Nieuport-Delage NiD 29

The Nieuport-Delage NiD 29 was a French single-seat biplane fighter designed and built by Nieuport-Delage for the French Air Force. The prototype was an equal-span biplane with ailerons on both wings and was evaluated in July 1918, with a pre-production batch ordered that August. A second prototype with greater wingspan exceeded the required ceiling and went into production in 1920, becoming the fastest service fighter in the world at that time. Mass production deliveries began in 1922 with a Hispano-Suiza 8Fb V-8 engine of 224 kilowatts. The type was popular despite a tendency to enter a flat spin, and the French military bought 250 built by Nieuport and seven other companies. Exports were large for the 1920s, with 30 going to Spain, 108 to Belgium, including 87 built under licence by SABCA, and 175 to Italy, 95 of which were Macchi-Nieuport 29s.