The Nieuport 28C.1 was developed in mid-1917 and was the first biplane fighter design produced by Nieuport that had relatively equal-chord upper and lower wings. In an attempt to compete with the superior performance of the Spad VII and the recently introduced Spad XIII, Nieuport explored the use of a more powerful motor than the types employed in the sesquiplane series. The availability of a more powerful, and heavier, 160-horsepower Gnôme rotary engine prompted the decision to increase the surface area of the lower wing to compensate for the greater weight of the new powerplant, hence eliminating the typical Nieuport sesquiplane V-strut configuration.

Similar to it's predecessors, the Nieuport 28 had a wire-braced, four-longeron wooden fuselage with fabric covering, and wooden framed wings and empennage, with an aluminum tube under-carriage. The tail surfaces were exactly the same as the Nieuport 23, 24, and the 27. Note-worthy was Gustave Delage's radical break with his previous successful design formula when he went with the very elegant and streamlined fuselage with circular section.

The first prototype, which had dihedral on both wings, underwent trials on June 14, 1917. During the second week of November 1917 it took part in a series of comparative tests with two other prototypes; one of these had fiat wings, while the other had dihedral only on the top plane, which was set close to the fuselage.

The first 28s had a single a single Vickers 303 machine gun (British), outboard of the center-section struts. This soon became inadequate, so the upper wing was raised, and a second Vickers 303 was mounted on top of the fuselage. Some Nieuports used the American made Marlin machine-gun.