WOW608 Nieuport XX111 Edmond Thieffry

The Nieuport 23 was a WW1 French fighter plane in a mixed half-wing structure with canvas covering most of the surfaces.
The prototype flew in 1917. The machine was a development of the great Nieuport 17, it had a new 120HP Le Rhone 9Jb engine and a new machine gun synchronizer, giving it a superior preformance to it’s predecessor. The plane was given the designation Nieuport 23C1. It was flown by majority of the  Allied air forces, including Belgian, Russia, RAF , French and American pilots.
Technical data: length: 6.4 m, wingspan: 8.2 m, height: 2.4 m, maximum speed: 168 km/h, rate of climb: 5.8 m/s, maximum ceiling 6500 m, Armament was a fixed – 1 Vickers machine gun 7.7mm cal.
Our first Nieuport is one flown by Edmond Thieffry a Belgian Ace, below is his story:In 1915, Thieffry joined the Compagnie des Ouvriers et Aérostiers —the Belgian Army Air Corps— and with some difficulty qualified as a pilot .. On 1 February 1916, he joined the 3rd Squadron as an observer for artillery, where he was appreciated for his exactitude and courage. He crash-landed so many aircraft that he was promptly assigned to a single-seat fighter squadron, as no one would fly with him. He was rapidly transferred to the 5th Squadron (The Comets) under Captain Jules Dony based at De Panne in December 1916.His first confirmed victory was on 15 March 1917, flying a Nieuport 11,. His second followed eight days later, and his third on the 12th May and his 4th a month later on 14 June. The 5th Squadron then relocated to Les Moeres, and was equipped with Nieuport 17s. Thieffry gained official status as an “ace” when he shot down two German fighters over Diksmuide on 3 July. In August he received the first SPAD V11 fighter in the Belgian Air Force, bought by the Belgian prince. He gained three more victories with it.On 31 August his aircraft was badly damaged by two German fighters, but he managed to land behind the Belgian lines. He continued to fight and he claimed his 10th and last confirmed kill on 10 October 1917. He also had five ‘probable’ kills. This placed him third on the list of Belgian aces, behind Willy Coppens and Andre de Meulemeester. Shortly afterwards he was shot down and wounded by return fire from a German two-seater aircraft of FAA 227 on 23 February 1918. He spent the rest of the war as a POW in Germany. He tried to escape on 13 April 1918 but was caught ten days later. After the war Thieffry tried to establish the first air service between Belgian and the Congo, he was killed on his second trip to the region when his aircraft crashed.
Price is $650 plus postage, insert ‘discount’ into coupon box to receive your club discount of 10% off the RRP.