Robert Little was an aggressive WWI pilot, not scared to go in close, often as little as fifteen yards, to a German aircraft before firing. There was one occasion when his plane was out from underneath him and he was left with only a revolver to aim at the German scout. This incident was recorded in a Combat In The Air Report and the Communiques.

Robert Little's Combat In The Air Report for April 21st, 1918 read;

At 5-00pm I attacked the last machine of a formation of 12 and shot it down. I watched it fall for about 10,000 ft over VIEUX BEHQUIH(sp?), completely out of control.

I was then attacked by six other EA which drove me down through the formation below me. I spun but had my controls shot away and my machine dived. AT 100 feet from the ground it flattened out with a jerk breaking the fuselage just behind my seat. I undid the belt and when the machine struck the ground I was thrown clear.

The EA still fired at me while I was on the ground. I fired my revolver at one which came down to about 50 feet. They were driven off by rifle fire and machine fire from our troops.

He was in Sopwith Camel B6319 from No.203 Sqn RAF (the old Naval 3). The Communiques also record this for the 21st of April;

Capt. R.A. Little, 203 Squadron, attacked the rear machine of a formation of 12 enemy aircraft and watched it fall completely out of control. Capt. Little was then attacked by six enemy aircraft and was driven down through the formation below; he put his machine into a spin and his controls were shot away, causing his machine to dive within 100 feet of the ground when it flattened out with a jerk, breaking the fuselage just under the pilot's seat.

Capt. Little undid his belt and was thrown clear when the machine stuck the ground. The enemy aircraft continued to fire at him, but he opened fire with his revolver at one aircraft which came down to about 30 feet. The enemy aircraft were eventually driven off by our infantry and machine-gun fire.

Captain R. Sykes also wrote of this in his book "Golden Eagle";

The same day I had flown on an offensive patrol and later had ferried in a new Camel, but I was back in 203's mess when Little came in late and reported, saying that he had undone his belt as the Camel broke up otherwise he would not have been thrown clear when the Camel wing tip hit the ground. I made a rather tactless remark about his manure sodden clothes, not realising that he would have been bruised, sore and in no mood for humour. He told me at the first opportunity he would take me over the lines and give me a lesson in being brave, and he did.

Robert Little was Australia's leading ace in World War I.

N500 was the prototype Sopwith Triplane that Rod Dallas flew in June 1916. The aircraft was flown as part of combat trials. Dallas claimed two victories in this aircraft, one on the 1st fo July against a two-seater and another on the 30th of September against a D Class aircraft.

This Triplane had a see through panel in the upper wing.

This is the Sopwith Triplane of Robert Little while he was with No.8 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service. Blymp was the nickname Little used in letters home to his son.

Richard Minifie flew this aircraft with No.1 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service through August and October 1917. He claimed one aircraft captured, six destroyed and three aircraft out of control with N5454.

This is a profile of the Nieuport 3981 which was flown by Australian ace Roderic Dallas when he claimed a C Class Aircraft as a victory on the 20th of February 1916. The German aircraft was claimed as a Driven Down. Dallas was to claim four other victories flying the Nieuport 11's with 1 Wing Royal Naval Air Service.

The Royal Naval Air Service was the first military arm to order the Nieuport 10 and it was due to the RNAS showing interest that the French Aviation Militaire bought the N10. The RNAS received several N11's and these were allocated serial numbers 3974 - 3994. 1 Wing was to fly these until they were replaced by the Sopwith Triplane Scout of which Dallas flew the prototype N500 into combat.

Nieuports 3982 and 3983 have a serial number painted on their rear fuselage, the photo of 3981 has this area hidden by the elevator due to the angle of the shot. 3981 may have a serial number in this position as well, but has been omitted from this profile.

This is a profile of the Nieuport 3993 which was flown by Roderic Dallas when he claimed a Seaplane as destroyed four miles off Blankenberghe.

3993 had a checkered history after that, on the 20th it was sent to Chingford and was at Dover four days later. By the second of June 3993 returned to 1 Wing but was returned to Dunkerque depot again in December.

The aircraft was later to serve with 3 Squadron RNAS and then 9 Squadron RNAS before being deleted in April 1917. The photograph is thought to have been taken near to the 20th of May, and the aircraft is depicted with twin Lewis guns on the upper wing.

Mike Fletcher of the The Nieuport Pages recently posted on the WWI mailing list the origins of the bebe's name :

When Nieuport first built the 11, they needed to distinguish it from an unrelated single seat monoplane. To do this they referred to it as the B=XI (the B was for biplan - biplane).

When the French took it on strength, it fell into their category B as a small single seat scout. This accidentally became BB=XI for a very short period of time before a new designation system came into force.

This was the source of the term bebe (pronounced the same as bb en francaise). Morane Saulnier deliberately attempted to get the same moniker on a small two seater but it never caught on.

The new system designated it as "Chasseur" (literally chaser) Thus it became the XI C.1 - the XI was supposed to be the 11th type of Nieuport received by the French military but it does not seem to hold here - perhaps the SFA only required that the types have numbers and not letters. The 1 signifies the number of crew members.

This system initially had A (artilliare - artillery), B (bombeur), Bn (bombeur nuit - night bomber), C (chasseur), Ca (chasseur canon - cannon fighter) and E (ecole - school). Later letters were added as new categories were required.

The very earliest 11's had a few minor differences but these disappeared fairly quickly, and the Italian machines seem to have had some differences of their own from the original.