Nieuport-Delage NiD 940

The Nieuport-Delage NiD 940 was a French tailless touring aircraft in pusher configuration, first flown in 1934. It was a low cantilever-wing design with a swept, straight-taper wing, elevons controlling both pitch and roll, and triangular wing-tip fins carrying rudders that could also open as air brakes. The steel-tube fuselage, covered in tulipwood plywood and fabric, held two side-by-side seats with room for a third and for baggage, and an 89 kilowatt Lorraine 5Pc five-cylinder radial engine was mounted as an uncowled pusher. The prototype, first known as the NiD 941, was shown at the Paris Salon de l'Aviation in November 1932 but did not fly until February 1934, piloted by Nieuport's test pilot Joseph Sadi-Lecointe. Trials showed a lack of longitudinal stability, and even with a 101 kilowatt Salmson 9Nc engine, after which it became the NiD 942, no airworthiness certificate was granted.