Nieuport IV

Nieuport IV
	Nieuport IV.G of theAir Battalion Royal Engineers
Role	Sporting and military monoplane
National origin	France
Manufacturer	Nieuport
First flight	1911
Introduction	1911
Status	retired
Primary users	Imperial Russian Air Service; Aéronautique Militaire; Corpo Aeronautico Militare
Produced	1911–1915
Developed from	Nieuport III
Variants	Nieuport VI

TheNieuport IVwas aFrench-builtsporting,trainingandreconnaissance monoplaneof the early 1910s.

Design and development

Societe Anonyme des EtablissementsNieuportwas formed in 1909 byÉdouard Nieuport.The Nieuport IV was a development of the single-seatNieuport IIand two seatNieuport III.A.It was initially designed as a two-seat sporting and racing monoplane, but was also bought by the air forces of several countries. It was initially powered by a 50 hp (37 kW)Gnome Omega rotary engine,which was later replaced by more powerful rotaries.^[1]

Operational history

The first Nieuport IVs were built in 1911 and production continued well intoWorld War Iin Russia.^[2] The design was adopted in small numbers by most air arms of the period, although the Imperial Russian Air Service was the largest user.

The IV.G was one of the principal aircraft used by theImperial Russian Air Serviceduring its formative years, with roughly 300 being produced locally by theRusso-Baltic Wagon WorksandShchetininin St. Petersburg, and theDux Factoryin Moscow.^[3]Lt.Pyotr Nesterovperformed the first ever loop, overKievin a model IV.G on 27 August 1913 for which he was placed under arrest for 10 days for "undue risk to government property" until the feat was repeated in France byAdolphe Pégoud;Nesterov was then awarded a medal and a promotion.^[4]

The French government equipped a single squadron with Nieuport IV.Ms,Escadrille N12initially based atReims,having purchased at least 10. This unit continued to operate Nieuport monoplanes after the start ofWorld War I,slowly replacing them with other types as attrition reduced their numbers.^[5]

TheSwedish Air Forcewas presented with a IV.G in 1912 by four individuals, becoming one of the first aircraft of that force,^[1]which was later joined by a second IV.G in 1913, and a IV.H transferred from the Swedish Navy.^[6]

TheJapanese Armyoperated one IV.G and one IV.M, which were designated as Army Nieuport NG2 aeroplane and Army Nieuport NM aeroplane respectively,^[7]with the NG being flown in the Tsingtao campaign in September and October 1914 alongside fourMaurice Farman MF.11s.^[8]

One of the first batch of aircraft purchased by the British Army'sAir Battalion Royal Engineers(the precursor to theRoyal Flying Corps) was a Nieuport IV.G and serialed B4. Additional IV.G monoplanes were purchased from private individuals including one fromClaude Grahame-Whiteand another fromCharles Rumney Samson,plus three others.^[9]^[10]The Nieuport IVs were in service when the RFC carried out an investigation into monoplane crashes. While this report covered an accident involving a Nieuport IV, it determined the accident to be a result of improper maintenance which lead to engine failure, rather than a structural failure such as with theBristol monoplaneandDeperdussin monoplanewhose structural deficiencies led to theMonoplane Ban.^[11]

Argentina purchased a single IV.G namedla Argentinawhich served with the Escuela de Aviation Militaire.^[12]

In Greece, a IV.G was bought privately and namedAlkyon.After being the first aircraft to fly in Greece, it was resold to the government which used it during theFirst Balkan Warin 1912, flying from Larissa.^[12]

Siam purchased 4 IV.Gs which were used as trainers atDon Muang airfield.^[13]

Spain purchased one IV.G and 4 IV.Ms which were used by the Escuela Nieuport de Pau for training before 3 were transferred to an operational school (Escuela) atTetuán,(Spanish Morocco) which then moved toZeluán,remaining operational until 1917.^[6]

Italy's 1st Flottiglia Aeroplani of Tripoli operated several Nieuport IV.Gs during theItalo-Turkish War,one of which became the first aeroplane to be used in combat when it flew a reconnaissance mission against Turkish forces on 23 October 1911.^[14]It narrowly missed out to aBleriot XIwith the same unit for the honor of being the first aircraft to drop a bomb on enemy forces. The pilot who carried out this mission, Capt. Maizo, also became one of the first victims of anti-aircraft fire when he was shot down by an Austrian cannon weeks before the war ended in 1912.^[14]

Variants

IV: Generic base designation (specific aircraft always had an applicable suffix letter)

IV.G: Gnomebasic sport/racing model with various sizes ofGnomerotary from 50 to 100 hp (37 to 75 kW)

IV.H: Hydrofloatplane fitted with two main floats and a tail float – used extensively for competition with engines of up to 200 hp

IV.M: EnlargedMilitaryobservation variant with variousGnomerotaries from 70 to 100 hp (52 to 75 kW) – designed to be readily assembled and disassembled for transport by truck

Surviving aircraft

The Swedish Air Force maintained their first model IV in airworthy condition until 1965.^[15]This aircraft is now preserved in theFlygvapenmuseumat Malmen near Linköping.^[16]TheMuseo del Aireat Cuatro Vientos near Madrid has a full-scale replica of one of their model IVs.^[17]

Operators

Military

Argentina

Argentine Army Aviation

France

Aéronautique Militaire

Greece

Hellenic Air Force^[12]

Kingdom of Italy

Corpo Aeronautico Militare

Japan

Imperial Japanese Army

Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Aviation Squadrons^[18]

Romania

Romanian Air Corps^[19]

Russia

Imperial Russian Air Service

Siam

Royal Siamese Aeronautical Service

Spain

Spanish Air Force

Sweden

United Kingdom

Specifications (IVM)

Data fromAviafrance

General characteristics

Crew:1
Capacity:1 passenger
Length:8.2 m (26 ft 11 in)
Wingspan:12.1 m (39 ft 8 in)
Wing area:22.0 m²(237 sq ft)
Empty weight:483 kg (1,065 lb)
Powerplant:1 × Gnomerotarypiston, 75 kW (100 hp)
Propellers:2-bladed

Performance

Maximum speed:120 km/h (75 mph, 65 kn)
Time to altitude:12 minutes 40 seconds to 500m

Notes

^^a ^bGreen, 1965, p.347
^Sanger, 2002, p.109-111
^Davilla, 1997 p.351
^Durkota, 1997, pp.201–204
^Sanger, 2002, p.77
^^a ^bSanger, 2002, p.157
^"Brief history of the Nieuport monoplane".RetrievedSeptember 30,2017.
^Francillon, 1979, p.48
^Sanger, 2002, p.93-95
^Robertson, 1979, p.18
^Spooner, Stanley, ed. (1913)."Army Monoplanes Report".Flight Magazine.Vol. 5, no. 215. pp. 154–158.
^^a ^b ^cSanger, 2002, p.154
^Sanger, 2002, p.156
^^a ^bSanger, 2002, p.131
^Green, 1965 p.346
^Ogden, 2006, p.484
^Ogden, 2006, p.470
^"Nieuport Monoplane WW I Period TUAF Aircraft 1 nci dunya savasi dönemi Turk HvKK Ucaklari".tayyareci.com.
^Dan Antoniu (2014).Illustrated History of Romanian Aeronautics.p. 31.ISBN 978-9730172096.

References

Davilla, Dr. James J.; Soltan, Arthur M. (1997).French Aircraft of the First World War.Stratford, CT: Flying Machines Press.ISBN 978-0-9637110-4-5.
Durkota, Alan; Darcey, Thomas; Kulikov, Victor (1995).The Imperial Russian Air Service — Famous Pilots and Aircraft of World War I.Mountain View, CA: Flying Machines Press. pp. 201–204.ISBN 978-0-9637110-2-1.
Francillon, René J. (1979).Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War.London: Putnam.ISBN 978-0370302515.
Green, William (1965).The Aircraft of the World.Macdonald & Co (Publishers) Ltd.
Ogden, Bob (2006).Aviation Museums and Collections of Mainland Europe.Air-Britain (Historian) Ltd.ISBN 978-0-85130-375-8.
Pommier, Gerard (2002).Nieuport 1875–1911 — A biography of Edouard Nieuport.Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing.ISBN 978-0-7643-1624-1.
Robertson, Bruce (1979).British Military Aircraft Serials 1911–1979.Cambridge: Patrick Stevens. p. 18.ISBN 978-0-85059-360-0.
Rozendaal, John (31 August 1912). "Der Nieuport-Eindekker (part 1)".Zeitschrift für Flugtechnik und Motorluftschiffahrt(in German).3(16): 211–213.
Rozendaal, John (14 December 1912). "Der Nieuport-Eindekker (part 2)".Zeitschrift für Flugtechnik und Motorluftschiffahrt(in German).3(23): 300–303.
Sanger, Ray (2002).Nieuport Aircraft of World War One.Wiltshire: Crowood Press.ISBN 978-1-86126-447-3.

v t e Nieuport-Macchi/Macchi/Aermacchiaircraft
Nieuport-Macchi	Ni.4 Ni.6 Parasol Ni.10 Ni.11 Ni.17 Ni.29
Macchi	L.1 L.2 M.3 M.4 M.5 M.6 M.7 M.8 M.9 M.12 M.14 M.15 M.16 M.17 M.18 M.19 M.20 M.24 M.26 M.33 M.39 M.40 M.41 M.52 M.53 M.67 M.70 M.71 M.C.72 M.C.73 M.C.77 M.C.94 M.C.99 M.C.100 M.C.200 M.C.201 M.C.202 M.C.205 M.B.308 M.B.320 M.B.323
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