The aircraft was not flown after the early 1970s and largely disappeared from public view until 2019, when the American Heritage Museum started the restoration. Legendary racing car builder/driver Jim Hall bought the Nieuport for $14,500. Part of a collection gathered by famed aerial performers Paul Mantz and Frank Tallman, the Nieuport continued flying into the 1960s, and was among the numerous unique airframes put up for disposal at the ‘Tallmantz Auction’ of May 1968. After retirement from Army use, N.28 gained a new lease on life in civilian hands, being featured in a number of significant aviation films, such as Hells Angels (1930) and The Dawn Patrol (1930 & 1938). Following WWI, the American government imported about fifty Nieuport 28s, including our N.28, to fill out the ranks of the newly established U.S. This Nieuport emerged from a factory near Paris, France late in 1918. Our extraordinary N.28 restoration honors the designers, pilots, and mechanics of the First World War. The Collings Foundation and American Heritage Museum are known around the world for restoring and operating some of the finest and most historically accurate aircraft. The Nieuport 28 holds a special place in American aviation history as the first fighter U.S. Unfortunately, Quentin Roosevelt was shot down and killed in July 1918, mere weeks before the AEF began taking deliveries of the more superior SPADs. The Nieuport 28 became a beloved aircraft in the war against Germany. As time went on, more and more victories were scored by the American squadrons. On their squadron’s second patrol, pilots Douglas Campbell and Alan Winslow both shot down an enemy aircraft over their home field. Deliveries of the guns began, albeit in fits and starts, and the first combat patrols were flown in mid-March, with some aircraft carrying just one machine gun instead of the usual two. Pilots like future top ace Eddie Rickenbacker, Douglas Campbell, and Quentin Roosevelt (the son of former president Theodore Roosevelt) could be found flying in the cold, early spring skies above friendly territory, learning and developing new tactics so they were prepared when the guns finally arrived. Making the best of a poor situation, the squadrons set to work on familiarizing themselves with the new 28s. Allied Expeditionary Forces didn’t have enough Vickers machine guns to supply the squadrons. When the Americans received the planes there was one minor issue – they weren’t shipped with any armament.
The American 94th and 95th Aero Squadrons saw an opportunity and began taking the first allotments of the brand new Nieuports in mid-February 1918. Since France had no need for the new N.28, the aircraft were deemed as surplus.
After almost a year of prototypes and re-designs, production had started on the Nieuport 28 (N.28). However, at the same time Nieuport had finished their ultimate biplane design.
There were simply not enough of the new airplanes to go around. France had trouble with engine production and the formalization of the SPAD as France’s premier front-line fighter.
Unfortunately, the French SPAD XIII aircraft they wanted were in short supply. In early 1918, with the air war over the skies of France and Belgium reaching their most dangerous point, American pilots with the Allied Expeditionary Force were anxious to take the fight to the German menace.
0 kommentar(er)
