Nieuport Madon

The Nieuport Madon was a prototype 1917 French single-seat strut-braced gull-wing monoplane fighter, with an additional lifting surface between the undercarriage.

Design and development

The tapered gull wing was supported by lift struts attached to the landing gear, which featured an additional constant chord lifting area between the wheels. A section of wing root at the trailing edge, and later the gap between the spars were cut away to improve downward visibility. The fuselage and wing were wood structures with a fabric covering. It was armed with two synchronized Vickers machine guns.
The first flight was made in December 1917, or early January 1918 while powered by a Gnome Monosoupape 9N rotary engine, the same engine used in the Nieuport 28.
The second prototype first flew in late January 1918 with the slightly more powerful Le Rhône 9R. This aircraft had a revised wing whose inboard trailing edges were cut away and it had an elongated fin. On 1 May 1918 the second prototype was rejected in favour of the Monosoupape powered model.
The Nieuport Madon was not officially accepted but would be refined through the Nieuport 31 the Nieuport-Delage Sesquiplan and eventually into the Nieuport-Delage NiD 62 which was still in second line service in 1940.