Bulgarian Nieuports
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Митко Митков is researching Nieuports used by the Bulgarians, and posted to the CCI Facebook page asking if a list of engine numbers used by the RNAS exists. Does anyone have any ideas?
I presume he means Nieuport engine numbers.Hello Adrian,
I’m afraid I can’t help with this specific query. However, on the off-chance that this could lead to a useful exchange of information, could your Bulgarian contact provide some context for his request? I may be mistaken but my understanding is that the Nieuports used by the Bulgarian Air Service were captured from the French, not the RNAS.
Regards,
Mike.
Mike Sorry about the multiple posts above.
Митко Митков sends the following information. I have not corrected the spelling, which may be a result of auto-translate: I presume by steering wheel he means the control column:
I tried to register in a forum, but it gives me a system error. Please give the following information: The Bulgarians capture 5 Nieuport, 3 are French and 2 are English.
On 23 October 1916 in the Drama area was downloaded English Newport 12 with the number 8913 from 2 Wing R.N.A.S. pilot Jeffrey Kelvin Blandi and his observer are captured and sent to the camp in Plovdiv. This is Von Eshvege’s first victory. The plane landed in the 10th Infantry Division.
The steering wheel has a number 628. It is also assigned to the first Airplane Department located at Belitsa Airport. In 1918 the plane was already reported in Bozhurishte. October 12, 1916 Bryan Anthony Miller of the “A” squadron of R.N.A.S. based on Thassos returns from a bomber mission at the airport near Xanthi. His new airplane Newport 11 with number 3984 gets an engine problem and landed emergency four miles northwest of the airport. Miller was captured and sent to the camp in Plovdiv. The airplane was sent to Sofia. In his memoirs Bulgarian aviator Vladimir Balan mentions Nieuport captive number 2936. in our archive, under this number, there is a 90-horsepower engine on a Newrop airplane, but there is no mention of the machine. He also has two machine guns of unknown type, but with numbers 8869 and 8870. According to Balan’s memoirs, on this trophy airplane, the gunner Dimitar Angelov mounts a machine gun synchronizer and after the tests he has brought his identification signs and is sent to the front. Newport 11 has a machine gun on the upper wing, ie. it is not synchronized with the propeller, which is supposed to be the same machineHi Adrian,
Your contact has information that the Bulgarians had a Nieuport with the engine number 2936 and the gist of his query appears to be was this fitted to the Nieuport 12 8913 or the Nieuport 11 3984. The only information I can provide on this specific point is that the Nieuport 12 had a 110 hp Clerget engine whereas the Nieuport 11 had an 80 hp Le Rhone 9C (per C&C’s monograph on Nieuports in RNAS, RFC and RNAS service). I am not aware of any surviving RNAS record which would give a tie-up between engine and airframe serial numbers, although the RNAS experts out there may be able to help. Alternatively, anyone knowledgeable about French engines may be your best bet.
The information given about a Nieuport being armed with a synchronised gun by Dimitar Angelov is shown also in the book ‘Bulgarian Fighters Part 1’ by Dimitar Nedialkov (your contact is doubtless aware of this source). The same book says that with the gun fitted the aircraft was tested on 9 June 1917. This 1917 date is why I was bemused by the reference to RNAS Nieuports. However, this Nieuport could have been either the Nieuport 12 or the Nieuport 11 referred to above.
French and Bulgarian sources largely agree on the 3 French Nieuports, as follows:
Nieuports Type 24 N5346 and N5348 landed near Xanthi in December 1917. (3/12 per French; 27/12 per Bulgarian source). These had 120 hp Le Rhone engines.
Nieuport 24bis N4487 of Escadrille 503 force landed or brought down on 5 July 1918 (French) or 17 August 1918 (Bulgarian source). This should theoretically also have had a 120 hp Le Rhone but the Bulgarian book referred to above said it had a “90 h.p.” Le Rhone and that it was declared unfit for service. Certainly it was an old aircraft, having served previously with Escadrille 506 and possibly Escadrille 501 as well.
I’ll let you know in the next few days if I can come up with anything else of relevance.
Regards,
Mike.
Once I succeeded in registering, I want to thank you for your interest in the topic!
I would like to apologize for any mistakes in translation from Bulgarian to English.I see you are familiar with the books of Dimitar Nedyalkov. Without wishing to offend the author, I dare say that they are full of inaccuracies.
For example, in the book “Bulgarian Fighters”, under the photograph of Nieuport 4487, he writes that he is 24bis.
In another book, “The Air Power of the Kingdom of Bulgaria”, under the same picture claims to be of Type 27.
Another I would say is a great inaccuracy, the circumstances of capturing of A.W. Fk3.
According to the author, this is O’Douyer’s plane shot off Balan and Uzunov, commander of 17 squadrons. Indeed, O’Douail’s plane is B.E.2c ‘4574’.
I have a picture of Nieuport 24 bis 4487 who has crashed, so the conclusion in Nedyalkov’s book is also wrong.But let’s get back to the topic. I own a picture of Bulgarian soldiers around Nieuport 12, where the identification sign of the body is a red ring around a white circle.
As far as I know, R.N.A.S. fly with such a sign for a certain period of time.
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