Nieuport 17

The Nieuport Type 17 was made famous in the skilled hands of aces like Nungesser, Guynemer, Ball and Bishop. It was a direct descendent of the Type 11, and used the knowledge gained from previous models to good effect. It was nimble, with excellent speed and a good rate of climb. It was copied by the Germans as the Schuckert DI, with the only difference between the two aircraft being the design of the Schuckert's tailplane.

The Type 17 burns 4.5 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. The plane has a historical range of 155 miles. A full load of fuel and ammo costs $13.

Nieuport Type XVII-bis

Subassemblies: Recon Fighter chassis +2; Recon Fighter wings with Biplane option +2; 2 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 89-kW HP gasoline engine with 89-kW old prop and 15-gallon standard fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 1 XCS Body

Cargo: 8 Body

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wings: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Weaponry:

Aircraft LMG/.303 Vickers [Body:F] (500 rounds each).

Statistics:

Size: 19'x27'x8' Payload: 0.23 tons Lwt.: 0.64 tons

Volume: 96 Maint.: 131 hours Cost: $2,346

HT: 7. HPs: 15 Body, 50 each Wing, 3 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 115 aAccel: 4 aDecel: 28 aMR: 7 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 39 mph. Take-Off Run: 169 yards. Landing Run: 152 yards.

gSpeed: 188 gAccel: 9 gDecel: 10 gMR: 1.25 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: High. 1/6 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 159 sf. MG load out is a guess. Design payload was 348 lbs; the historical value has been substituted. Design aSpeed was 107 mph. Performance calculations were based on historical values for wing area and loaded weight. Loaded weight was lowered 5% to the historical. Fuel capacity was based on a rough calculation of the plane's historical range at Cruising speed and design fuel consumption. The Body MG is synchronized, lowering RoF by 10% (see p. W:MP8). Using the calculated gSpeed at 1/6 Off-Road speed (31 mph) gSpeed is still 79% of stall speed, so the plane could therefore potentially get airborne in a bumpy field, at the GM's discretion.

Variants:

Earlier Type 17s possessed 82-kW engines. These earlier versions also featured a Lewis MG mounted on the upper wing with a high-angle mount. Once the interrupter gear was perfected, this changed to the fixed forward firing Vickers.

The Type 21 featured a 60-kW engine and enlarged ailerons. Just under 200 were built and used by the USA and Russia.

The Type 23 was slightly heavier, and featured a 60-kW or 89-kW engine. It was supplied to Belgium, France, Italy the UK and the United States.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS