Insignia & markings WW1

[Stig Jarlevik]

Originally Posted by Buckeye30

Nearly all the Nieuport trainers ( both single- and 2-seater) at USAS training fields in 1917-18 had a designator ---"3-" next to the field number on the fuselage and in the same style; a bit of a mystery unless it refers to the school, most going to Issoudon.

The field numbers were 900s and 1000s. Serials were not in the usual system, this is N10591, others included 10541 (930) and 10572 (958).
The table is from James Fahey's "U.S.ARMY AIRCRAFT 1908-1946" it shows the Nieuport 80/81/83 trainers aquired from France; "E" = Ecole (school) and "2" a 2-seater. In the last column "XIV" is the Type in this case "Training, air cooled".
A * shows the squadrons in service at the Armisice.
The N80/81 had the enlarged wing area ( 23m2 must be Nie.12 equivalent) and N83 had the 18m2 wing ( so Nie.10 presumably).
I wondered whether you had any thoughts on the "3-" ??

Nick

I am pretty certain the prefix digit 3 stood for 3rd Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun. It was a huge undertaking and only the Fields 1 - 6 in the Lizeray Commune covered almost 700 hectares. Later Fields 7 - 12 were added almost doubling the area. The AIC codes you see were basically numbered from 1 and up (highest known is 1859). Since the Center received 1970 aircraft I suppose technically code 1970 might have been reached.
Of these 1482 were various Nieuport models so we can easily see why photos of these are in a clear majority.

The SFA numbers in the 10000 range were for the Nieuport trainer (Type 80-83) versions only. I have not seen any Nieuport aircraft in the N.10 to N.28 range using such high serial numbers. When the Nieuport 29 came along it used the 12000 range.

While Fahey was good when published, his work on WW 1 aircraft has been superseded by Robert Casari's lifetime research in this field. If I need to make a choice I follow Casari any day of the week. Not gospel, but close!

The aircraft with serial number N10591 and 3 AIC code 3-1002 was a Type 83.

Cheers
Stig