Nieuport,

 later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars.

Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in 1902 for the manufacture of engine components the company was reformed in 1909 as the Société Générale d'Aéro-locomotion.,Nieuport had trouble obtaining suitable engines for their early designs and resorted to making their own. In 1910 a twin-cylinder horizontally-opposed type producing 28 hp (21 kW) was fitted to the Nieuport II and proved successful.

In 1911, the company was reformed specifically to build aircraft while continuing to build components including propellers under the name Nieuport et Deplante. In 1911, Edouard Nieuport, who was one of several aviation minded brothers, died after being thrown from his aircraft, and the company was taken over by Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, a famous supporter of aviation developament. With his financing, the name was changed to Société Anonyme des Établissements Nieuport, and development of existing designs was continued. A second of the brothers, Charles Nieuport, died in another accident in 1912 after he stalled and spun in, and the position of chief designer was taken over by the Swiss engineer Franz Schneider, Schneider left Nieuport in late 1913.

Nieuports were widely used by the Allied air arms, and various models were built under licence in Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom. In Italy, Aermacchi was originally formed as Nieuport-Macchi for the purpose of building various Nieuports under licence. They started with the Nieuport IV, but built the Nieuport 10, 11, 17 and finally the post-war NiD.29 under license. In Russia several companies, notably Dux, built Nieuports of several types including the IV, 10, 11, 16, 17, 21, 23 and 24bis.In Scotland, the William Beardmore and Company built the Nieuport 12 under licence, while gradually incorporating many of their own changes. Nieuport & General Aircraft was formed to build Nieuport fighters under licence in England, and built 50 Nieuport 17bis scouts for the Royal Naval Air Service before switching to locally designed aircraft.

.The Nieuport 28 was the first Nieuport fighter with two spars to both upper and lower wings , by the time it was ready for service the French had already chosen the SPAD S.XIII as their primary fighter. Due to a shortage of SPAD S.XIIIs, the first fighter squadrons of the United States Army Air Service (USAAS), used the Nieuport 28 on operations. While only in operational service with the USAAS for a short time, the Nieuport 28 was the first fighter to be used on operations by an American squadron.

By the end of 1918, Nieuport had two new fighter types flying, the Nieuport 29 biplane and the Nieuport 31 monoplane both of which had evolved in parallel from the Nieuport 28. Specially modified Nieuport 29 and 31 aircraft set speed and height records, and the 31 was the first aircraft to exceed 200 mph (320 km/h) in level flight, in the hands of Joseph Sadi-Lecointe.

On the morning of Friday, 8 August 1919, three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919 marking the end of hostilities in World War I, Charles Godefroy flew a "v-strut" Nieuport fighter through the large arch of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The event was filmed

 Nieuport became Nieuport-Astra, before becoming Nieuport-Delage, in honour of the work of the chief designer, Gustave Delage, who had been running the company throughout the war years. Despite the many successes achieved with 29 and 31 in setting speed and altitude records, Delage quickly embarked on a new design (The Nieuport-Delage NiD.42) that was to provide the basis for a family of aircraft that would remain in service until the fall of France during World War II. 

British Nieuport and General Aircraft Co

of Cricklewood was the UK manufacturing arm of the French Nieuport company

The Nieuport & General Aircraft Company Ltd 

was a British aircraft manufacturer, established during the First World War to build Nieuport aircraft under licence.On November 16 1916, Samuel Waring, the owner of the furniture manufacturer Waring & Gillow, established the Nieuport & General Aircraft Company at Cricklewood, London to build the French Nieuport 11 fighter .It built 50 Nieuport 17bis fighters before production changed to the more capable Sopwith Camel,building 400 Camels, with 100 Sopwith Snipes being delivered postwar. Nieuport & General hired Henry Folland, the designer of the S.E.5 fighter, as chief designer. Folland designed a number of aircraft, with the Nieuport Nighthawk fighter being ordered into production in August 1918, but the failure of the engine chosen to power it together with the end of the First World War, led to production being ended and the Nighthawk not entering service.

Nieuport & General was closed down in August 1920, together with the other aircraft companies owned by Waring, British Aerial Transport (BAT) and the Alliance Aeroplane Company. Folland was hired by the Gloster Aircraft Company, continuing development of the Nighthawk