Nieuport-Delage NiD 690

The Nieuport-Delage NiD 690 was a French all-metal, single-engined colonial policing aircraft of the 1930s, built by Nieuport for a competitive government contract. In 1930 the French government set out programmes for colonial aircraft to police overseas territories, all to be all-metal and powered by 220 kilowatt Lorraine 9Na Algol radial engines, with two prototypes required of each type. Nieuport-Astra offered the three-engined NiD 590 and the smaller, single-engined NiD 690, which had much in common. The NiD 690 was a high-wing cantilever monoplane with a long cabin behind the cockpit and an unusual T-shaped rear fuselage that gave a gunner a wide field of downward machine gun fire. The first prototype flew in June 1934 and was judged overweight for its power in trials; the second flew three months later with a lengthened fuselage and a larger elevator. Only two were built, and both had been retired by the end of 1934.