The Nieuport B.N.1 was a prototype

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

single-engined fighter aircraft of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It was a single-engined

biplane 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 ...

intended to replace the

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

, but only one was built, being destroyed in a crash. The

Sopwith Snipe The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of th ...

was built instead to replace the Camel.

Development and design

In 1917, as a result of an official Inquiry (the Burbidge Report) into the activities of the

Royal Aircraft Factory Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

, design and construction of aircraft at Farnborough ceased, and the Factory's design teams were broken up.Bruce 1965, p.168. This allowed the

Nieuport & General Aircraft The Nieuport & General Aircraft Company Ltd was a British aircraft manufacturer, established during the First World War to build French Nieuport aircraft under licence, which closed down in 1920. History On 16 November 1916, Samuel Waring, th ...

Co Ltd, which was formed at

Cricklewood Cricklewood is an area of London, England, which spans the boundaries of three London boroughs: Barnet to the east, Brent to the west and Camden to the south-east. The Crown pub, now the Clayton Crown Hotel, is a local landmark and lies north- ...

, London in 1916 to license produce French

Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...

aircraft,''Flight'' 16 November 1916, p.1016. to acquire the services of

Henry Folland Henry Philip Folland OBE (22 January 1889 – 5 September 1954) was an English aviation engineer and aircraft designer. Early years Folland was born on 22 January 1889 to Frederick and Mary Folland at 2 King Street, Holy Trinity, Cambridge.1 ...

, previously responsible for the design of the

S.E.5 The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 is a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden. It was one of the ...

fighter, as chief designer.Bruce 1965, p.168. His first design for Nieuport & General was another fighter, intended to meet Air Board Specification A.1.A for a replacement for the

, in competition with designs submitted by Sopwith (the

Austin Motors The Austin Motor Company Limited was an English manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Limit ...

(the

Austin Osprey The Austin A.F.T.3 Osprey was a prototype British fighter triplane of the First World War. Developed by the motor car manufacturer Austin as a replacement to the Sopwith Camel, only one was built, the Sopwith Snipe being preferred. Development ...

) and

Boulton & Paul Boulton & Paul Ltd was a British general manufacturer from Norwich, England that became involved in aircraft manufacture. Jeld Wen Inc. bought Boulton & Paul (along with another joinery company John Carr) from the Rugby Group plc in 1999 to ...

(the

Bobolink The bobolink (''Dolichonyx oryzivorus'') is a small New World blackbird and the only member of the genus ''Dolichonyx''. An old name for this species is the "rice bird", from its tendency to feed on cultivated grains during winter and migration. ...

).Mason 1992, pp.130-131. This aircraft, designated Nieuport B.N.1 (for "British Nieuport"), was a single-engined, single seat

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

of wooden construction. It had equal-span, unstaggered two bay wings, a slab-sided fuselage and was powered by a 230 hp (172 kW)

Bentley BR2 The Bentley B.R.2 was a nine-cylinder British rotary aircraft engine developed during the First World War by the motor car engine designer W. O. Bentley from his earlier Bentley BR.1. Coming as it did near the end of the war, the BR.2 was built ...

rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and i ...

. A distinctive feature was a ventral fin, as used on the S.E.5 (which was to become a distinguishing mark of many of Folland's designs). Armament was the normal pair of synchronised

Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...

s together with a Lewis gun mounted on the upper wing, firing over the propeller.Bruce 1957, p.317. Three B.N.1s were ordered, the first one flying in February 1918. When it was evaluated, it demonstrated performance that was generally superior to the Snipe, with a much better ceiling. It was destroyed, however, on 10 March 1918 when its engine (only the sixth BR2 built) caught fire in the air. This caused the B.N.1 to be abandoned, with the Snipe being purchased to replace the Camel, and Folland concentrating on the design of the more advanced

Nieuport Nighthawk 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 ...

Specifications

References

*Bruce, J.M. ''British Aeroplanes 1914-18''. London:Putnam, 1957. *Bruce, J.M. ''War Planes of the First World War: Volume One:Fighters''. London:Macdonald, 1965. *Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. Annapolis, USA:Naval Institute Press, 1992. .
New Companies Registered
. ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'', 16 November 1916. p. 1016.

External links

{{Nieuport & General aircraft 1910s British fighter aircraft B.N.1 Rotary-engined aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1918

Development and design

Specifications

See also

References

External links