not proceeded with and the number was reused for an unrelated biplane airliner.

Specifications for Nieuport-Delage 37 C.1 fighter

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{Nieuport aircraft 1920s French fighter aircraft 037 Shoulder-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Sesquiplanes