crates, and were scrapped without having been flown. The initial order of 50 had been reduced from 100, and an additional order of 100 from Nieuport & General was cancelled outright. After having been withdrawn from front line duties beginning in June 1917, some were used for training in the UK, where they were flown unarmed. Those that were built in France were silver doped, while those built in the UK were camouflaged. The Royal Flying Corps never operated the 17bis, however it did receive 17 of the similar Nieuport 23bis that had been misidentified until recently. Variants Nieuport 17bis - Clerget 9B rotary Experimental variant with oversized spinner. Nieuport 17bis Triplane - Clerget 9B rotary Nieuport 23bis - Le Rhône 9J rotary Operators Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) - Nieuport 17bis only. 6 (Naval) Squadron 9 (Naval) Squadron 2 examples used while the unit was forming in Feb 1917. 11 (Naval) Squadron used several examples while acting as a pilot pool and operational training unit for 6 Squadron. Royal Flying Corps (RFC) - Nieuport 23bis only. No. 14 Squadron RFC No. 29 Squadron RFC No. 111 Squadron RFC No. 113 Squadron RFC Aéronautique Militaire - operated a small number of the 17bis, mainly for trials and test purposes. Specifications (Nieuport 17bis) See also References Notes Citations Bibliography External links 017b 1910s French fighter aircraft Military aircraft of World War I Sesquiplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Rotary-engined aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1917