Nieuport 28 C.1 - Seattle, WA
N 47° 31.136 W 122° 17.856
10T E 552881 N 5263072
One of many static aircraft displays located at the Museum of Flight at King County International Airport. Admission fees apply.
Waymark Code: WMVKCV
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 04/28/2017
Views: 7
Located at the Museum of Flight are a large number of static aircraft on display. One of them is a Nieuport 28 C.1. The Museum of Flight website contains a
page devoted to this aircraft and it reads:
The Devilish 28
The Nieuport 28 was rejected by the French Air Service as not suited to be front-line equipment. At the time, the American Army was desperate for any airplane they could scrounge, and 297 Nieuports were delivered to the "Yanks."
The first airplane Americans flew into combat, it was loved by some and feared by others. Flying 28s, Douglas Campbell and Alan Winslow each shot down a German fighter on April 14, 1918, becoming the first U.S. airmen to destroy a plane in combat. Famous ace Eddie Rickenbacker scored many of his twenty-six victories flying his Nieuport.
On the other side of the coin, Rickenbacker, America's beloved hero, was almost killed when the upper wing fabric on his 28 tore apart in flight. Teddy Roosevelt's son, Quentin, and ace Raoul Lufbery were also killed while flying Nieuport 28s.
The Museum of Flight's Nieuport 28 is an original, and both Robert Rust and Jim Appleby worked on its restoration before it was finished by Roger Freeman of Marlin, Texas in 1999. The plane has a Gnome 9-N, 165 h.p rotary engine and two .303 inch Vickers machine guns. The plane currently carries the paint scheme of Quentin Roosevelt.
A nearby placard highlights this Nieuport 28 C.1 in more detail and reads:
...James Norman Hill, future co-writer of Mutiny on the Bounty also "lost his laundry" (lost the fabric on his wings) in a steep dive in his Nieuport and became a prisoner of war.
The 28 had another quirk that was sometimes fatal. Unburned fuel and oil built up in the plane's cowling when the ignition was cut for long periods of time. When power was restored and the spark plugs fired, the excess fuel could ignite to uncontrollable blazes.
The good-looking but troubled 28 was replaced, after about four months, by SPADS. While many American pilots were overjoyed to have survived the devilish 28, at least some were sorry to see it go.