In Italy, where the Nieuport was built under licence, the aircraft remained the standard fighter for most of the war.
In 1916 Gustave Delage designed the Nieuport 17. This new aircraft had a 110 hp engine and a Vickers machine-gun synchronized to shoot through the propeller disk. After making its debut in March 1916, this new machine gradually replaced the Nieuport 11 as France's main fighter aircraft.
Developed from the earlier successful Nieuport 11, Nieuport 17, and Nieuport 24 pursuit aircraft, the Nieuport 27 was an agile and well-armed adversary that was very much a match for most German pursuit aircraft of the last two years of the war. Many of France's most accomplished pilots flew the Nieuport 27 in combat. With it they generated an excellent kill/loss ratio. Pilots found the Nieuport 27 to have few vices and many attributes.
Because of strength and safety issues, a full-scale reproduction  of one of the most important French combat aircraft of World War I has been built with a steel tube structure rather than wood. Also, brakes and a small tailwheel were added. Regardless, the aircraft is visually almost an exact replica of the original aircraft in almost every respect. It is powered by a vintage Gnome-Rhone rotary engine.