Customer Reviews

Nieuport Aces of World War I (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 33)

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I'm a big fan of the Osprey series, but the books on World War I aviation written by Norman Franks are disappointing. His books on the Nieuport and Albatros Aces, vol. 1 are especially weak. He certainly knows the bare facts about the planes, various units, and piliots like Albert Ball on the "micro" level, but he provides little context, or developmental overview, from a "macro" perspective. For instance, in the Nieuport book, he basically provides a static descriptive overview of each squadron and key piliots, which, although informative, needs to be balanced with an evolution of the Nieuport series from the Nieuport 10 and 11 to the Nieuport 17 and later models.

I would have liked to have seen a chapter on the Nieuport 11 during the "Fokker Scourge" and Battle of Verdun, delineating how and when it was deployed, number of planes, squadrons, key piliots, and how it fared aginst the Fokker Eindecker. I would have liked to have seen a similar approach to the Nieuport 16 and 17 during the Battles of Somme (both French and British units) and "Bloody April" in 1917, comparing the late Nieuport models against the Albatros DIII.

Such shortcomings are apparent in the Albatros Aces, vol. 1 as well. Perhaps the weaknesses of Frank's book prompted the need for a second volume by Greg vanWyndgarden, a far better writer who knows how to map out the larger contours and circumstances of German World War I aviation.

First, let me say that I DO recommend this book. There are a lot of good profiles of the Nieuport fighters, including French, British, Italian, Belgian, and Russian aircraft.

There are a lot of profiles, but few (if any) overhead views. There is no index. (A problem with several early Qsprey books.) There are pilots described with no aircraft profiles, and there are profiles of pilots that are not described in the book!

Still, there is a lot of good info, especially if you are new to the world of WW1 aircraft. The main focus is on the Nieuport 17, although there are profiles of all models. (I was disappointed that there were no profiles of British Nieuport 11's, even though there are several photos in the book.)

So, good book for under $20.