Nieuport 12


The Nieuport 12 was a French sesquiplane reconnaissance, fighter aircraft and trainer used by France, Russia, Great Britain and the United States during World War I. Later production examples were built as trainers and served widely until the late 1920s.

Design and development

To improve the performance of the Nieuport 10 a re-engined version was developed as the Nieuport 12 with a significantly enlarged upper wing. A Lewis gun was fitted to the rear cockpit for use by the observer, normally on an Etévé ring although early examples used a pedestal mount or half ring. A second Lewis was sometimes fitted to fire over the top wing. Nieuport 12s built by Beardmore used by the Royal Flying Corps were sometimes fitted with a Scarff ring instead of the Nieuport ring, and a synchronized Vickers gun for the pilot. Additional modifications were made to those built by Beardmore.
It could be fitted with either a Clerget, Clerget 9B engine or Le Rhône 9J mounted in the nose.

Variants

;Nieuport 12 A.2
;Nieuport 12bis C.2
;Nieuport 13
;Nieuport 20
;23 meter Nieuport
;Nieuport 80 E.2 and 81 E.2
;Nieuport 12
;Mitsubishi Army Type 甲 1 Trainer
;Trainer Type 1
;Sipowicz 1

Operators

  • Argentine Naval Aviation – One aircraft in 1919
  • Belgian Air Force
  • Chilean Air Force – One aircraft only.
  • Aéronautique Militaire
  • Estonian Air Force – Postwar.
  • Royal Hellenic Navy
  • Imperial Japanese Army Air Service – received 40 Nieuport 81 E.2 from France in 1919, supplemented with 57 licence-built aircraft.
  • Polish Air Force
  • Portuguese Air Force
  • Romanian Air Corps
  • Imperial Russian Air Service
  • Serbian Air Force
; Siam
  • Royal Siamese Aeronautical Service – One aircraft only. Locally designated B.F.1.
  • Royal Flying Corps
  • *No. 45 Squadron RFC
  • *No. 46 Squadron RFC
  • *No. 65 Squadron RFC
  • *No. 84 Squadron RFC
  • Royal Naval Air Service
  • *No. 7 Squadron RNAS
  • *No. 10 Squadron RNAS
  • American Expeditionary Force

    Survivor

A single ex-French Nieuport 12 is on display following an extensive restoration at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa in the late 1990s. This aircraft was donated to the Canadian Dominion Archives along with a Canon de 75 modèle 1897 cannon and an extensive collection of propaganda posters by the French Government in 1916 and was used for war bond drives until the 1918 flu pandemic resulted in it being placed in storage. In the late 1960s the Royal Canadian Air Force partially converted it into an RFC Beardmore example for display.

Specifications (French-built Nieuport 12 A.2)