In order to provide a more streamlined profile, the fuselage was longer and slimmer,
so narrow that its twin Vickers machine guns were offset to port, one between the cabane struts and one just outboard of them.
The factory delivered the Nieuport 28s to the Americans in mid-February 1918
without armament.
At the time, the AEF had no spare Vickers machine guns to supply to the squadrons, so that the first flights were unarmed training flights for pilots to familiarize themselves with the handling and performance of the new type.
When deliveries of Vickers guns to the American squadrons finally started in mid-March, and until sufficient guns had been received for all of the fighters to be fully equipped,
some aircraft were flown on patrol with only one machine gun fitted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport_28
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