In practice, the Nieuport 17 proved an excellent fighting machine. Its single machine gun mounting made it an accurate gun platform in the heat of battle while the pedigree of a competition aircraft shown through with excellent performance figures and good handling. However, the Nieuport 17 retained the same structural weakness inherent in the Nieuport 11 design before it - the single-bay, V-strut support system of the wings, particularly during high-speed flight such as dives, led to failures often claiming the life of the pilot. This required a steady, well-trained and experienced hand at the controls to say the least.
Nieuport 17s were fielded almost immediately after their first flight in January of 1916. The Nieuport 11 was, itself, introduced that month which showcased the quick-changing face of the war - aircraft seeing operational service for a mere few months before being formally replaced by better, modern types. The Nieuport 17 was officially fielded in March of 1916 and directly replaced the Nieuport 11 types in frontline service with the French. The British followed suit and took delivery of the type soon after. Nieuport 17s made up a large portion of French air power in the months following, such was the importance of the type to the war effort (a large portion of World War 1 aircraft were, in fact, scout-minded aircraft). The Nieuport 17 became the mount of famous aces Albert Ball and William Bishop. The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was also handed the type upon their arrival to the theater. The Russian Empire adopted the aircraft in some number and retained them for a time into their Soviet Union years that followed the war.
Despite its excellence following introduction, the Nieuport 17 was, in turn, itself outmoded in time by the latest in German fighter developments. As such, the aircraft was slowly replaced by improved Nieuport types (including the related Nieuport 17bis with its fuselage-mounted synchronized machine gun and 130 horsepower Clerget rotary engine) and eventually superseded by the competing SPAD S.VII series by the middle of 1917. The British Air Service managed to field the Nieuport 17 into early 1918 before giving up on the type for good. In the post-war years, surplus Nieuports were utilized as primary two-seat trainers for new generations of pilots. The Nieuport 23 was a further development of the Nieuport 17 and included a lighter Le Rhone 9J series engine and newly revised upper wing spar. The Germans, recognizing the type's excellence, reengineered the Nieuport 17 as the Siemens-Schuckert D.I with production following.
In all, the Nieuport 17 was utilized by Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia/Soviet Union, Siam, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay.
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