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Omaka is proud to be home to four examples of French Nieuport fighting scouts. An exceptionally mobile biplane with an excellent rate of climb and manoeuvrability made it popular amongst French aces such as René Fonck and Georges Guynemer, as well as the British, including Victoria Cross recipients Albert Ball and Canadian WA Bishop.
Two examples of the French Nieuport fighting scout based at Omaka are displayed in the Knights of the Sky WW1 exhibition. The first is an N.24, wearing the skull and bones insignia of famous French Ace Charles Nungesser, and the second, an N.27, crash-landed in a tree. The two Nieuports that will take to the sky at Marlborough Lines Classic Fighters are an N.11 and an N.16.
The N.11 was imported from the US by Classic Wings Magazine and entirely rebuilt by a team at Omaka. The aircraft is powered by an Australian-built 110 hp Rotec radial and is decorated with the markings of Australian Ace Stanley Dallas.
A replica Nieuport N.16, a strengthened version of the N.11, is owned by Brian Greenall and Eric Driver and is powered by a Rotec R.2800. Following a decade of work, it first flew on the 19th of March 2019 and wears the risqué markings of an Imperial Russian Air Service fighter. In a first for Classic Fighters, the N.16 has recently been fitted with Le Prieur rockets, an incendiary air-to-air rocket used in WW1 against observation balloons and airships. Named after the French lieutenant who invented them, they were first used in the Battle of Verdun in May 1916.
We can’t wait to see these two machines flying again at Marlborough Lines Classic Fighters, the first airshow in New Zealand to pioneer major World War One recreations in the air and on the ground.
Image: The Omaka-based Nieuport 11
Image: A Nieuport on static display at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre - Photo by James Orphan
Image: A Nieuport on static display at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre - Photo by James Orphan
About Marlborough Lines Classic Fighters Omaka: The airshow is the main fundraising event for the Omaka Aviation Heritage Museum, located in Blenheim, Marlborough NZ.
