EARLY YEARS -- Captain Harry Gwynne and his decorated Nieuport Plane, "The Flying Fish," France. In 1912, this plane was the first aircraft fitted with a permanently installed machine gun. Nieuport 11s and 17s were used in World War I by the French and the American Expeditionary Forces as well as by the Air Forces of Russia, Belgium, Italy, and Great Britain. The Nieuport 11, commonly called “Bébé” because of its small size, was instrumental in defeating the “Fokker Scourge” of 1915. The Nieuport 17 was a larger and sturdier aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo
