Nieuport 28

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Nieuport 28

Description
Role	Fighter
Crew	Pilot
First Flight
Entered Service	March 1916
Manufacturer	Nieuport
Dimensions
Length	24.4 ft	7.8 m
Wingspan	26 ft 3 in	8.1 m
Height	8 ft 0 in	2.5 m
Wing area	169 ft²	15.8 m²
Weights
Empty	1227 lb	475 kg
Loaded	1635 lb	560 kg
Maximum takeoff	lb	kg
Capacity
Powerplant
Engines	Gnome 9-N rotary.
Power	160 hp	102kW
Performance
Maximum speed	122 mph	184 km/h
Combat range	180 miles	349 km
Service ceiling	17390 ft	5300 m
Rate of climb	11.5 min to 3,000 m (9,840 ft)
Wing loading	7.77 lb/ft²	37.9 kg/m²
Power/Mass	0.09 hp/lb	0.15 kW/kg
Avionics
Avionics
Armament
Guns	2 Vickers .303-cal. machine guns

The Nieuport 28 (N.28C-1) was a French biplane fighter aircraft flown during World War I, built by Nieuport and designed by Gustave Delage. It was the first fighter airplane flown in combat by pilots of the United States Army Air Service that was part of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in WWI. Its second armed patrol with an AEF unit on April 14, 1918, resulted in two victories when Lts. Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell (WWI Ace) (the first American-trained ace) of the 94th Aero Squadron each downed an enemy aircraft.

Although the Nieuport 28 was considered obsolete at the time, American pilots maintained a favorable ratio of victories to losses with it. The Nieuport 28 was more maneuverable than the sturdier SPAD S.XIII that replaced it, but it had a reputation for fragility and a tendency to shed its upper wing fabric in a dive. Even so, many WWI American pilots, such as Quentin Roosevelt, the son of US president Theodore Roosevelt, as well as American aces like the 26-victory ace, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, flew the French-built Nieuport 28 at one time or another in their careers.