Nieuport 11 & 16, part four. The 'Bébé' in service with Russia and the USSR.

 

During World War I, the Imperial Russian Air Service (IRAS) found that the Nieuport 10 (a versatile sesquiplane, forerunner of the Nieuport 11 which could fill a wide variety of roles, among them, the fighter one) was barely effective as a fighter and saw the Nieuport 11 as an important improvement. Initially, some few French machines were imported but a license production contract was granted soon to Dux factory, in Moscow. 
An early order of 200 Nieuport 11s was soon placed with Dux in 1916. Dux-built machines differed from the original French machines. For instance, Russian-built machines were made out of pine, instead of spruce and flax was employed for covering in lieu of silk, due to the scarcity of materials in Tsarist Russia. Those changes in construction materials made the Dux-Nieuport 11s to be 30 kg heavier than its French counterparts and their quality overall was very poor. Quoting a commander of the 8th Fighter Unit, the Dux Nieuports "... could not be assembled because the parts did not fit and... the bolts fixing the struts with the spars broke into pieces." The 'Bébé' was later built under license by Mosca-Bystritsky (Moscow), Anatra (Odessa) and Shchetinin (St. Petersburg), making a total of just seventy machines being manufactured in 1916.
The initial imported Nieuport 11s were unarmed, so many pilots of the front-line squadrons had to supply their own weapons, like pistols and rifles. Luckily for them, V.V. Jordan designed a machine gun mount that allowed a weapon to be carried, although it had to be angled in order to fire over the propeller, the mount enable it rotate vertically. 
The Nieuport 16, on the other hand, was mainly imported to Russia with some few examples being built by Dux. The purchased Nieuport 16s were powered by the 110 hp. Le Rhône 9J engine with one Nieuport 16 being powered by a de-rated 80 hp Le Rhône, which was employed as a trainer.

Anyway, both Nieuport 11 and Nieuport 16s were supplied to frontline squadrons and by 1st March 1917 there were ten serving in the northern front, five serving in the western front, sixteen in the south-western front, five in the Romanian front and one in the Caucasus front, making a total of 37 machines.
One month later, there were a total of 70 Nieuport 11s in active service and by June 1917 there were twelve at the northern front, four at the western front, twenty-five at the southwestern/Romanian fronts and seven at the Caucasus front.
The Nieuport 11 proved to be a huge improvement, specially when compared to the Nieuport 10, however, it was soon replaced by the Nieuport 17, when it became available. 
The Nieuport 11 was employed also during the subsequent Russian Civil War, by both Bolsheviks and Whites, mainly as trainers. In fact, when the Civil War was almost over, in December 1921, there were a total of 18 Nieuport 11 in service as trainers serving with the 2nd Military School of Pilots and the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in June 1923, with the last one being written off charge in 1924.

Sources:
1st Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War
2nd https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport_11
3rd https://ava.org.ru/ww1.html (translated)

Nieuport 11 & 16, part three, various users

 

The Nieuport 11, nicknamed 'Bébé' (baby) in French was a French sesquiplane fighter of the World War I era that enjoyed good reputation as a combat plane and was exported (or was captured by) to various countries around the world, among its users stand the following ones:

• Austro-Hungarian Empire: At least one Macchi-built Nieuport 11 was captured by Austrian troops in north-eastern Italy and was sent to Vienna for evaluation and propaganda. It was painted in Austro-Hungarian KUK markings and received a new Austrian registration, 00.27. Its fate is unknown.
  
  
• German Empire: During 1916 the German Army managed to capture many Nieuport 11 & 16, these being employed by some German pilots who achieved ace status in those machines. They were Oblt. Kurt Student and Lt. Gustav Leffers.
  
  
• Netherlands: During the war, on 2nd February 1917, one Nieuport 11 with 3981 as serial number and belonging to 'A' Squadron, No.1 Wing Royal Naval Air Service (according to other sources it belonged to No. 6 Squadron) made a forced landing at the village of Cadzand, western Netherlands. Dutch authorities purchased the plane from the British and registered it as 'LA-40', with subsequent changes being made to the serial number, to N 213 and then N 230.
  The Royal Netherlands Army evaluated the aircraft and, based on its results, they ordered twenty additional machines to be built by the NV Dutch Motor Car and Airplane Factory at Trompenburg, Rotterdam under license. This factory was commonly known as Spyker (or Spykjer). However, given the war necessities, the needed parts and other materials were not delivered until 1918, so the first twelve aircraft lacked wheels and other important parts, however, as five Nieuport 11 were delivered shortly later and, as the war ended, the flow of spare parts and materials was resumed and the original twelve incomplete machines were, eventually completed.
  It seems that, according to an official report, the Dutch Nieuports were kept out of use between November 1919 and March 1920 after some accidents took place due to the poor quality of the machines. Some other sources claim they were never flown.
  Anyway, it also seems that in 1925 the Dutch Nieuports were still employed.
  
  
• Romania: Given the urgent for armament of the Royal Romanian Army in 1916, a total of twenty-eight Nieuport 11s were sent from the Royal Naval Air Service to Romania. Of those eight were assigned to Grupul 3 (Grupul is the Romanian word for 'Squadron') as the 'Escadrilla Nieuport (Franco/Romana). The deliveries of Nieuports were steady and eventually four fighter units saw service with the Corpul de Aviatie (Aviation Corps - the aviation branch of the Royal Romanian Army back then). 
  Those units were Grupul 1 & 2, attached to 1st Romanian Army and Grupul 1 & 3 attached to 2nd Romanian Army. 
  The Nieuports were used, under French supervisors, to provide aerial defence for Bucharest and the Russian army at Braila, northern Romania. The Grupuls saw extensive action over the fronts and by 15th December 1916 there were less than half of the original 28 Nieuports in service as only 12 were still in service, with six being kept under maintenance and additional eight no longer airworthy. The Nieuport 11s were replaced by the better Nieuport 17 as the year 1917 progressed.

Sources:

1st Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War
2nd https://kw.jonkerweb.net/index.php/en/aircraft-factory-lists/aircrafts-n/nieuport-11-c1-bb-uk?showall=1
3rd Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 167 - Nieuport Fighters in Action
4th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport_11

Nieuport 11 & 16, part two. The 'Bébé' in service with the Lafayette Escadrille

 

Although officially the United States did not employ nor the Nieuport 11 or 16, the American volunteers serving with the French Aéronautique Militaire (French Aerial Arm) piloted the Nieuport 11, in the famous N124 Escadrille, AKA Lafayette Escadrille.
This unit was formed officially on 16th April 1916 and consisted mainly of American volunteer pilots and was initially known simply as Escadrille de Chasse Nieuport 124 (Escadrille Américaine) (Nieuport Fighter Squadron 124 - American Squadron). It was formed at Luxeuil-les-Bains in France, close to the Swiss border, where the pilots were trained. 
The unit proved soon to be very valuable by both Frenchs and Americans, because before the First World War airplanes were not considered to be useful in combat. 

The Lafayette Squadron (as it was more commonly known) was equipped with the Nieuport 11 since January 1916 at their training site. Apparently, the initial equipment consisted on a mixture of Nieuport 11 and 17s, with some 16s too. It was in those 'Bébés' when the unit saw its baptism of fire on 13th May 1916 at the Battle of Verdun and, five days later, on 18th May 1916 Kiffin Rockwell scored the unit's first aerial kill. Weeks later, on 23rd June, the escadrille suffered its first casualty when Victor Chapman was shot down over Douaumont, in the Meuse department. It's hard to know when the Nieuport 11 were replaced by either Nieuport 17s or SPAD S.VIIs, but it is know that the 'Bébés' didn't see active service beyond summer 1916.

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafayette_Escadrille
2nd http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escadrille/escadrille124Lafayette.htm (translated)

3rd Flying Machines Press  - French Aircraft of the First World War

4th Osprey - Aviation Elite 17 - Lafayette Escadrille American Volunteer Airmen In WWI

Nieuport 11 & 16, part two. The 'Bébé' in service with Royal Flying Corps & Royal Naval Air Service

 

The Nieuport 11 was a French sesquiplane French fighter of the World War I. It was designed by Gustave Delage and the type was successful enough to be exported to other countries, among them, the British Empire.

The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) got a total of 21 Nieuport 11s, with allotted serials ranging from 3975 to 3978 and 3980 to 3994. Those served with No. 1 Wing at St. Pol-du-Mer, in northern France during late 1915 and early 1916, No. 2 Wing at Imbros (an island in the Turkish Aegean Sea), during the Gallipoli Campaign and No. 4 Wing, based at Eastchurch, England, which was a training unit. Eventually both Nos. 3975 and 3978 were sent to Romania.
There were plans to provide the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) with six ex-RNAS Nieuport 11s, and were even allotted serial numbers ranging from A8738 to A8743, but eventually none served with the RFC, because the better Nieuport 16 became available.
The Nieuport 16 was an improved version of the Nieuport 11 with a better engine and stronger airframe. It can be distinguished by having a headrest, which the Nieuport 11 lacked.
The RNAS purchased twelve Nieuport 16 in early 1916 and were assigned to defend the Royal Navy's base at Dunkerque. Those 'Bébés' were allocated serial numbers 9154 to 9200, however, given the desperate need of the RFC for fighters, they were transferred directly to the RFC, never serving with the RNAS.
Once in the RFC, they received RFC serials, and were considered superiors to the De Havilland DH.2 fighter, which was in service back then and constituted the backbone of RFC's fighter force.
The Nieuport 16s served with Nos. 1, 3, 11, 29, 60 and 64 Squadrons and some were field-modified with Lewis machine guns mounted on a flexible mount, while others had their original synchronization system replaced by the Alkan synchronization system. The top ace of the RFC back then, Albert Ball flew the Nieuport 16, scoring many kills and some RFC's Nieuports were also equipped with the Le Prieur rockets (known commonly as 'Torpedoes' by ground crews) to use them against balloons, before the Battle of the Somme and, on 25th June 1916 fifteen German Drachen balloons were attacked with six being destroyed by the rockets. 
The Nieuport 16s were soon replaced by the better Nieuport 17, with A-131 of No. 29 Squadron being the last Nieuport 16 in service with the RFC, withdrawn in April 1917. 
Many of the remaining machines were sent to serve with the Scout School at No. 1 Aircraft Depot at St. Omer, northern France.

Sources:
1st Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War
2nd https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235091124-nieuport-11-in-british-colors
3rd Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 167 - Nieuport Fighters in Action
4th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport_16
5th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport_11

Nieuport 11. Part one. The 'Bébé' in Belgium

 

The Nieuport 11 was a French sesquiplane fighter aircraft from the World War I, while the Nieuport 16 was an improved variant, powered by a more powerful Le Rhône engine.
It received good reputation and was exported to various countries around the world, among them, Belgium.
In contemporary sources it's referred as 'Nieuport XI C.1' (or 'Nieuport XVI C.1) where the letter 'C' stands for 'Chasseur', meaning 'Hunter' in French.
It's commonly believed that approximately 12 Nieuport 11 C.1 were sent to serve with the Belgian Aviation Militaire (Belgian Military Aviation) on 5th January 1916 and were followed by two additional Nieuport 16 in September 1916. 
Both Nieuport 11 and 16 were employed by the Belgian Military Aviation's fighter squadrons, Nº1 (Chardon) and Nº5 (Comet), and were even employed by some famous aviation pioneers like Jean Olieslager or Egide Roobaert (who was among the first to have used the Le Prieur rockets -the very first air-to-air rockets), until they were replaced in frontline service by either the better Nieuport 17 or the Hanriot HD.1. 
The remaining Nieuports 11 or 16 were used for pilot training purposes at the Belgian schools of Étampes (France), Juvisy-sur-Orge (France) and after the war, at Asch (Netherlands). 
The last Nieuport 11 or 16 was withdrawn from Belgian inventory in the early 1920s.

Sources:
1st https://www.belgian-wings.be/nieuport-11-c1-16-c1
2nd en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport_11
3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport_16
4th Aeronaut Books - The Belgian Air Service in the First World War

Bristol Beaufighter, part sixteen. Very late & post-war Beaufighters.

 

When World War 2 came to an end in Europe on 8th May 1945, there were fifteen Royal Air Force's (RAF) squadrons equipped with the Bristol Beaufighter. All of those units except for four were UK-based. In the Far East Theatre of Operations, two squadrons, Nos. 42 & 85 operated their Beaufighters and No. 45 Squadron was based at Kuala Lumpur and remained in action until the Japanese surrender in August 1945.
Not listening to the Japanese Emperor, many Japanese soldiers kept on fighting beyond 15th August 1945, when the surrender date for Japan was set, so No. 27 Squadron was allocated as an Air Jungle Search & Rescue unit during that month, undertaking the search & rescue role while offering also support to forward army units engaged with the remnants of the Japanese army. 
No. 27 Squadron was based at Akyab, Burma and, although they were informed during August that they were going to be disbanded, the order was soon rescinded when civil uprisings in Indonesia took place and the squadron was rebased to Mingaladon (Burma) with detachments to Batavia, Bayan Lepas, Kemajoram and Penang. This unit also performed some leaflet-dropping sorties to advise the Japanese troops to surrender, continuing on this type of sorties in some remote regions, like the Shan States as late as January 1946. 
The detachment in Batavia performed some ground-strikes against Indonesian rebels, with the first one taking place on 20th November 1945. The detachment was active in the area until February 1946, when it returned to Mingaladon to be disbanded together with the rest of the squadron.
A new RAF Beaufighter squadron was set up in the UK during the post-war years. This unit was No. 42 Squadron at RAF Thorney Island. This was formed by renumbering No. 254 Squadron and lasted just one year with the Beaufighter TF.X as it was disbanded on 15th October 1947.
During this time period, there were two Beaufighter units stationed in the Far East; No. 84 Squadron at Seletar (Singapore) and No. 45 at Negombo (Ceylon). Both of those units were soon sent to fight communist guerrillas in Malaya under Operation Firedog.

Just after the war, the situation in Malaya was complicated. It was a region formed by nine separate states, each run by its own Sultan, with a lot of help from the British government. The main political party in the whole country was the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), which was lead by the Chinese communist Chin Ping, who sparked an armed insurrection from the end of the war. 
In 1948 the MCP killed some European rubber plantation owners and therefore, in June a state of emergency was enforced in the region. Both British and Commonwealth forces were involved in what would be an anti-communist operation that would last for twelve-years and named 'Operation Firedog'.
The first sortie made by a Beaufighter in this context was performed by No. 84 Squadron, which had a detachment in Kuala Lumpur on the 19th August 1948. This unit maintained a  crew rotation system between their main base at Ceylon and the Kuala Lumpur detachment and, in June 1949 the whole squadron was based at Kuala Lumpur, with detachments at Butterworth (Penang) and Tengah. In October 1949 the unit began to transition to the new Bristol Brigand, but kept operating the Beaufighter side-by-side, until it was moved back to Tengah in December 1949 and finally replaced all of their Beaufighters with Brigands in February 1950. 
No. 84 Squadron was initially equipped with the Beaufighter TF.X from November 1946 and and was moved to Changi (Singapore) in October 1947 before being rebased back to Tengah in February 1948. A detachment was sent to Kuala Lumpur where they joined No. 45 Squadron in Operation Firedog from July of that same year. Here they did not employ the Beaufighter very much as by October 1948 most of the squadron's crews were in the UK training and collecting for the new Bristol Brigand. At that time the squadron was rebased to Habbaniya (Iraq), where it was retrained and fully re-equipped with the Brigand. The squadron did not return to Malaya until April 1950 where they resumed Operation Firedog, this time with the Brigands.

By 1949 the frontline career of the Beaufighter was clearly declining, although the type remained in RAF's inventory in the Far East until 1956. 
The last operational version of the Beaufighter was the target-towing TT. Mk. X, which were airframes converted from existing Mk. Xs, with the prototype for the series being NT813. This variant was stripped from armament and was equipped with a wind-driven winch mounted in the rear fuselage, with its associated windmill projecting from the starboard fuselage side. A total of fifty-nine additional machines were converted and were employed by gunnery co-operation units and many Advanced Flying Schools in the UK and abroad.
In the Middle and Far East the TT. Mk. X was also employed in Flights in Cyprus, Gibraltar and Malta as well as Seletar. It was here where the Seletar Base Flight made the last operational sortie with a Beaufighter, when on 12th May 1960 TT. Mk. X registration number RD761 took off from Seletar for a farewell salute. On landing the aircraft was grounded, struck off charge and scrapped four days later, marking an end to the Beaufighter's career with the RAF.

Sources:
1st Scale Aircraft Modelling - Modellers Datafile 6 - Bristol Beaufighter
2nd  Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 153 - Bristol 'Beaufighter' in Action
3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufighter

Bristol Beaufighter, part fifteen. Beaufighter TF.X

 

Initially, just like the Mk. VI, the Mk. X was at first a designation employed to distinguish Coastal Command Mk. VIs powered by the Hercules XVII engines modified for low altitude attacks. The Mk. X, which was the successor to the Mk. VI on the factory lines in May 1943, had the centimetric AI Mks. VII or VIII radar installed inside a thimble nose radome.
Thanks to its heavy armament and its ability to perform a wide variety of roles, the Mk. X became a true multipurpose aircraft which served the Royal Air Force (RAF) well for the rest of the war. 
Alternatively to the torpedo for anti-shipping strikes, the Mk. X could also carry two 500 pound (227 Kg) under the fuselage plus one 250 pound (114 Kg) under each wing. A 200 gallon (909 L) drop tank could also replace the torpedo on the central fuselage rack.
Late production variants of the Mk. X had a prominent dorsal fin extension carried forward almost to the observer's cupola, and the wings stressed (taken from a proposed Mk. XII bomber version) to take a 1,000 pound (454 Kg) bomb on each side outboard of the engine nacelles. 
In total, 2.205 Beaufighters Mk. X were manufactured, with the last aircraft being delivered on 21st September 1945 with SR919 as serial number.

Sources:
1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 153 - Bristol 'Beaufighter' in Action
2nd Scale Aircraft Modelling - Modellers Datafile 6 - Bristol Beaufighter
3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufighter