Airdrome Nieuport 17 Explained

The Airdrome Nieuport 17 is an American amateur-built aircraft, designed and produced by Airdrome Aeroplanes, of Holden, Missouri. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction.^[1]

The aircraft is a full-scale replica of the First World War French Nieuport 17 fighter. The replica is built from modern materials and powered by modern engines.

Design and development

The Airdrome Nieuport 17 features a "V"-strut sesquiplane layout, a single-seat open cockpit, fixed conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.

The aircraft is made from bolted-together aluminum tubing, with its flying surfaces covered in doped aircraft fabric. The kit is made up of twelve sub-kits. The Airdrome Nieuport 17 has a wingspan of 26.81NaN1 and a wing area of 180square feet. The standard engine used is the 1020NaN0 four stroke Volkswagen air-cooled engine. Building time from the factory-supplied kit is estimated at 400 hours by the manufacturer. The aircraft can be constructed as a Nieuport 17 or as the more refined Nieuport 17bis.^[2]

Operational history

Nine examples had been completed by December 2011.

See also

• Circa Reproductions Nieuport

Notes and References

1. Vandermeullen, Richard: 2011 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide, Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 40. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851
2. Web site: Nieuport 17 Biplane ~ Full Scale Replica. 23 September 2012. Airdrome Aeroplanes. n.d. . https://web.archive.org/web/20101213102816/http://airdromeairplanes.com/Nieuport17%7BFullscale%7D.html . 13 December 2010.