Nieuport 10 Reginald Bone

Description

Nieuport 10

The Nieuport 10 was originally designed to compete in the Gordon Bennett Trophy race of 1914. World War I caused this contest to be cancelled, and the type was developed as a military two-seat reconnaissance aircraft that entered service in 1915.

The type featured a distinctive “V” strut layout. The lower wing was much smaller in area than the upper wing. The concept was intended to combine the strength, compactness and stability of the biplane’s wire braced wing cell with the speed and ease of handling of the monoplane.

Many were built or converted as single-seat fighters by covering the front cockpit, and adding a Lewis Gun or Vickers Machine gun either to fire through the centre section of the top wing or mounted over it, firing forwards. In this form, the type was used as a fighter.

Two major types were developed based on experience with the Nieuport 10 – the Nieuport 11 Bebe – a smaller and completely new aircraft, designed from the outset as a single-seater, and the Nieuport 12 – a more powerful two-seater with an enlarged top wing and improved seating for the gunner. In addition, production was undertaken later in the war of a dedicated trainer version under the Nieuport 83 E.2 designation with detail changes. A single example of a triplane, using a Nieuport 10 fuselage was built to test an unusual staggered wing concept.

Our 1/30 scale model was flown by Flight Commander Lt. Reginald Bone, when on March 19, 1916, when it forced down a Friedrichshaffen FF33 seaplane that had bombed Deal as part of a larger raid of six seaplanes which killed four children driving to a Sunday School class, along with ten adult civilians. The damaged seaplane, along with its dead and injured crew was later towed by the Germans back to Zeebrugge.

Writing after the war, Bone commented: “This was the first time that any British aircraft had made contact with a raiding German aircraft…the authorities were so glad to have a Communique [at the time, the Coalition government was under heavy pressure from the right-wing MP and founder of Supermarine Noel Pemberton Billing over their conduct of the air war] that they awarded me an immediate DSO, which I probably did not deserve.”

Bone was something of a public hero after this, and his photograph made the front page of the Daily Mirror. In his subsequent career, he served as a test pilot, in the Aegean, and, transferring to the newly formed RAF as a Wing Commander, in Russia first leading the RAF contingent on HMS Nairana, and then the RAF portion of Syrenforce, the British mission in Murmansk.

In the interwar period, Bone had several run-ins with T.E. “Of Arabia” Lawrence, first when Lawrence tried to enlist under an assumed name, and latterly when Lawrence served under him as an enlisted man at the RAF depot at Dringh Road in India. It is safe to say the two men did not get on, with Lawrence writing to his friend Air-Vice Marshall Geoffrey Salmond, then AOC-India about Bone in unflattering terms; depending on who one chooses to believe, Bone did or did not deserve this. In any case, Bone managed to rise to Group Captaincy regardless, becoming Air Attache in Paris (and identifying the bodies in the wreckage of R101) in 1930. He retired from the RAF in 1934. From 1939-1941, he was station commander at RAF Pembroke Dock, the large flying boat base; appropriate, as he had first served on flying boats in 1914 onboard HMS Empress. After 1941, he retired to Birmingham, serving as RAF Liaison to Civil Defence and marrying the widow of an ARP Warden. Postwar, he worked for Lucas Engineering on jet propulsion, and died in 1972.

We have 3 each of these 1/30 scale models available priced at $650 plus postage. For the next 3 days this model is priced at $550 plus postage, insert your 10% ‘discount’ code into the coupon box at checkout and get the model for around $495 plus postage.    
 
The figures and accessories are shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.