Nieuport VI
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The Nieuport VI was a sport
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 wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
produced in France in the 1910s, a further development by Nieuport along the same general lines as the
Nieuport II The Nieuport II was a mid-wing monoplane racing or sport aircraft built by the Société Anonyme des Établissements Nieuport between 1910 and 1914 and was noted for its high performance using a small twin-cylinder engine, and winning many ra ...
and
Nieuport IV The Nieuport IV was a France, French-built sporting, Trainer (aircraft), training and Surveillance aircraft, reconnaissance monoplane of the early 1910s. Design and development Societe Anonyme des Etablissements Nieuport was formed in 1909 by ...
, differing mainly from the Nieuport IV in being slightly larger.Taylor 1989, p.696''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'', p.2597 Like the Nieuport IV, it was used by various military air arms as a reconnaissance aircraft and trainer.


Design and development

Like its predecessors, the Nieuport VI was a wire-braced, mid-wing monoplane of conventional design, powered by a single engine in the nose driving a tractor
propeller A propeller (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 a working flu ...
. It differed, however, in being a three-seater rather than a single seater (a bench for two passengers fitted in tandem with the pilot's seat) and in using steel for part of its internal structure where earlier designs had used wood only.Sanger 2002, p.25 Produced initially as a
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
and designated VI.G, it had twin pontoons as undercarriage, with a teardrop-shaped auxiliary float under the tail. The pontoons were fitted with small planes at either side of their nose ends to protect the propeller and to reduce the tendency for the nose ends of the floats to submerge while taxiing,"The Paris Aero Salon" 1912, 1026–27 and "stepped" keels."Reflections on the Monaco Meeting" 1913, 485 Since being a seaplane precluded the possibility of the pilot swinging the propeller by hand in order to start the engine, a crank was provided inside the cockpit that wound a spring that could be used to turn the engine over. The Type VI also featured a
joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...
for lateral control in place of the Blériot-style "cloche" controls used on earlier Nieuport designs.Hartmann 2006, p.7"The Nieuport Hydro-Aeroplane" 1913, p.430 A refined version was produced as the Nieuport VI.H with a revised
empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...
and other changes. This was operated by the French and British navies. A landplane version for military use was designated the Nieuport VI.M. Military Type VIs were built under licence in Italy by Nieuport-Macchi in Italy, and in Russia.


Operational history

First flown in April 1912,Sanger 2002, p.24 the type was flown competitively in August in a race meeting organised by the ''
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'' and the French maritime ministry on the bay at
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. PIloted by
Charles Weymann Charles Terres Weymann (2 August 1889 – 1976) was a Haitian-born early aeroplane racing pilot and businessman. During World War I he flew for Nieuport as a test pilot and was awarded the rank of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Early years ...
, the Nieuport finished fifth in the competition, collecting a FF 2,000 prize but also the "Jersey Speed Prize" for winning the course on day 3 of the competition, which involved a flight from Saint-Malo to
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and back that Weymann completed in 1 hour and 41 minutes."Hydro-Aeroplanes—St. Malo–Jersey Meeting" 1912, p.799 This success led to an order by the
French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
for seven machines, which were delivered to the Navy seaplane station at Saint-Raphaël in January the following year. The government of Japan also ordered three machines at this time,Sanger 2002, p.26 and orders from the governments of Italy, Russia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom were also received by the end of 1912. One month after the Saint-Malo event, a Type VI.G flown by
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competed in trials at Tamise-sur-Escaut in Belgium, but finished tenth out of fifteen. Nieuport exhibited the type at the 1912 ''
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'' in
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in December, and the aviation shows in
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and at Olympia in
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in early 1913."The Olympia Show" 1913, 185–86 The type continued to appear in major sporting events in 1913, commencing with the ''Grand Prix d'Hydroplanes'' in
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on 12 April.Hartmann 2006, p.8 Two VI.Gs were entered in the competition, one flown by Weymann and the other by Gabriel Espanet. The race was called off, however, due to bad weather that over the next few days saw Espanet break a leg, Weymann involved in a serious accident and thrown from his plane, and fellow racer Louis Gaudart killed."The Monaco Meeting" 1913, p.450 On 16 April, the inaugural
Schneider Trophy The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded first annually, and later biennially, to the winner of a race for seaplanes and ...
race was held. Out of six entrants, only four actually started the race, including both Weymann and Espanet in their Nieuport VI.Gs. Weymann withdrew after only eight of the twenty-eight laps, and Espanet withdrew with engine trouble on lap 25. In August, two Nieuport VI-Gs were entered in the seaplane race from Paris to
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, flown by Adrien Levasseur and Charles Weymann. Weymann was forced to abandon the race, but Levasseur finished second with a time of 7 hours and 38 minutes over the 330 km course – four hours behind the winner.Hartmann 2006, p.9"Deauville Waterplane Meeting" 1913, 961 1913 also saw the type used in long-distance flying. In July, a Nieuport VI.G was chosen by Julien Levasseur for a 2,500 kilometre long-distance flight around the
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, which he and his passenger achieved in six days, flying from Paris to
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,
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,
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, and back to Paris, a trip which also included brief detention in London for having overflown sensitive areas of the city on arrival.Levasseur 1913, 768 In December, Jean Védrines and Marc Bonnier were amongst a number of French aviators who made flights from Paris to
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, both of them flying Nieuport VI.Gs.Hartmann 2006, p.10"The Paris–Cairo Flight" 1913, p.1252"Bonnier May Go to Cairo" 1913, 1336 At the outbreak of
World War I 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 number of Type VI.M landplanes remained in French, Italian, and Russian service, as did six Type VI.G seaplanes with the French Navy.Hartmann 2006, p.11


Variants

* VI.G - initial seaplane version * VI.H - refined seaplane version * VI.M - military landplane


Operators

; *
French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
; *
Corpo Aeronautico Militare The Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare (Military Aviation Corps) was formed as part of the Regio Esercito (Royal Army) on 7 January 1915, incorporating the Aviators Flights Battalion (airplanes), the Specialists Battalion (airships) and the Ballon ...
; *
Russian Naval Aviation The Russian Naval Aviation () is the air arm of the Russian Navy, a successor of Soviet Naval Aviation. The Russian Navy is divided into four fleets and one flotilla: Northern Fleet, Pacific Fleet (Russia), Pacific Fleet, Baltic Fleet, Black Sea ...
; * Ottoman Air Service ; *
Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British ...


Specifications (VI.G)


Notes


References

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