Breguet's Crash file #67

[Breguet]

Lets try this one:

[pvernon]

Blind guess - N28

[Patrick]

I do not think it's a N.28. For one thing, my first impression is that this plane was rigged with two-bay wings. Also, the fuselage cross-section where it's broken near the tail doesn't look like the shape of a N.28.

So, based on the camo finish, a French plane -- with two-bay wings. First guesses are a Salmson 2 A2 or some kind of SPAD.

After looking at pics, it's definitely not a Salmson -- the tail pieces don't look anything like parts from a Salmson and, like the N.28, the fuselage cross-section near the tail is wrong. Also the rigging wires don't match the thick ones used on the Salmson 2 A2.

For a SPAD, it can't be one of the single-seat scouts because the unique SPAD rigging would tip it off. However, either the SPAD 11 or the SPAD 16 are candidates. After more photo comparisons, I think the SPAD 11 is the more likely candidate. The SPAD 16 had unique landing gear struts with a very wide, prominent construction where the axle passed through -- the wreck plane seems to lack this feature. The SPAD 11 also had this feature, but smaller I think. Still, the landing gear struts are the part that bothers me most.

There's not a lot to see in this picture, but I'll go with the SPAD 11.

[FOKKERJ]

pvernon Quote: Blind guess - N28
__________________
Peter V.

Hi Peter V., I was just cuttin' and pastin' when I saw Patrick's reply, for a moment I thought that just perhaps I might want to reconsider my reply.......Nah!
My first impression was Nieuport 28 FUSELAGE!
The visible remains of the tailplane and even the wing/wings work for me.
Good Luck, FOKKERJ

Hi Breguet,
In the off chance that we're both wrong, I will go with the Nieuport 27 as it also was used by the A.E.F.for training purposes. Except for the sesquiplane wing arrangement it's the spittin' image of it's sucessor.
Thanks, FOKKERJ P.S. Is that "Catsup" over the tail section? What is it doing there? A little fish and chips?

[Ross_Moorhouse]

Nieuport 24....

[Breguet]

Although the first answer was right I left the thread open for a while to see reasoned answers. Even "blind guesses" are usually based on something!
pvernon now hits the board.
08.8 Rbailey
07.05 YavorD
05.5 Fokkerj Feuchtwanger
05.5 Breguet
05.4 Gregvan
04.5 Gilles
04.0 Edmond
04.0 Eric
04.0 Ross
03.0 Rickenbaron
01.9 Dan_San
01.8 Tom L
01.3 Colin Owers
01.3 Varese2002
01.0 Berman
01.0 C_Thurman
01.0 Cruze
01.0 Expositor
01.0 ONEALM
01.0 Patrick
01.0 PaulForster
01.0 Pvernon
01.0 Rod Filan
01.0 Troy Raines
00.75 Der Grüne Flieger
00.2 Crankcase

[Patrick]

I left the thread open for a while to see reasoned answers

And I've demonstrated that if you reason incorrectly in the first steps, you can't possibly get it right -- clearly, no two-bay wings here!

[ONEALM]

Not much on this one I am afraid.

Flown by Lt. Lawrence Cauffmann from Merchantville, N.J., probably early 1918. Cauffmann served with N.471 and later with the 103rd Aero.

The family still has the propeller hub from this airplane with the obligatory clock built in.

[pvernon]

Wow, I got one right! Cool!
As for resoning, It just looked like a Nieuport product, and since the source of photos were of Americans a N28 or N27 seemed to be most likely. I chose N28 because it was camoflaged, and it called out N28.