The Nieuport London was a British night bomber aircraft designed in the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. A twin-engined
triplane
A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard (aeronautics), canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are.
Design principles
The trip ...
, the London was dogged by the unavailability and unreliability of its engines, and did not fly until 1920. Only two were built.
Development and design
In 1918,
Henry Folland, chief designer of the Nieuport (England) Ltd (later to become the
Nieuport & General Aircraft Co Ltd.), formerly of the
Royal Aircraft Factory
Royal may refer to:
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* Royal, ...
and designer of the
S.E.5, designed the Nieuport London to meet the
RAF Type VII specification for a night bomber, an order for six Londons was placed in July 1918.
[Mason 1994, p.124.]
The London was a twin-engined triplane with equal span, two-bay wings, powered by the new
ABC Dragonfly
The ABC Dragonfly was a British radial engine developed towards the end of the First World War. It was expected to deliver excellent performance for the time and was ordered in very large numbers. It proved, however, to be extremely unreliable ...
radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...
. It was designed for ease of production, and was built of wood with use of metal fittings minimised. The angular fuselage was covered by ¼ inch (6 mm) thick wooden boarding joined by
Tongue and groove
Tongue and groove is a method of fitting similar objects together, edge to edge, used mainly with wood, in flooring, parquetry, panelling, and similar constructions. A strong joint, it allows two flat pieces to be joined strongly together to mak ...
joints, techniques more usually found in furniture manufacture. The fabric covered wings were unstaggered and had
aileron
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 roll (or movement aroun ...
s fitted to each wing, while the tail unit had a prominent ventral fin similar to that fitted to Folland's S.E.5 and
Nighthawk
The nighthawk is a nocturnal bird of the subfamily Chordeilinae, within the nightjar family, Caprimulgidae, which is a grouping of 92 species of medium-sized birds with long wings and short bills specialized for eating insects. The nighthawk's ...
fighters. Bombload was 2,250 lb (1,023 kg), while as the London was solely intended to operate by night, defensive armament was limited to a pair of
Lewis guns in the nose.
[Bruce 1957, p.321.][Lewis 1974, pp.109-110.]
The end of the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
meant that the needs of the RAF for heavy bombers could be met by the existing
Vickers Vimy
The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed and manufactured by Vickers Limited. Developed during the latter stages of the First World War to equip the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Vimy was designed by Rex Pierson, Vickers ...
, and the last four Londons were cancelled in December 1918. Despite the great expectations placed on the Dragonfly, which had been ordered into large scale production prior to testing being carried out, and formed the powerplant for many of the types planned to equip the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
of 1919, the engine was disappointing, with the prototype Londons being delayed by many months before engines were delivered, with the first eventually flying on 13 April 1920, followed by the second in July.
Despite its simple structure and angular lines, handling proved excellent, it being possible to remove the ailerons from the lower two sets of wings while not adversely affecting control. Although Folland had designed a civil transport version capable of carrying 13 passengers or heavy loads of cargo or mail, Nieuport and General closed down in August 1920, ending development of the London.
Specifications
See also
References
The Nieuport "London" Night Bomber. ''
Flight
Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
'', 2 December 1920. pp. 1231–1239
*Bruce, J.M. ''British Aeroplanes 1914-18''. London:Putnam, 1957.
*Lewis, Peter. ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London:Putnam, Second edition 1974. .
*Mason, Francis K. ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London:Putnam, 1994. .
External links
{{Nieuport & General aircraft
1920s British bomber aircraft
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
Triplanes